SEC Extractive Industry Transparency Requirements Move Forward

December 11, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") issued a new proposed rule to implement a key provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that targets corruption and increases transparency requirements for payments made to foreign governments by the oil, gas, and mining industries.

The SEC voted to re-propose rule 13q-1 and proposed an amended form SD to implement Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The SEC previously adopted a rule in August 2012 that was vacated and remanded on September 2, 2015 by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia . The District Court found that the SEC committed serious error by mandating public disclosure of the required annual reports and denying the possibility of exemptions for countries that prohibit payment disclosure. When the SEC delayed issuing a new rule, Oxfam America sued to compel the SEC to issue a final rule, and on September 2, 2015, the United States District