18 09 12 Global Witness – EU Parliament recommends ‘sunshine’ for extractive deals

The
vote brings Europe one step closer to shining a light on payments worth billions
of Euros by extractive companies to governments, which have previously remained
secret, enabling corrupt government officials to siphon off or misappropriate
natural resource revenues.

Although the final
text of the proposal is yet to be published, the cross-party European
Parliament’s JURI committee have agreed a version of a directive that appears to
include an effective definition of ‘project’ reporting which will enable
citizens to follow the money from natural resource deals. 

Parliament also
excluded exemptions in reporting that companies asked for that would offer
loopholes for despotic regimes to outlaw transparency with new blocking
provisions in their countries.  The text also contains thresholds for
payments that align with similar US ‘sunshine’ rules for US listed
extractives companies set at the end of August.

The proposals gained
support across the poltical parties with MEPs Arlene McCarthy and Klaus-Heiner
Lehne championing on behalf of the Socialist and Democrats and centre-right EPP
groupings and with MEPs Cecilia Wikstrom and Eva Lichtenberger rallying Liberal
and Green groups’ support. 

Parliamentary
representatives will now negotiate with European Council ministers from member
states, before a final version of the directive goes to all MEPs for a European
Parliamentary vote later in the year. 

Arlene McCarthy MEP,
the Parliament Rapporteur on the Transparency law, said after the vote in the
legal affairs committee:

“With this vote we now
have a strong negotiating mandate to force the Member States
and Commission to accept the Parliament's amendments, putting us on track to
create strong global transparency standards, with equivalent rules in the EU and
the US."

Brendan O’Donnell,
head of Global Witness’ oil campaign commented, “A final EU directive which
includes the elements set out by the JURI committee today would be good for
industry and citizens alike. Information on payments will give citizens more
power to track the money being paid to governments in resource-rich countries to
combat oil and mineral sector corruption. The question now is whether Member
States will follow through and agree a similarly strong proposal in negotiations
with Parliament.”

 

For
more information or to request an interview, please contact: 

Brendan O'Donnell,
Head of Oil Campaign, Global Witness: 00 44 (0) 7912 517 128
bodonnell@globalwitness.org – available for comment after the JURI Committee
vote at circa 11.30 am CET Tuesday 18th September

 

Note
to Editors:

 

• In October 2011 the European
  Commission proposed that European Union-listed and large unlisted extractive
  and timber companies should publicly disclose their tax and revenue payments
  to governments worldwide, through revisions of the EU Transparency and
  Accounting Directives. 
• Disclosure would provide citizens
  of resource-rich but poor countries, investors and civil society with accurate
  information about the flow of revenues to governments from oil, gas, mining
  and logging.
• Developing countries need to
  maximise revenue from these finite resources. In 2010, Africa’s oil, gas and mineral exports were worth roughly
  7 times the value of international aid to the continent ($333 billion vs $48
  billion). 
• The final directives should
  require disclosure of payments at the country and project level in order to
  compliment the standard set by the US Securities and Exchange Commission rules
  published August 22nd (implementing US Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform &
  Consumer Protection Act section 1504). 
• If an effective EU directive is
  established it would mark a watershed in the creation of global transparency
  standards to help break the link between natural resources and
  corruption.  A global movement of anti-corruption, human rights and
  community-based organisations in resource-rich countries have been pushing for
  transparency measures of this kind for over a decade. The European Council and
  European Parliament should now support and strengthen the proposals to achieve
  full effect in the enacted EU legislation.