On 11 January 2017, the EITI Board came to the following decision on Timor-Leste's status:
The Board agreed that Timor-Leste has made meaningful progress overall in implementing the 2016 EITI Standard. In taking this decision the EITI Board noted the strong commitment by the Government of Timor-Leste to EITI implementation and the effective oversight provided by the Timor-Leste Multi-Stakeholder Working Group (MSWG). The EITI Board highlighted that the EITI has provided a positive platform for discussion and debates about oil sector management, involving all stakeholders and the wider public. The EITI Board was encouraged by the government’s efforts to make government systems transparent and urged the MSWG to work towards further mainstreaming EITI disclosures.
The Board’s determination of Timor-Leste’ progress with the EITI’s requirements is outlined in the assessment card, below. The EITI Board agreed that Timor-Leste had not made satisfactory progress on requirements 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 4.8, 4.9, 6.1 and 7.4. The major areas of concern relate to company engagement (#1.2), civil society engagement (#1.3), including capacity of civil society to carry out their duties (#1.4), disaggregation (#4.7), data quality (#4.9), social expenditures (#6.1) and documentation of impact (#7.4). The EITI Board disagreed with the validator on the following requirements: license registers (#2.3) and comprehensiveness (#4.1).
Accordingly, the EITI Board agreed that Timor-Leste will need to take corrective actions outlined below. Progress with the corrective actions will be assessed in a second Validation commencing on 11 January 2018. 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, the Timor-Leste Multi-Stakeholder Group 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 July 2016. In accordance with the 2016 EITI Standard, an initial assessment was undertaken by the International Secretariat. The findings were reviewed an Independent Validator, who submitted a Validation Report to the EITI Board. Timor-Leste’s Multi-Stakeholder Working Group were invited to comment throughout the process. The Multi-Stakeholder Working Group’s comments on the Report were taken into consideration. The final decision was taken by the EITI Board.