Earlier this month, on October 10, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and three other industry groups filed suit against the Securities and Exchange Commission in federal court in Washington, D.C. The lawsuit seeks to overturn the recently-promulgated SEC rule implementing Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which requires disclosure of payments to governments relating to oil,… More
Monthly Archives: October 2012
Business Groups File Petition for Review of the SEC’s Conflict Minerals Rule
On October 19, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Business Roundtable filed a petition seeking review of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s final conflict minerals rule, as released on August 22. Earlier today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued an initial order establishing a preliminary schedule for the submission of documents by both the petitioners and the SEC.… More
Human Rights Due Diligence – An Emerging Requirement in State and Federal Legislation
Two years ago, in October 2010, I published a post, Human Rights Due Diligence and the Corporate Lawyer, that addressed the need for corporate counsel to assess stakeholder expectations that companies should be accountable for identifying, and taking action to mitigate, the adverse human rights impacts of their operations. At the time, the expectation that companies should conduct human right due diligence had been put forward as a fundamental component of the “Protect,… More
The Future of the Alien Tort Statute, Take II: The U.S. Supreme Court Hears New Arguments on Extraterritorial Liability
The U.S. Supreme Court started its new term on Monday with a holdover from the last term. The case of Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum was once again before the Court, this time with arguments focused on the question of whether the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”) provides federal jurisdiction for tortious actions committed outside the territory of the United States by corporations.… More