So the SEC has had an eventful July for business and human rights related issues.
First, on July 2nd, the Commission was dealt a blow when Judge John Bates, of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, struck down the SEC’s rule requiring corporate disclosure of “payments made to foreign governments in connection with the commercial development of oil, natural gas, or minerals.” The rule was promulgated under Congressional discretion to prevent the Resource Curse that befalls many developing countries. The Court ruled that the Commission incorrectly found that the requisite Congressional statute was unambiguous regarding what the SEC was required to do, and as a result, vacated the rule and remanded to the SEC for further proceedings.
Nonetheless, on July 23rd, the SEC pulled out (what one commentator called ) called a “rare victory” in federal court, when Judge Robert Wilkins (also of the US District Court for DC) held that the SECcould require companies to disclose whether their products are manufactured with “conflict minerals” from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country with an abysmal human rights record that is specifically linked to the mining of gold, tin, tantalum and tungsten.