Spanish oil major called on to implement country-by-country reporting standard

Madrid
May 6, 2010

Representatives from Eurodad - a partner coalition of TJN - took the floor at the Repsol shareholders meeting on April 30 in Madrid calling on the firm to support a country by country reporting standard for the extractive industry. Repsol is the world’s 15th largest petroleum refining company.

“We believe that, by giving its public and explicit support to a country by country accounting standard now under discussion by the International Accounting Standards Board Repsol YPF will contribute its voice in opposing bad corporate governance practices and involvement with tax avoidance and evasion,” said Marta Ruiz, Eurodad’s Policy and Advocacy Officer.

Eurodad and other civil society organisations working on development issues believe that such a standard will dramatically improve transparency of multinational corporate activities and will provide very valuable information to curb illicit tax practices such as profit shifting and tax evasion in developing countries. These practices are estimated to account for more than what these countries receive in Official Development Assistance.

Plugging these leaks would therefore substantially contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

According to Ruiz “Repsol YPF, as a firm that believes that the future of the company will only prosper if it addresses the global challenges faced by society, should tackle these problems by supporting a mandatory measure of transparency that goes beyond the sphere of corporate social responsibility."