On October 23, 2014, the Government of Canada tabled an omnibus
Bill C-431 introducing or amending dozens of laws.
Within all these changes and new measures is a proposed new law
setting out rules regarding disclosure of payments to foreign and
domestic governments. These rules comprise the Extractive
Sector Transparency Measures Act (the "Act"). The
Act is a game changer for the industry and presents some serious
compliance challenges.
Background
In April 2014, the Government of Canada issued
a Consultation Paper detailing proposals for the introduction of
mandatory reporting rules for extractive industry companies (the
"Consultation Paper"). The thrust of these proposed rules
was to impose requirements on entities involved in the extractive
sector to report on payments made to foreign and domestic
governments. The rules were the subject of a
Dentons bulletin, and
subsequent update, produced earlier this year.
