On September 2, the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts ordered the SEC to file with the District Court in 30 days an expedited schedule for promulgating a final resource extraction issuer disclosure rule as mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. In its ruling, the District Court stated that it would retain jurisdiction over the rulemaking process so as to ensure compliance with its order. The District Court’s order followed an action by Oxfam America, Inc. to compel the SEC to promulgate a final resource extraction issuer disclosure rule. Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act mandates the SEC to issue rules requiring a resource extraction issuer to disclose payments made by the issuer, a subsidiary of the issuer or another entity under the issuer’s control to the US federal government or foreign governments in connection with the development of natural gas, minerals and oil resources.

As discussed in the July 12, 2013, edition of the Corporate and Financial Weekly Digest, on July 2, 2013, the US District Court for the District of Columbia vacated the resource extraction issuer disclosure rule that the SEC had adopted, remanding the rule to the SEC to correct two “substantial errors.” Following the ruling, the SEC announced a projected proposed rule date of March 2015, and the SEC subsequently stated that it planned to consider a revised proposal by October 2015. Currently, however, the SEC does not have a publicly announced timeline for promulgating a final resource extraction issuer disclosure rule.

To view the order, click here.