Progress Report 2017: Ending company anonymity – the key to fighting corruption

2017 Progress Report

Ending Company Anonymity – the key to fighting corruption

To date:

  • 51
    countries implement the EITI
  • 332
    fiscal years covered in EITI Reports
  • 2.3
    trillion USD revenues from oil, gas and mining sectors disclosed
  • 1400
    people serve on EITI national commissions

Message from the Chair

2016 shows us that around the world there is voter dissatisfaction with politicians and elites. The social compact between citizens and their political representatives is being challenged like never before.

Message from the Head of Secretariat

In this 2017 EITI Progress Report we give a snapshot of where the EITI is at the beginning of 2017. Our aim is to provide a window on the 42 EITI Reports that were published in 2016, which collectively disclosed about USD 320 billion of taxes and royalties.

EITI: A tool for reformers

"We are committed to the EITI, which will help us recover earnings from natural resources."

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor of Myanmar

Transparency is good for everyone: civil society, governments and companies. It informs public debate and empowers all stakeholders to contribute to how the sector should be governed. The EITI Standard is used across the world by a variety of actors working alone or in concert with others to bring about change in the way natural resources are managed and governed in their countries.

Hidden ownership: A particular challenge in the extractive sector

Find out more about why EITI countries are pursuing beneficial ownership transparency. 

 

 

Road to 2020 and reviewing and reforming the law

Road to 2020

Forty-four countries have published a beneficial ownership disclosure roadmap and these are, in many cases, the first time EITI countries have considered the policy steps for beneficial ownership transparency.

Reviewing and reforming the law

21 EITI countries are establishing public beneficial ownership registers. Find out more about how the EITI is assisting countries to reform and review their laws. 

Strengthening government systems

EITI mainstreaming means that countries and companies regularly disclose information and that the disclosures are easily accessible and understandable. It also means that governments are transparent about quality assurances of  this disclosed information to ensure timely, comprehensive and reliable information.

Making EITI data open and accessible

The 2016 EITI Standard requires that EITI Reports are “comprehensible, actively promoted, publicly accessible, and contribute to public debate”. Publishing in an open data format breaks down the barriers to accessing information locked in PDF format. Data is compiled into a standard format called “EITI Summary Data”, which powers data driven webpages, visualisations and data portals. The data covers 300 plus EITI country years and the raw excel files are available to download from a Google Drive repository. 

26 EITI countries have adopted an open data policy on the access, release and re-use of EITI Data. 

Contract transparency

Contracts, licenses and associated agreements establish many of the commitments between government and extractive companies. Contract transparency can provide citizens with a way to better verify that what their country receives from its oil, gas and minerals is what ought to be received, and that other obligations, such as social or environmental commitments, are honoured.

Commodity trading transparency

Commodity trading is an area with great potential for further transparency. While the EITI does not cover payments from one private company to another, it does cover the payments between state bodies and private companies. An understanding of company payments and government revenues can inform public debate about the governance of the extractive industries.

Artisanal and small-scale mining

Most artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) activity is informal or illegal in nature, with production often clandestine and hidden from official view. Collecting detailed and reliable information about scale, dynamics and economics of the sector can be challenging, and the scant data available is often not well stored and rarely used in policy-making.

The sector’s informality, illegal trade and the nature of the materials extracted can lead to difficulties in obtaining production figures.

Public debate: Bringing the information gap

EITI countries are geographically varied. Disseminating and communicating across such a vast territory to millions of citizens is a challenge taken up by each national commission who tailor their communications strategy to their particular circumstances.

Below are examples of different approaches taken by countries in communicating the EITI results to the general public in order to bridge the information gap that leads from transparency to accountability.

Regional focus

Africa – No region in the world is as resource-dependent as Africa. 

Europe and Asia  – Tackling hidden ownership. 

Americas – Stakeholders working together. 

Impact

Monitoring and evaluating the EITI's impact. 

Validation

The EITI's quality assurance mechanism.

Working together

The EITI is a coalition of governments, companies, investors, civil society organisations, and partner organisations. A multi-stakeholder group oversees the EITI process in implementing countries and internationally.

EITI timeline 2016

The Progress Report is the EITI’s annual overview of the progress to improve transparency and governance of natural resources in the EITI countries. It complements the reporting from the EITI Board to the EITI Members’ Meeting and annual financial reporting.

View previous editions   2016     2015    2014