Bowles claims victory on new EU corporate transparency rules

Final agreement on greater corporate transparency was reached last night in Brussels with the completion of the last trialogue negotiations between the European Parliament, Council of Ministers, and European Commission.

The new rules are part of the revised Accounting Directive and will ensure multinational extractive companies are more transparent in their accounting practices and will include:

• Mandatory financial reporting on a country and project level
• Mandatory reporting of any payment to a government over 100,000 EURO
• European Commission to look at extending reporting requirements to additional sectors within 3 years of the rules coming into effect

Sharon Bowles MEP, author of many of the relevant amendments, said:

"Multinational extractive companies can no longer get away with opacity as these new rules on country by country and project by project reporting will shine a light on the darkest corners of corporate activity in the developing world, to the benefit of civil society.

"The deal reached last night is an important first step on the road to commercial tax avoidance with mining and logging companies now having to own up, and pay up what they owe to other countries.

"I have been fighting for these kinds of disclosures since becoming an MEP, and have successfully campaigned for banks to report on a country level.

"Last night's decision is a major victory for my campaign and I will continue to push for these disclosures to extend to all companies, and for them to be audited."

ENDS

Details of the European Parliament's resolution on the effects of the global financial and economic crisis on developing countries and on development cooperation can be found here

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