The Court of Appeal rejects the oil industry’s attack on the landmark transparency law

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. branch of the Publish What You Pay coalition warmly welcomed the U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision to dismiss, for lack of jurisdiction, the oil industry’s lawsuit against the landmark law on the disclosure of oil, gas, and mining payments.Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, a provision known as the “Cardin-Lugar,” requires U.S. and foreign oil, gas, and mining companies to disclose payments they make to U.S. and foreign governments in their annual reports to the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission). Oxfam America, a member of the Publish What You Pay coalition, intervened in the case and argued that it was outside the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals.

The decision comes just after the announcement in early April of an agreement reached within the European Union to establish disclosure requirements for similar payments. As with the SEC rule, the European agreement includes no exemptions for companies; it requires project-by-project reporting and a low materiality threshold. These requirements will give citizens and investors access to a wealth of information, helping to ensure that natural resource wealth is used to combat poverty rather than enrich a select few.

“The oil industry’s baseless arguments against payment disclosure continue to fail to convince politicians, regulators, and investors,” said Isabel Munilla, U.S. director of Publish What You Pay, a coalition of more than 30 groups including tax justice and humanitarian aid advocates, faith-based organizations, and anti-poverty groups. “It is long past time that oil companies like Shell, BP, Chevron, and Exxon abandoned their desperate and futile attacks on the disclosure provision, which has the support of legislators, investors, and citizens around the world.” Statoil, the Norwegian oil company and member of API (American Petroleum Institute), has “explicitly refused to support” the API-led legislation. (Source: PWYP website)