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EITI Recommends Togo & Seychelles For Making Meaningful Progress

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Togo

The Board came to the following decision regarding the Validation of Togo:

The EITI Board agrees that Togo has fully addressed five of the seven corrective actions from the country’s first Validation. Consequently, Togo has made meaningful progress overall with implementing the EITI Standard, with considerable improvements across the remaining two individual requirements.

The Board recognises Togo’s efforts to use the EITI to as a driving force for reforms in the mining sector with the revisions to the Transparency Code and the Mining Sector Governance Development Project, in the context of broader regional public financial management reforms. The Board takes note of the MSG’s efforts in using the EITI to improve transparency in the marketing of precious minerals, mineral transportation, and groundwater exploitation.

The Board congratulates Togo for its efforts to enhance transparency of the two state-owned companies (SOEs) in the extractive sector, the Societe Nouvelle des Phosphates du Togo (SNPT) and la Société Togolaise des Eaux (TdE), by providing more information on the financial relationship between the state and SOEs, including the publication of SNPT’s audited financial statements. The Board encourages Togo to consider ways of systematically disclosing the rules and practices related to state participation in the extractive industries within routine government systems.

The Board welcomes Togo’s expansion of EITI disclosures to subnational transfers of non-extractive revenues in light of robust popular demand for greater clarity on subnational revenue flows, effectively using EITI reporting to improve transparency and accountability in public financial management.

The Board encourages Togo to further strengthen the multi-stakeholder oversight of EITI implementation, including by clarifying the rules and procedures related to all constituencies’ representation on the EITI Steering Committee. Each constituency is urged to consider gender balance in their representation to progress towards gender parity. The Board encourages the Government of Togo to review the Decree institutionalising the EITI to ensure it reflects the evolution of the EITI Standard and is sufficiently flexible to cover systematic disclosures of EITI data through routine government and company systems.

The Board recognises the efforts of the tax office (Office Togolais de Revenues) to mainstream disclosures of extractive revenue data collaboration. Togo is encouraged to use EITI reporting as a means of strengthening systematic disclosures of information on licenses, contracts and the implementation of barter-type agreements.

The Board recognises the government’s efforts to ensure the publication of extractive contracts and encourages the MSG to assess the comprehensiveness of contract disclosure practices to date and explore opportunities for collating all mining contracts in a single repository to facilitate access to key stakeholders.

The Board has determined that Togo will have 12 months, i.e. until 11 September 2021 before a third Validation to carry out corrective actions regarding MSG oversight (1.4) and workplan (1.5).  Failure to achieve satisfactory progress in the third Validation will result in temporary suspension in accordance with Article 6 of the EITI Standard. In accordance with the EITI Standard, Togo’s Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) may request an extension of this timeframe or request that Validation commences earlier than scheduled

Seychelles

The Board came to the following decision:

The EITI Board agrees that Seychelles has fully addressed three of the eight corrective actions from the country’s first Validation. Consequently, Seychelles has made meaningful progress overall in implementing the 2019 EITI Standard, with considerable improvements across several individual requirements.
The Board congratulates Seychelles for transitioning to an approach to EITI implementation that is proportionate considering the role of the extractive sector in the Seychellois economy. The successful disclosure of summary data covering financial years 2017 and 2018 and the publication of contextual information on the websites of PetroSeychelles and other government institutions is commendable. Seychelles in encouraged to disclose information on the management and monitoring of the environmental impact of the extractive industries.
The adoption of beneficial ownership legislation that guarantees public access to information regarding the beneficial owners of extractive companies demonstrates Seychelles’ commitment to transparency that is embedded in government systems. The government and extractive companies are encouraged to ensure that corresponding disclosures are comprehensive, reliable and timely.
Seychelles is encouraged to ensure that multi-stakeholder oversight of the EITI corresponds to the new approach to implementation. The multi-stakeholder group has an important role in overseeing the comprehensiveness, reliability, accessibility and timeliness of routine disclosures of data.
The Board has determined that Seychelles will have 18 months before a third Validation, i.e. until 11 March 2022, to carry out corrective actions regarding work plan (Requirement 1.5), license allocations (Requirement 2.2), license register (Requirement 2.3), contracts (Requirement 2.4), beneficial ownership (Requirement 2.5), data accessibility (Requirement 7.2) and outcomes and impact (Requirement 7.4). Failure to achieve satisfactory progress in the third Validation will result in temporary suspension in accordance with Article 6 of the EITI Standard. In accordance with the EITI Standard, Seychelles’ Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) may request an extension of this timeframe or request that Validation commences earlier than scheduled.

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