On December 16, 2020, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), by a 3-2 vote, adopted final rules requiring annual disclosure on Form SD of payments by SEC reporting companies engaged in the commercial development of oil, natural gas or minerals (resource extraction issuers) to certain governmental entities. The final rules implement Section 13(q) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act), which was added by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank). Section 13(q) directs the SEC to issue rules requiring resource extraction issuers to submit an annual report containing information about payments “made by the resource extraction issuer, a subsidiary of the resource extraction issuer, or an entity under the control of the resource extraction issuer to a foreign government or the Federal Government for the purpose of the commercial development of oil, natural gas, or minerals…”
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