New U.S. Transparency Reporting Requirements For Extractive Sector

On July 27, 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted revised rules requiring resource extraction issuers to disclose payments made to governments for the commercial development of oil, natural gas, or minerals (the U.S. Rules). Disclosure is required for payments to any foreign government and payments to the U.S. federal government (U.S. states and other U.S. subnational governments are excluded).

Like Canada’s efforts in passing the Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA), the U.S. Rules, directed by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, are part of global international efforts to address corruption in resource-rich countries by providing transparency of resource extraction payments to governments.