UANI Applauds Introduction of the Iran Transparency and Accountability Act of 2011
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 16, 2011
Contact: Kimmie Lipscomb, [email protected]
Phone: (212) 554-3296
New York, NY - United Against Nuclear
Iran (UANI) applauds
Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL), Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN), Senator
Kirsten
Gillibrand (D-NY) and Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) for introducing the Iran
Transparency and Accountability Act of 2011 ("ITAA"). The
ITAA
would require companies that avail themselves of the U.S. capital
markets to
disclose the business they conduct in Iran in their U.S. regulatory
filings. 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.
This legislation is a natural complement to the Iran Comprehensive
Sanctions,
Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 ("CISADA"). UANI
worked closely with Congressman Deutch to develop this legislation,
which was
originally introduced in July in the 111th
Congress. During
the press conference today held to announce the introduction of the
legislation, Congressman Deutch stated that the ITAA was introduced "in
collaboration with the great work of Ambassador Mark Wallace and his
group,
United Against Nuclear Iran, who has been making the case for some time
now
that material business in Iran should be subject to disclosure."
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 pressured 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.
In July, UANI worked
with Congressman Deutch to introduce similar legislation during the 111th
Congress.
Click here to learn
more about the Iran Disclosure
Project.
Click here to read
UANI's proposed SEC regulation.
Click here to urge
your Members of Congress to pass
the ITAA.
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Eye on Iran is a news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a section 501(c)(3) organization. Eye on Iran is available to subscribers on a daily basis or weekly basis.