Resource Guide: 2020 SEC Rulemaking for Section 1504, U.S. Oil and Mining Anti-Corruption Rule

On December 18, 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a draft implementing rule for Section 1504, a key oil and mining anti-corruption law in the United States enacted with bipartisan support in 2010. The provision mandates regulations requiring all oil, gas, and mining companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges to disclose the payments they make to governments by project and by company. The SEC issued a strong rule in 2016 that Publish What You Pay (PWYP) welcomed, but this rule was vacated in 2017 by Congress after a push by the U.S. oil industry lobby.

The PWYP US coalition and its member organizations – including Global Witness, the Natural Resource Governance Institute, One, and Oxfam – strongly condemn the proposed rule issued in December 2019 and are working to improve and strengthen the final rule.

The draft rule was published on the U.S. Federal Register on January 15, 2020, initiating a 60-day public comment period which will conclude on March 16, 2020.

The full text of the December 2019 proposed rule can be read here. 

The dissenting statements on the December 2019 proposed rule for Section 1504 by SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee can be read here and by SEC Commissioner Robert J. Jackson, Jr. can be read here.

SEC submissions from PWYP members and other stakeholders

• PWYP Global Council and PWYP Secretariat
• PWYP US
• Kenya Civil Society Platform Oil and Gas (KCSPOG) & PWYP Kenya
• PWYP Indonesia
• ZELA, member and coordinator of PWYP Zimbabwe 
• Civil society members of the EITI Board
• Iraqi Transparency Alliance for Extractive Industries, member of PWYP Iraq
• “Derecho, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (DAR)”member of RLIE and PWYP
• EG Justice
• Transparency International EU
• Global Witness
• Alan Detheridge, Former Vice President, External Affairs, Royal Dutch Shell, and PWYP Board member
• Policy Alert, Nigeria

You can find all of the submissions to the SEC on this page.

PWYP US member statements

• SEC must strengthen draft anti-corruption rule, PWYP-US
• Proposed U.S. Oil Anti-corruption Rule Would Fail to Deter Corruption, Global Witness
• Proposed U.S. Oil and Mining Transparency Rule Will Not Deter Corruption, NRGI
• The ONE Campaign concerned that SEC proposal threatens to weaken global anti-corruption standard, ONE
• Draft SEC oil and mining rule would facilitate corruption, Oxfam

Press coverage of the SEC’s 2019 Proposed Rule

• Oil firms near victory in decade long disclosure fight, Houston Chronicle, January 17, 2020
• SEC tries to solve CRA conundrum on resource extraction payments, Bloomberg Law, January 7, 2020
• Donald Trump’s quiet Christmas gift to the kleptocrats, The New Republic, January 6, 2020
• SEC’s latest extractive industry rule seeks to lighten compliance burden, Wall Street Journal, December 19, 2019

Data Use & Impact Stories

• Indonesia’s Oil and Gas Revenues: Using Payments to Governments Data for Accountability, NRGI / PWP Indonesia, December 18, 2019
• Rural Alberta coping with $81-million shortfall in oil and gas taxes. How did we get there?, The Narwhal, September 26, 2019
• ‘Only reason we exist’: why an energy transition is hard to fathom in parts of Alberta, The Narwhal, September 21, 2019
• From Revenues to Benefits: New Nigeria Platform Informs and Empowers Extractives-Affected Communities, NRGI, February 11, 2019
• Why South Africa’s Extractive Sector Needs Greater Transparency, PWYP South Africa, February 2, 2018
• Caledonia’s ESTMA Report: Accountability Opportunities in Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), October 12, 2017
• Why is Niger Still Losing out to Areva?, Oxfam France & Publish What You Pay France, September 18. 2017
• Community data literacy for demand driven change, Bantay Kita / PWYP Philippines, June 22, 2017
• Why mandatory disclosures matter for Indonesia, PWYP Indonesia, April 10, 2017
• Using UK company data as an accountability tool, PWYP UK, December 15, 2016