Disclosure of Payments under the US Dodd-Frank Act: the 'Resource Extraction Rule'

摘要

Tucked into the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act are several provisions having nothing to do with financial regulation. One of these 'miscellaneous' provisions required the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to implement rules requiring publicly traded resource extractive industry companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments. In August 2012, the SEC adopted final rules to achieve that purpose. In October 2012, the US Chamber of Commerce, as part of a coalition of business and other interests, filed suit to block the implementation of the rules. This article explains the contents of the resource extraction rule and the legal challenge levied against it.