Beneficial ownership in Asia

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) requires its 52 implementing countries to disclose beneficial ownership information by 1 January 2020. Since the requirement was agreed by the EITI Board in 2016, several governments have introduced reforms. There have been varying degrees of progress given the different political contexts, government systems and levels of capacity. However, considerable progress has been made in developing legal frameworks, increasing awareness among stakeholders, building capacity and developing systems to make beneficial ownership information publicly accessible.

To meet the 2020 deadline, EITI implementing countries were required to develop roadmaps that outline their plans and timetable for institutionalising policies to advance beneficial ownership transparency. This brief describes the progress of EITI countries in Asia in implementing these reforms.