The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rejected industry groups’ request to put on hold mandates that force companies operating in extractive industries to disclose payments made to foreign governments.
Led by the American Petroleum Institute and the US Chamber of Commerce, the industry bodies are currently in litigation against the long-delayed regulations called for under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform act and wanted the SEC to stay the requirements while the process is ongoing.
But on Thursday the SEC rejected the request outright saying the groups failed to demonstrate "imminent, irreparable harm,” adding that the federal court case could be decided by the second quarter of next year which is almost a year before the first disclosures are due.
Oil giants including like ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell say the transparency regulations go too far and make them uncompetitive against large state-owned companies such as Russia’s Gazprom, Malaysia's Petronas and the Chinese state-owned oil giants.
