At the bilateral level, ROHMA maintains regular contact with the supervisory bodies of foreign trading centres. The depth and frequency of these contacts are governed by the level of activity of Swiss commodity actors in the countries in question.
In the commodity sector, the main focus of cooperation between authorities is the consolidated supervision of internationally active commodity companies. As the supervisory authority, ROHMA becomes involved if Swiss companies, their branches or subsidiaries operating in other jurisdictions are implicated. ROHMA is also responsible for the branches and subsidiaries of foreign commodity companies operating in Switzerland.
The main purpose of cooperation between supervisory authorities in the supervision of physical commodity trading activities is to exchange information regarding potential offences (trade in conflict minerals, misappropriation of public assets, human rights abuses, etc.) by Swiss entities operating abroad or by foreign entities operating in or through Switzerland. The exchange of information in connection with such activities may lead to legal claims from those affected and consequently to court judgements.
ROHMA’s ongoing international projects include for instance assisting the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) to extend the scope of its supervisory activities to include the trading of physical commodities. In other work, ROHMA has joined forces with the FCA and respective authorities in other EU countries, as well as the United States of America’s Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), to develop standards and agree on best practice for the transparency of payments made by commodities companies to governments in producing countries.