The ONE Campaign welcomes the news that the UK has joined the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative –  a voluntary scheme for countries and companies that want to be transparent.

ONE and its partners have successfully campaigned for mandatory disclosure standards for oil, gas and mining firms in the US and EU and look forward to the swift implementation of this standard. Requiring oil companies listed on stock exchanges to disclose what they pay on a country by country and project by project basis, fast-tracks  transparency by putting information on revenues into the public domain for a large number of countries.

Dr. David McNair, Director of Transparency and Accountability policy at ONE said: “This is a strong indication of the UK practicing what is preaches on transparency. Extractives transparency could have a transformational impact for the world’s poorest people and we call on the government to champion this at the Brisbane G20 summit in November and encourage others to follow suit.”

The UK’s first EITI report is due in April 2016. Oil, gas and mining companies operating in the UK will need to submit information on payments made to the UK government during 2014 by mid-2015. With oil and gas receipts for 2011/12 showing total revenues of £11.2 billion this is a significant step forward for both developed and developing countries in the fight for transparency.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. The EITI was originally developed in 2003. It aims to bring together extractive companies, governments and NGOs to encourage greater transparency over revenues paid to governments. Each participating country publishes an annual report that reconciles the payment and revenue data, highlights any discrepancies and provides contextual information about the country’s extractive industries.
2. See ONE’s  Trillion Dollar Scandal report for more information