The ONE Campaign urges the Senate to safeguard an important anti-corruption rule

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives voted 235-187 today to repeal Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The rule requires all oil, gas, and mining companies to report what they pay governments to extract natural resources.

The ONE Campaign issued the following reaction from Joseph Kraus, ONE’s Director, Transparency and Accountability:

“Section 1504 is a bipartisan, common-sense rule aimed at reducing corruption, ending extreme poverty, and strengthening our national security. Weakening anti-corruption measures like this is short-sighted and counter-productive, and will hurt people living in the world’s poorest and least-developed countries. Repealing this rule would enable corruption when we should be trying harder to stop it, and the Senate should protect this critical anti-poverty tool.

“Many poor countries are trapped in poverty due in part to corruption and a lack of financial transparency. When oil, gas, and mining companies publish what they pay for extracting natural resources, that information becomes another tool for citizens to use in holding their governments accountable and curbing widespread corruption and mismanagement of revenues. We are concerned about what the rule’s repeal will mean for anti-corruption efforts in poor countries and we hope that the Senate will not move forward with it.”

Notes to editors

• Equivalent mandatory disclosure legislation has been enacted in 30 other countries around the world, including in Canada, the European Union, and Norway.

• Major oil, gas and mining firms such as Total, BHP Billiton, Newmont Mining, and Eni have publicly supported Section 1504, recognizing the benefits of transparency and a U.S. law that aligns with the global transparency standard.