The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Board on March 8 came to the decision to suspend Tajikistan’s EITI Candidate Status.
The Board reportedly agrees that Tajikistan has made inadequate progress overall in implementing the 2016 EITI Standard. In taking this decision the EITI Board noted the strong commitment by the Government of Tajikistan and the important contributions by civil society to the process. The Board highlighted that although there is a need for improvement in terms of disclosure of information related to the extractive sector, the EITI reporting process has underscored opportunities for reform. The Board was encouraged by the efforts of the government and the EITI Council to act on the recommendations from EITI reports to strengthen management of the extractive sector, including efforts to establish a publicly accessible cadaster, ensure mandatory disclosure of beneficial ownership and improve tax collection systems.
The EITI Board agreed that Tajikistan had not made satisfactory progress on requirements 1.2, 1.3, 2.2, 2.3, 2.6, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.5, 4.9, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1 and 7.4. The major areas of concern relate to industry engagement (#1.2), civil society engagement (#1.3), license allocations (#2.2), license registers (#2.3), state participation (#2.6), including SOE transactions (#4.5) and quasi-fiscal expenditures (#6.2), production data (#3.2) and export data (#3.3), comprehensiveness (#4.1), in-kind revenues (#4.2), barter arrangements (#4.3), data quality and assurance (#4.9), social expenditures (#6.1), public debate (#7.1) and the documentation of impact (#7.4). The EITI Board disagreed with the validator on the following requirements: government engagement (#1.1), export data (#3.3) and in-kind revenues (#4.2).
In accordance with requirement 8.3.c.iii, the EITI Board agreed that Tajikistan will be suspended and will need to take corrective actions. Progress with the corrective actions will be assessed in a second Validation commencing on September 8, 2018. Failure to achieve meaningful progress with considerable improvements across several individual requirements in the second Validation will result in delisting in accordance with the EITI Standard. In accordance with the EITI Standard, the Tajikistan EITI Council may request an extension of this timeframe, or request that Validation commences earlier than scheduled.
The Board’s decision reportedly followed a Validation that commenced on July 1, 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. Tajikistan’s EITI Council were invited to comment throughout the process. The EITI Council’s comments on the report were taken into consideration. The final decision was taken by the EITI Board.
Recall, the International EITI Board approved Tajikistan’s application for EITI Candidate status at its meeting in Oslo on February 26, 2013. As an EITI Candidate country, Tajikistan had to disclose payments from its extractives sector, and meet all the requirements in the EITI standard within 2½ years to become EITI Compliant.
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is an international organization, which maintains a standard, assessing the levels of transparency around countries’ oil, gas and mineral resources.
EITI Standard is implemented in 46 countries. It consists of a set of requirements that governments and companies have to adhere to in order to become recognized as “'EITI Compliant.” EITI is unique in terms of bringing together representatives from three different groups – private sector, civil society and Government – to work together, through the verification and full publication of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas, and mining.
Tajikistan reportedly has more than 400 deposits of gold, silver, zinc, lead, mercury, tin, uranium, oil, gas, precious stones and other minerals. It hosts one of the largest silver deposits in the world, the Bolshoi Konimansour deposit. Companies, including CNPC, Gazprom, Tethys Petroleum and Santos, are increasingly exploring for oil and gas and have reported considerable oil and gas finds.
