2012-09-05 New SEC Requirements Relating To Conflict Minerals, Certain Payments To The Us Or Foreign Governments And Reporting Of Transactions With Iran

1. On August 22, 2012 the SEC adopted two new rules mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Act requiring:

1. issuers for which conflict minerals are necessary to the functionality or production of a product manufactured or contracted to be manufactured to disclose their use of conflict minerals,
   
   and
2. resource extraction issuers to disclose certain payments made to the US government or foreign governments.

The following publications summarize the rules and our observations:

2. On August 10, 2012 President Obama signed the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 ("ITRSHRA") into law that among other things, requires public companies to disclose in their annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC whether they or their affiliates knowingly engaged in various prohibited activities involving Iran.

The new act amends Section 13 of the Exchange Act of 1934 to require public companies, including foreign private issuers, to self-report any prohibited activities, including the nature and extent of the activity, gross revenues and net profits attributable to the activity and whether the registrant or any of its affiliates intends to continue engaging in such activities. Disclosures are required in annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC 180 days after enactment.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.