Norway needs to take the lead on country by country reporting. Even though Norway is a small country it has a huge influence internationally. If Norway starts, the rest of the world will follow_"*, said Raymond Baker, director of Global Financial Integrity.
It is very important that Norway goes in front. This will set the standard of how a country by country reporting standard will become_", said Karin Lissakers, director of Revenue Watch Institute.
A clear call for Norway to take a lead On 23rd May 2011, _Global Investors for Financial Transparency, the Oslo Dialogue Meeting_ brought together high-level Norwegian and EU elected officials, regulators, investors, representatives of capital markets and others interested in development in the U.S. and EU related to country by country reporting regulations for extractive companies. There was broad consensus for more transparency and accountability in the extractive industry. All key speakers called for Norway to take a lead. Norway's good reputation abroad was underlined and that many countries depended on Norway to take a clear stand against corruption and capital flight. it was emphasised that Norway had the competence and knowledge to go further and that what Norway does will feed back into the process in both the US and EU. The USA has also asked other countries for support.
"We need to go beyond Dodd-Frank"
"We could perhaps expect that the Dodd-Frank could come out of the USA, but if we are to move beyond a minimum standard we need other countries to take a lead"*, said Isabel Munilla, director of PWYP USA.
State secretary in Ministry of Finance, Roger Schjerva, said that Norway *"_would take a progressive stance on this issue and said what Norway can do will depend to some extend on the process in EU and USA_*".
What exactly needs to be transparent?
During the event, Publish What You Pay Norway presented a draft report for discussion called "Defining Elements. Links between Natural Resource, Tax and Development". The report lists all the financial elements that need to be made subject to regulation and publicly available under a country by country reporting standard for the extractive industries, if corruption and capital flight are to be hindered. The author of the report is Richard Murphy, a chartered accountant from the UK and director of "Tax Research UK"
International trends for increased transparency
* The US has signed into law a regulation for extractive companies which is thought to apply to 90% of multinational companies and 8 out of the 10 largest extractive companies.
* The EU has held a consultation on country by country reporting. The EU regulations are likely to go beyond the US regulation.
* The Norwegian government has stated that it is willing to consider such regulations on an individual basis, as noted in its report against financial crime. h3. More *
*Download the draft for discussion:* "Defining Elements. Links between Natural Resouces, Tax and Development" * "*See videos from the event*"
Global Investors for Financial Transparency_ was hosted by "KLP" and "Publish What You Pay Norway" This event was financed jointly by "The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs the DIalogue Project", the "Revenue Watch Institute" and "Publish What You Pay Norway"