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Civil Society groups want ExxonMobil, Chevron removed from EITI Board

Feb 12, 2018 News

 

– Refusing to disclose their tax payments

The refusal of USA oil giants, ExxonMobil and Chevron to disclose their tax payments in the USA has resulted in civil society groups calling for their immediate removal from the Board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
The civil society organizations made these sentiments pellucid in a letter to EITI Chair Fredrik Reinfeldt.
In the letter, it was explained that ExxonMobil and Chevron were members of the US-EITI Multi-Stakeholder Group from its creation in December 2011 to its disbandment in November 2017. Both companies are members of the EITI International Board’s industry constituency and have served in that role, with a few brief exceptions, since its creation in 2003.
It was further noted that from its founding, the EITI and its Standard have required comprehensive disclosure of material payments from companies to governments, including taxes. In fact, no EITI implementation has ever excluded the disclosure of tax payments.
However, in the US-EITI report issued in 2016, only 12 of the 38 eligible companies disclosed their taxes. In the USEITI report issued in 2015, 12 of the 41 eligible companies disclosed their taxes. ExxonMobil and Chevron were among the companies that refused to disclose their tax payments in both cases.
The civil society groups said that in during the December 2015 USEITI MSG Meeting, an ExxonMobil representative provided the following explanation of his company’s decision not to disclose taxes through the USEITI process: “… Knowing that income tax reporting will soon be required under Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act, companies may have chosen to wait until that rule was finalized and the requirements more clear. (ExxonMobil representative) added that many of these companies have exercised leadership in EITI around the world, and are very committed to USEITI and to tax reporting, but are awaiting the finalization of the SEC’s rulemaking.”
In spite of ExxonMobil’s response, the groups noted that a May 2017 Interior Department Inspector General assessment of US-EITI points out that tax data can actually be disclosed.
They also noted that Dallas-based Kosmos Energy has voluntarily disclosed its U.S. tax payments for years, and BHP Billiton, one of the largest mining companies in the world, voluntarily disclosed its tax payments to the U.S. government before it was required to do so by the EU Directives.
The civil society groups noted, “This issue could have been avoided if there was a standard that required companies to practise what they preach and disclose their payments fully as a condition of being an EITI supporting company or EITI Board member. In the absence of this, and in light of the ongoing circumstances outlined, we recommend strongly that these companies be removed from the EITI Board for violating the EITI Code of Conduct, as well as the spirit of EITI, thus endangering the EITI Standard.”
The letter sent to the EITI Chair received the blessings of Danielle Brian, US-EITI Co-Chair and Betsy Taylor, Executive Director of Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (LiKEN) and US-EITI Representative among others. (To read more on this issue, follow the link: http://www.pwypusa.org/pwyp-news/civil-society-organizations-call-on-exxonmobil-and-chevron-to-be-removed-from-the-eiti-board/).

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