The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a global initiative launched in 2002 to promote better governance in countries rich in natural resources.
The EITI seeks to document legal and fiscal reform, to strengthen tax collection and systems of governance so as to improve trust between political leaders and the population in the management of extractive revenues, to inform public debate, to trace the allocation of revenue to communities, and to promote better collection of extractive receipts (EITI Standard, 2019). The aim is to counter the resource curse through greater transparency, which narrows the scope for corruption and increases the accountability of leaders to their people. Transparency also improves the investment climate.
The EITI rests on twelve Principles, six Criteria and a set of Standards that have broadened over time. The Standard provides a framework and a process for promoting greater transparency and accountability in the oil, gas and mining sectors.
The EITI Standard requires every member country to publish information covering the whole value chain of the extractive industries, from the point at which natural resources are extracted through to the way revenues reach government and benefit the population.
The Standard sets out: (i) the requirements member countries must satisfy; (ii) oversight of EITI implementation by its Board; (iii) the Protocol on civil society participation; (iv) the EITI’s Expectations of supporting companies; (v) the Open Data Policy; and (vi) the governance and management of the EITI.
Within this initiative, AUDICO’s specialists provide assistance and support to member States and to companies in the extractive industries value chain on the following:
- Support and assistance to States in bringing themselves into compliance in order to apply for EITI membership.
- Assistance to member States in mastering the EITI Principles, Criteria and Standards, so as to ease their application and consolidate membership status.
- Support in establishing and satisfactorily operating the bodies that implement and supervise the application of the EITI Principles, Criteria and Standard: the National Supervisory Board, the Steering Committee and the Technical Secretariat.
- Support to member States in meeting the EITI requirements.
- Support and assistance to civil society in participating effectively in the EITI.
- Support and assistance to companies in understanding the EITI Principles, Criteria, Standard and requirements, so as to ease their approval as principal actors, suppliers or service providers within the extractive industries value chain.
- Support and assistance to companies in implementing the EITI requirements in order to maintain their place in the extractive industries value chain.
- Training.