UANI Applauds Congressman Deutch for Introducing the Iran Transparency and Accountability Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2010
Contact: Kimmie Lipscomb, [email protected]
Phone: (212) 554-3296

  UANI Applauds Congressman Deutch for Introducing the Iran Transparency and Accountability Act

New York, NY -  United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) applauds Congressman Deutch for introducing the Iran Transparency and Accountability Act.  The Iran Transparency and Accountability Act would require companies to disclose the business they conduct in Iran.  Such disclosure would allow the U.S. Government as well as the American people to make informed decisions about the companies in which they choose to invest.  Such legislation is a natural complement to the Iran Comprehensive Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 ("Iran SAD Act").  UANI worked closely with Congressman Deutch to develop this legislation. 
 
In a letter to SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro, Congressman Deutch also called on the SEC to issue a staff interpretive release, which would clarify existing regulations regarding a company's disclosure of its business dealings in Iran. 
 
UANI President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, in a statement said:  

UANI applauds Congressman Deutch for introducing the Iran Transparency and Accountability Act.  It is time for companies to come clean about their inappropriate business in Iran, and when they do the American people will hold them accountable.  Under this legislation and action by the SEC, companies will, for the first time, be obligated to disclose their Iran business in their public regulatory filings.  We will now know which companies are profiting at the expense of American national security.  This legislation is a wake-up call to those corporations that continue to do business in Iran.

UANI has been at the forefront of the campaign to require companies to disclose their business in Iran.  On January 12, 2010, UANI launched the "Iran Disclosure Project," an initiative to identify publicly-traded companies that have business dealings in Iran and ensure that such companies adequately inform investors of the legal and financial peril associated with such dealings.  Through the Iran Disclosure Project, UANI has targeted such companies as Royal Dutch Shell, Caterpillar, Ingersoll Rand, KPMG, and Honeywell to disclose the full extent of their business in Iran. 
 
In May, UANI called on the SEC to take definitive action to require companies to disclose their Iran business.  UANI proposed two options that would allow the SEC to take such definitive action: a staff interpretative release or a new SEC regulation.

Click here to learn more about the Iran Disclosure Project.
Click here to read UANI's proposed new SEC regulation.

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