Company payments

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Bill Gates today threw his weight behind laws that will require oil, gas and mining companies to be more transparent about the payments they make to governments around the world.

“I believe the G20 countries should endorse legally binding transparency requirements,” said Mr. Gates in a report on financing for development delivered at today’s G20 Summit in Cannes, France.

You can also view the press release in PDF format

LONDON/STRASBOURG – Publish What You Pay, the global coalition of civil society groups, welcomes the European Commission’s proposals for EU laws that will require oil, gas, mining and logging companies to be more transparent about the payments they make to governments around the world.

On Tuesday Tearfund, a Christian relief and development agency, handed in 10,000 postcards to the UK Chancellor from supporters calling for the UK Government to tackle corruption through Publish What You Pay legislation in the EU.

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Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo might be one of the world’s richest countries in natural resources, but its population ranks among the poorest with four out of five citizens living on less than 30 cents a day.

Today for the first time, the G8 endorsed mandatory disclosure of extractive industry payments to governments.

In his address to the UN summit on the millennium development goals last night, President Obama highlighted the new US law requiring all oil, gas, and mining companies registered in the US to reveal all payments they make to governments around the world:

“We know that countries are more likely to prosper when governments are accountable to their people. So we are leading a global effort to combat corruption—which in many places is the single greatest barrier to prosperity, and which is a profound violation of human rights. That’s why we now require oil, gas and mining companies that raise capital in the United States to disclose all payments they make to foreign governments. And it’s why I urged the G-20 to put corruption on its agenda and make it harder for corrupt officials to steal from their people and stifle their development.“

Other countries must now follow suit to unlock billions of dollars in natural resource revenues so they can be used for sustainable growth.

Senate Should Pass Cardin Amendment to Financial Reform Bill

In the midst of an unfolding environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the oil industry is supporting secrecy and business as usual on Capitol Hill by opposing a critical amendment to the financial reform bill. The bipartisan amendment would increase financial transparency in the oil, gas, and mining industries and provide valuable information to investors in the United States and to citizens in poor countries around the world, says international humanitarian organization Oxfam America. The amendment is likely to face a floor vote this week.

Oxfam America has just launched a new animated video showing how so little of the profits from extractive industries reach local communities. In the US the video is intended to encourage people to take action and contact their member of Congress regarding the Energy Security Through Transparency Act – a crucial piece of legislation that would require any company registered with the US authorities (Securities and Exchange Commission) to disclose their payments in every country of operation.

Oil, gas and mineral companies can reduce global instability by opening the books on their payments, say investors, industry experts, and human rights advocates

Washington, D.C.— A little more public information could make a big difference in the stability of U.S. energy supplies, say congressional and industry leaders and leading international activists who have renewed the call for a “publish what you pay” rule change at the U.S.

London: Publish What You Pay (PWYP)* welcomes the news that Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has signed a new transparency law which increases accountability over the management of the country’s natural resources.

Approved on 10 July 2009, the LEITI Act seeks to ensure that the benefits due to the government and people of Liberia from the exploitation of natural resources are “verifiably paid or provided; duly accounted for; and prudently utilized for the benefits of all Liberians….”