Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to say that a preliminary first reading agreement was achieved on 9 April last by the Irish Presidency of the Council on the draft EU accounting directive, which we had set as a priority during the Irish Presidency and which is an important item of EU legislation. The EU Committee of Permanent Representatives approved this preliminary agreement at its meeting on 17 April, thus preparing the way for adoption of the accounting directive on the basis of the present text.

The directive is important in that it updates the EU's accounting legislation and provides for simplification and administrative burden reductions, in particular for small and medium enterprises. It is one of the final outstanding parts of the Single European Market. Also, under specific provisions of this directive, at chapter 9, information on the revenue streams which governments in resource-rich countries around the world receive from European companies active in the extractive industries and in the logging of primary forests, will require to be provided by the industries in question. As a consequence, the populations of these countries will have this information available to them. This acts as an accountability mechanism vis-à-vis the governments in question.

In the accounting directive, natural resource companies - large companies and public entities - will be required to report all payments in excess of €100,000 to governments and local authorities in the countries where they operate. This information will facilitate accountability of both companies and governments to citizens of mineral rich countries regarding the contracts that they undertake. It will increase transparency of the moneys that oil, gas, mining and forestry companies pay to governments and local authorities. Under the reforms, companies will need to publish total payments for each country in which they operate and for each project, taxes on profits or production, royalties, dividends, bonuses, related fees and payments for infrastructure improvements. There is no exemption for disclosing these details in countries where this may breach local laws.

The provisions of the accounting directive will take effect in the European Union two years, at the latest, after its adoption.

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