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Publish What You Pay 

Email Update July 28th 2011

 
   

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    One year anniversary of Dodd-Frank!


On 15 July 2010, the US Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street and Consumer Protection Act. The Cardin-Lugar provision of this law (Section 1504) states that every listed company engaged in extractive activity must disclose its payments – on a country-by-country and project-by-project basis – in the countries in which it operates. This ground-breaking legislation will help citizens in resource-rich countries hold their governments accountable and ensure that the country’s natural resources benefit all its citizens. Moreover, as reflected by Calvert Investments and other capital providers’ support for the provision, this information will prove valuable for investors. 

However, one year on the SEC has yet to publish the final rules for this legislation. While Publish What You Pay recognises that the SEC is currently under strain, it calls for it to publish these rules as soon as possible and not cave in to pressure from the extractive industry to dilute the provision.

The call for strong rules for Section 1504 was also voiced by USAID, who in a letter to the SEC stated that, “Vigorous implementation of Section 1504 could contribute to the efficient and effective use of US development dollars and complement US development strategies”. The letter commented on a number of issues, including exemptions which it strongly argued against, as these would be used by “every opaque government seeking to hide some or all of its revenue streams”.

The development in the US has spurred on other markets to work on complementary legislation such as the European Union where legislative proposals are expected from the European Commission this autumn.

For more information:

A press conference organised by PWYP USA and Oxfam America marked the one-year anniversary and can be watched online.         


Oxfam America launched an online petition to denounce the industry’s attempts to weaken the Cardin-Lugar provision. Sign it here.

Read PWYP USA’s press release.

See the side column for a press-round up of coverage of the anniversary. 


 

Nigerian civil society delegation visits Ghana

On 17 – 22 July civil society representatives from Nigeria visited Ghana to meet with various stakeholders involved in promoting transparency in the extractive sector. The purpose of the trip was to exchange experiences with and learn from the stakeholders in order to enhance the effectiveness of the Nigerian campaign. Among other objectives, the Nigerian delegation wished to discuss with their Ghanaian counterparts the best ways of engaging with actors from the government and private sector as well as talking to media on the main challenges in reporting on the extractive sector. 

The delegation met with a number of Ghanaian actors, including representatives from civil society, the media, government officials, human rights lawyers and officials from EITI Ghana. The mission observed that both countries have much to learn from one another as each is undergoing an extractive experience the other has been going through. Ghana has recently begun producing petrol while Nigeria is seeking to increase exploitation of its solid minerals. The trip resulted in a number of recommendations, including for instance the suggestion that civil society organisations create platforms and structures in sub-regions so as to facilitate closer collaboration and a deeper network.

This trip was the fourth in a capacity building series organised by CISLAC, with the support of Oxfam Novib. Previous trips were made to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. For more information on the trip, read the communiqué issued by CISLAC.

To find out more about recent developments in the transparency campaign in Nigeria, read Revenue Watch’s analysis of the Petroleum Industry Bill.

To find out more about recent developments in the transparency campaign in Ghana, watch the press conference Shining a Light On Petroleum Agreements

 

British PM calls for Europe to emulate US Publish What You Pay rules

 

British Prime Minister David Cameron called for the EU to follow in the US’ footsteps and introduce country-by-country and project-by-project mandatory reporting standards for the extractive industry. Speaking at Lagos during a state visit, the Prime Minister emphasized that ‘mineral wealth should be a blessing, not a curse’. He referred to Dodd-Frank 1504, the US legislation that requires companies to publish what they pay, before calling on Europe to ‘do the same’.

By publicly coming out in support of these measures, David Cameron added his voice to an already supportive British administration. In February 2011 Chancellor George Osborne and Secretary of State for Business, Vince Cable, committed to championing such legislation at the EU and several prominent politicians – including the Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell – have underlined the importance of transparency in the extractive sector. The British backing is, in turn, part of a wider movement as French President Nicolas Sarkozy, European Commissioner Barnier and European Commission President Barroso among others have all stated their intention to work towards introducing financial mandatory reporting standards for extractive industries.

