The EITI Board agreed that Trinidad and Tobago has made meaningful progress in implementing the EITI Standard.

Date: 27.02.2019

Reference: 2019-23/BM-42

Description: see below for the decision in full. PDF attached at bottom of the page.

Where: 42nd Board meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine

Based on: Requirement 8.3 EITI Validation deadlines and consequences

Reference documents

• Internal: Board paper 42-5
• Public domain:
  • Trinidad and Tobago Validation 2018
  • News item on the decision: EITI countries progress on path to transparent and accountable extractive sectors
  • Scorecard: Trinidad and Tobago's progress by requirement 

Keywords: Validation; Trinidad and Tobago

Go to Board decisions overview

Decision in full

Failure to achieve meaningful progress with considerable improvements across several individual requirements in the second Validation will result in suspension in accordance with the EITI Standard. In accordance with the EITI Standard, Trinidad and Tobago may request an extension of this timeframe, or request that Validation commences earlier than scheduled.The Board’s decision followed a Validation that commenced on 1 September 2018. In accordance with the 2016 EITI Standard, an initial assessment was undertaken by the International Secretariat. The findings were reviewed by an Independent Validator, who submitted a draft Validation report to the multi-stakeholder group for comment. The multi-stakeholder group’s comments on the report were taken into consideration by the Independent Validator in finalising the report, who also responded to the multi-stakeholder group’s comments. The final decision was taken by the EITI Board.

Corrective actions

The EITI Board agreed the following corrective actions to be undertaken by Trinidad and Tobago. Progress in addressing these corrective actions will be assessed in a second Validation commencing on 27 August 2020:

1. In accordance with Requirement 1.4.a.ii and considering that the MSGSC agreed rules on August 2018 that allow CSOs to nominate their own representatives to the MSG, it is required that the CSO constituency conduct a process to nominate representatives to the MSG that is open and transparent. Other constituencies are encouraged to conduct a similar process.
2. In accordance with Requirement 2.2.a, Trinidad & Tobago is required to disclose the requisite information of the oil and gas licenses transferred in the fiscal year covered. This includes: description of the process of transferring the license, technical and financial criteria used, information of the recipient (s) of the license transferred, and any non-trivial deviations from the applicable legal and regulatory framework. For the mining sector, Trinidad and Tobago is required to disclose the above information about mining licenses awarded or transferred to material companies in the period covered by the EITI Report.
3. In accordance with Requirement 2.3.b, the government is required to maintain a publicly available register or cadastre system with the information listed in this requirement for both oil and gas and mining licenses. If the required information is made publicly available through the EITI Report, Trinidad & Tobago must ensure that the information is comprehensive. If any significant legal or practical barriers prevent the disclosure of information regarding licenses pertaining to non-material companies, these should be documented and explained in the EITI Report, including an account of government plans for seeking to overcome them.
4. In accordance with Requirement 3.3, Trinidad & Tobago is required to publish in future reporting, in addition to the volumes, the value of exports by commodity, and, when relevant, by region of origin. It should also state clearly when minerals have not been exported. TTEITI should include in future reports a clear explanation of the methodology followed to calculate export volumes and values.
5. In accordance to Requirement 4.1.d, Trinidad & Tobago is required to include in future reports aggregate information about the amount of total government revenues received from each of the benefits streams agreed in the scope. In accordance with Requirement 4.1.a, TTEITI is required to document the omission of revenues streams, ensuring that the comprehensiveness of the EITI Report is not affected. This includes that the MSGSC should consider the size of the revenue streams relative to total revenues. 
6. In accordance with Requirement 4.2, Trinidad & Tobago is required to disclose the volumes and revenues received from the sale of the state’s participation in the sector. The published data must be disaggregated by individual buying company.
7. In accordance with Requirement 4.4, Trinidad & Tobago’s future reporting should include all the information needed on transportation revenues if considered material such as tariffs, individual companies paying for this service, volumes transported and if practicable reconciling such payments.
8. In accordance with Requirement 4.9.b.iii and the standard Terms of Reference for the Independent Administrator agreed by the EITI Board, the MSG and Independent Administrator must ensure that the future report include an assessment of whether the payments and revenues are subject to credible, independent audit, applying international auditing standards.

The government and the MSG are encouraged to consider the other recommendations in the Validator’s Report and the International Secretariat’s initial assessment, and to document the MSG’s responses to these recommendations in the next annual progress report.