EITI - Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

Background

The EITI is an international voluntary initiative to promote transparency of revenues and expenditures in the extractive sector that is implemented by 52 countries around the world. Within the framework of a multi-stakeholder group (MSG) with equal representation from government, business and civil society, FÖS/Green Budget Germany supports the German EITI (D-EITI) and the development of expertise within civil society.

Objective

One of the objectives of the D-EITI is to provide transparent reporting that is accessible to a broad public in order to foster a debate on raw materials policy that also includes aspects of economic, environmental and social sustainability. Reporting is based on the requirements of the EITI standard and, as a voluntary initiative, is intended to create added value over and above the legal requirements of the EU Accounting Directive.

Content and measures

The EITI has been implemented in Germany since 2014. As a representative of civil society, FÖS/GBG is part of the German MSG. The group meets three to four times a year to decide by consensus which raw materials and payments (taxes, licences, fees etc.) from companies to government are relevant for the initiative.

The central element of the D-EITI is an annual report that informs citizens about Germany’s extractive sector. The core of the report is the reconciliation of payments. To this end, participating companies disclose their payments to the state and the tax authorities make transparent what revenue they have received from the companies. An independent administrator compares whether these figures match. Any discrepancies are presented in the report. However, the report also deals with the context of raw materials extraction in Germany and covers aspects such as the nature and extent of extraction, the legal framework, revenues and economic contribution of the German extractive sector and the environmental impact of extraction. Here, FÖS/GBG contributes with its expertise on excise taxes and other environment-related payments such as water extraction fees, but also on subsidies and tax benefits.

With the national implementation of the EITI, Germany has set itself the goal of making a contribution to greater transparency and accountability in the extractive industry, also internationally. Dialogue with other EITI countries is crucial in this respect. To this end, FÖS/GBG has established an international network in a project with the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF). Within this framework, a regular exchange on the national implementation of the EITI takes place with the Ukrainian DiXi-Group, which is part of the Ukrainian MSG. Experiences with the multi-stakeholder model, emerging challenges in the implementation of the EITI as well as possible solutions are discussed. One result of the cooperation is a report that compiles successful examples of implementation in Ukraine and Germany and can serve as a model for other countries. In this report, FÖS/GBG presents approaches for future reporting of environment-related payments.