On Monday, June 1, 2015, the federal Minister of Natural
Resources, Greg Rickford,
announced that the Extractive Sector Transparency Measures
Act has come into force.
As
we discussed in an earlier post, the Act will require companies
operating in the extractive natural resources sector (oil and gas,
mining) to report certain payments, including royalties, taxes,
fees, production entitlements and infrastructure improvement
payments, made to governments in Canada as well as to foreign
governments.
Companies subject to the Act will now have to report specified
payments made to any level of government which in aggregate exceed
$100,000. The Act provides for a two-year deferral of
implementation of reporting requirements in relation to Aboriginal
governments; those requirements will now apply effective June 1,
2017. The federal government reports that engagement will continue with
stakeholders, including Aboriginal governments and organizations,
on the
