The board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) today considered the status of 18 countries which were unable to meet the deadline they were given in 2008 to complete external verification of their progress under the global transparency initiative.

The EITI board rejected the option of granting a blanket extension to all countries in recognition of the need to maintain its credibility as an initiative that respects its own rules. Instead, the board granted an extension to 16 countries following a case-by-case review which teased out the specific difficulties countries have faced in meeting the deadline. Countries were granted an extension if these difficulties were judged to be exceptional and unforeseen.

Many countries yet to overcome validation hurdle

Twenty out of 22 countries have not met the two-year deadline they were given in 2008 to complete external verification of their progress under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a voluntary multistakeholder initiative which aims to increase transparency of natural resource revenues. Validation, as the process is known, is a critical quality assurance mechanism which underpins the credibility of the EITI. Progress in different countries varies but a large question mark now hangs over the EITI’s effectiveness as an international standard for improving transparency and accountability in the oil, gas and mining industries, said global civil society coalition Publish What You Pay (PWYP) today.

Additional resources:
Chart showing progress of the 22 EITI countries with a deadline of 9 March 2010
Short guide to EITI Validation

This week Norway, the first OECD country to implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), took an important step by publicly releasing its first EITI report disclosing all payments of taxes and fees made by oil companies to the government in 2008.

PWYP Norway coordinator Mona Thowsen congratulated Norway at the launch event and encouraged “all resource rich countries, including other OECD countries to engage meaningfully in the EITI tripartite process…”

With EITI announcement, Iraqi leaders make historic investment in national and regional stability

The Revenue Watch Institute today congratulated the Government of Iraq as it joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, taking a historic step toward the efficient and open management of its oil industry.

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki announced Iraq’s EITI participation Sunday at a formal launch event in Baghdad attended by government leaders, members of Iraqi civil society and international groups, including the Revenue Watch Institute and the World Bank.

Publish What You Pay has congratulated all stakeholders in Liberia’s Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) following the country’s designation by the EITI Board as EITI ‘Compliant’ on 14 October 2009.

Liberia becomes the first African country to be validated as Compliant under the rules and principles of the EITI, a global framework for increased transparency in the oil, gas and mining sectors which champions dialogue between government, civil society and the private sector.

Publish What You Pay* welcomes the recent decision of the civil society representatives sitting on the national Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)** multistakeholder group to resume their participation in the EITI process in Niger.

An excellent film produced by Andrew Weir and Christopher Walker for Al Jazeera's People and Power series which looks at how revenues from Congo Brazzaville's natural resources have been spent on luxuries by the president's family despite most of the population living on less than a dollar a day. The film features PWYP campaigners Christian Mounzeo from Congo-based Rencontre pour la Paix et les Droits de l'Homme and Gavin Hayman from Global Witness.

Publish What You Pay (PWYP)* is gravely concerned by the increased repression of civil society activists in Niger after ROTAB**/PWYP Niger member Wada Maman was arrested in Niamey on Saturday 22 August.

UPDATE 27 August: Wada Maman provisionally released; Marou Amadou remains in detention

On 16 August, civil society members of the EITI multistakeholder group in Niger unanimously announced their decision to suspend their participation in the national EITI process ‘until further notice’. The decision was made following increasingly serious incidents of harassment and intimidation against civil society activists campaigning for good governance and transparency in Niger, including the arbitrary arrest and detention of Rotab/PWYP Niger Member Marou Amadou*.

London: Publish What You Pay (PWYP)* welcomes the news that Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has signed a new transparency law which increases accountability over the management of the country’s natural resources.

Approved on 10 July 2009, the LEITI Act seeks to ensure that the benefits due to the government and people of Liberia from the exploitation of natural resources are “verifiably paid or provided; duly accounted for; and prudently utilized for the benefits of all Liberians….”