Oxfam America is suing the Securities and Exchange

Commission over its failure to implement a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act

requiring the disclosure of payments from oil, gas, and mining companies to foreign

governments.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the US District Court for the

District of Massachusetts, asks the court to order the SEC to issue a Final

Rule as required by Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act.

The international relief and development organization says the provision would “provide information

to investors and citizens in resource-rich countries, help stem corruption, and

encourage the accountable use of billions of dollars in annual revenues from

the oil, gas and mining sector.”  It

claims that investors representing more than $1.2 trillion worth of assets

under management have made submissions to the SEC in support of the provision.

The SEC issued a proposed rule on December 15, 2010 in

advance of an April 17, 2011 deadline mandated by Congress. A final rule

has yet to be issued and, last month, Oxfam America notified the SEC that it

would file suit if one was not issued within 30 days.

 “One of the reasons

for the financial crisis was a lack of public information about the real risks

of investments,” Ian Gary, senior policy manager of Oxfam America's oil, gas

and mining program, said in a statement. “In the case of the oil and mining

industries, investors have a right to know how and whether companies are

exposed to political and expropriation risks in volatile resource-rich

countries.”