The European Parliament has urged EU countries to clean up the mining and oil industries by publishing what companies pay to get their hands on contracts and by giving legal protection to whistleblowers.
Two reports – on financial transparency by German Green MEP Reinhard Butikofer and on safety standards by British Conservative Vicky Ford – were voted through in Strasbourg on 13 September.
Both texts are not legally binding but show which way the parliament wants the European Commission to go when it proposes new EU laws in the sector later this year.
The Butikofer report said the commission should: “Establish legally binding requirements for extractive companies to publish their revenue payments for each project and country they invest in, following the example of the US Dodd-Frank bill.” The US bill, which became law in 2010, forces all publicly-listed companies to disclose their payments to foreign governments. The Butikofer text notes that EU firms have a bad track record of “violating environmental and labour standards and human rights” in developing countries. It adds that “EU companies should be legally liable in their home countries for any violation of human rights, environmental standards or ILO [International Labour Organisation] core labour standards by their subsidiaries abroad”.
The Ford report is designed to prevent a repetition of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which flooded the Gulf of Mexico with oil and chemical dispersants last year.
See http://euobserver.com/19/113616.