SEC Proposes Revised Payment Disclosure Rules For Companies Engaged In Resource Extraction

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") has re-proposed Rule 13q-1 and an amendment to Form SD to implement Section 13(q) of the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"), which was added by Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (the "Dodd-Frank Act").  The new rules would require "resource extraction issuers" to disclose annually payments that such companies (or their subsidiaries or entities under their control) make to a foreign government or the US federal government for the purpose of the commercial development of oil, natural gas or minerals.  The SEC believes that these rules will increase the transparency of payments that resource extraction companies make to foreign governments and hold those governments accountable for their natural resource wealth.  The rules would require companies to disclose the type and total amount of payments that they make to each government for each project.