19-08-2011
U.S. proposal for new anti-corruption legislation

New U.S. legislation is imminent which envisages combating corruption under dubious regimes. This legislation has far-reaching consequences for U.S.-listed companies active in the oil, gas and mining industry. The new law will compel companies to disclose all foreign payments relating to the commercial exploitation of the oil, gas and mining industry. Not only are many companies not ready for this type of disclosure, it is also feared that insight into payments will be used by the wrong parties (competitors), or that U.S.-listed companies will experience problems as a number of the countries in which they operate forbid such disclosure.  

The European Union is also currently working on tightening up its existing anti-corruption legislation.

The oil lobby is directed against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)  and advocates replacing the U.S. legislative proposal with a supranational approach in which the sector itself will have a decisive voice

For more information, please contact: Mieke Eversteijn at mieke.eversteijn@vmwtaxand.nl or at telephone number +31 20 301 66 33.