Read David Cameron's speech in full. 
 

 

Tajikistan: moves towards EITI candidacy

Hopes for greater oil and mining transparency in Tajikistan were raised with the government making positive noises about seeking EITI candidacy in the near future. At an international conference held in Dushanbe on 12 July - which included stakeholder delegates from Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Mongolia and Kazakhstan – Mr Asadullo Gulomov, the First Deputy Prime Minister said that a multistakeholder working group is to be established within one month to make all relevant preparations for an EITI candidacy application.

The event was co-organised by OSI and the World Bank in close coordination with the Tajik Ministry of Finance and the State Committee on Investments and State Property Management.

One day prior to the event OSI-Tajikistan organized a seminar on EITI for a group of civil society activists of different backgrounds. This seminar culminated with most participants expressing their willingness to establishing a civil society coalition in order to promote and implement EITI in Tajikistan. GREAT NEWS, we will keep you posted!

Read a brief World Bank write up

Tchad – les organisations de la société civile se réunissent 

Le 16 juillet 2011, des organisations de la société civile tchadienne travaillant sur le suivi des industries extractives se sont réunies en rencontre inter-réseau à Mondou. Les participants ont fait le point sur les avancées faites dans la question des industries extractives au Tchad, remarquant par exemple que l’adhésion du Tchad à l’ITIE reflète une volonté politique de bonne gouvernance. Par contre, les organisations avaient aussi des préoccupations à soulever, comme « l’absence de transparence dans l’octroi des nouveaux contrats pétroliers et titres miniers » ou bien « le problème de corruption dans la passation des marchés liés à l’utilisation des revenus pétroliers ».

Mais les activistes ne sont pas pour autant découragés est – aspirant à « une société de paix, de justice économique, sociale et environnementale, d’équité et d’honnêteté » se sont résous, entre autres, à  «faire le plaidoyer pour une transparence dans la gestion des ressources » et « assurer le monitoring des activités des IE en vue du respect des normes et lois nationales et internationales en matière de responsabilité sociales des compagnies extractives ».

Pour plus d’information, veuillez lire la déclaration même. 

Revenue Watch develop new online tool: Global Stock Listings



Revenue Watch has developed an online tool for comparing company listings and company values on 35 international stock exchanges. Built from research made on over 2,500 publicly traded extractive companies, this resource offers a snapshot of the global extractive market. 

With this tool you can see how much of the global value of companies a specific stock exchange (or a combination of stock exchanges) represents. For example, select the London and Australian stock exchanges and you will see that these two exchanges represent 18% of the global value of companies or – comparing by companies rather than value – that these two cover 994 of 2,721 companies. You can also see which companies trade in each exchange and the market cap these. This tool also demonstrates whether a company is listed with the SEC in the US, therefore whether it will be covered by the disclosure requirements of Dodd-Frank 1504. This tool is valuable for research or simply curiosity, but especially important as an increasing amount of institutions move towards the introduction of mandatory financial reporting measures.

For more information read Revenue Watch's press release and explore the online tool

Job Opp

TIA (2)

Transparency and Accountability Initiative Open Society Foundation London
 

The Transparency and Accountability Initiative seeks a Program Officer (research and learning) to support its impact and learning working group by developing, managing and monitoring a number of research and evaluation projects. We are looking for an individual with a passion and deep interest in transparency and accountability issues, with strong understanding and experience of using applied research methods, impact evaluation techniques and learning tools. The successful candidate will have demonstrated experience of managing research projects and communicating research findings. This position provides a unique opportunity to use knowledge of diverse research methods in impact and learning to help strengthen, influence and improve the next generation of transparency and accountability initiatives.

Start Date/Duration - September 2011. The successful candidate will be offered a fixed term contract until July 2013 with possibility of extension.

Compensation - £38,000 – £42,000, excellent benefits package

Deadline – 21 August 2011


For more information and how to apply click here