Originally published in Drillers and Dealers: Expert's Insights - October 2012.

Recent months have brought two important developments in the global trend towards transparency and accountability in the oil and gas sector. This article reviews two pieces of legislation – in the United States and the European Union – both of which reflect growing international moves to increase disclosure obligations for companies in extractive industries, including the oil and gas sector, in an attempt to prevent bribery and corruption.

On 22 August, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new rules relating to disclosure of payments to governments by “resource extraction issuers” pursuant to Section 1504 of the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act – the “final rules”.

On 18 September, the European parliament’s committee on legal affairs voted in favour of proposed EU legislation to impose disclosure obligations on large companies involved in extracting oil, gas and minerals and logging. It is anticipated that the draft EU legislation will be submitted to MEPs for a European parliament plenary vote later this year.