This month a federal judge in Washington vacated the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Dodd-Frank Section 1504 rule, which would force U.S.-listed petroleum and mining companies to disclose payments to all governments around the world. In accepting the arguments of the American Petroleum Institute and tossing the "Publish What You Pay" rule, U.S. District Judge John Bates was wrong on the law and wrong on the policy.
Supporters had hoped that the rule would spur the creation of a global transparency norm — just as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act led to global anti-bribery conventions. The grand plan seemed to be ahead of schedule when, on June 12, the European Union adopted a directive that requires member nations to pass resource revenue transparency laws within two years. But in his July 2 ruling, Bates stopped following the script of the Publish What You Pay coalition and started listening to American Petroleum Institute counsel Eugene Scalia of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
