Graham Stock (pictured), chief strategist at Insparo Asset Management comments on the new EU laws for European mining, logging and oil companies to report payments of more than EUR100,000 (GBP85,000) made to the government in the country in which they operate…
The new EU laws are a step forward in showing up payments made to governments that should be benefiting their citizens. Now the authorities also need to crack down on low-tax jurisdictions that facilitate the use of shell companies and other devices to avoid taxes that are due.
This EU initiative is particularly important in African regions and will help shed light on payments that should be going into public coffers. This will help civil society to lobby for those revenues to be spent sensibly on priority areas such as health and education. It would be good to think that the publication of these amounts would also improve the standing of the resource companies in the countries where they operate, and encourage companies from other parts of the world to follow suit. At worst, they will face pressure to explain why they are not being equally transparent.
