Welcoming the UK government announcement...that it would require oil, gas and mining companies to publicly report their payments to governments in all countries where they operate from January 2015, UK members of the Publish What You Pay civil society coalition commended the UK for moving quickly to publish draft regulations implementing EU extractive industry reporting requirements. Following the commitment on extractives transparency by Prime Minster David Cameron at the 2013 G8 Summit in Lough Erne, and at the October 2013 Open Government Partnership Summit in London, Publish What You Pay has engaged closely with UK ministers and officials over the details of the UK reporting requirements, which implement Chapter 10 the 2013 EU Accounting Directive. “The UK is taking an important lead towards the establishment of a global extractive industry transparency standard, “ said Miles Litvinoff, Coordinator of the Publish What You Pay UK coalition. “By ensuring that companies report publicly on their payments, company by company, country by country, and project by project, without country exemptions, the UK is setting the pace for other EU member states to implement the Directive without delay, and giving a lead to the USA and Canada, which are developing similar reporting regimes.”...While warmly welcoming the UK government announcement, civil society expressed concern that the new draft implementing regulations, to be laid before Parliament this autumn, include clauses that make the prosecution of companies for failure to fully report payments as required subject to the consent of the Secretary of State.