EITI – Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was launched by Mr Tony Blair at the 2002 Johannesburg Sustainable Development Summit and is a global standard promoting transparency in revenues from the oil, gas and mining industries.

International official EITI website: www.eiti.org

Implementation of the EITI in Kazakhstan

The implementation of the EITI has been carried out in Kazakhstan since 2005 on the initiative of the Head of State N.A. Nazarbayev. This project has a high international, political and anti-corruption status and aims to make the income of companies and governments in the extractive sector transparent and accessible to the public.

At the legislative level, a regulatory framework is established obliging subsoil users to comply with the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding of the Initiative and provide reporting on taxes and other payments to the country’s budget, confirmed by an audit in accordance with international standards.

In addition, funds are allocated from the republican budget on an annual basis for the production of national reports on the EITI , carried out by an independent audit company hired on a competitive basis in accordance with the law on public procurement. Also, EITI financing is actively supported by international and domestic organizations, development institutions such as the World Bank, GIZ, USAID, Soros Foundation, British Embassy, ​​etc.

To coordinate the implementation of the EITI in the country, there is a National Stakeholder Council (NSS), which includes representatives of the Government, deputies of the Mazhilis of Parliament, associations of oil and mining companies and the non-governmental sector. All decisions are made on a consensus basis.

All activities are carried out in accordance with the work plan, the implementation of which is controlled by the National EITI Secretariat . Conferences, round tables, seminars, briefings, working meetings, etc. are held. All events are widely covered in the media, on official websites: the Committee of Geology and Subsoil Use, associations, NGOs and others.

A big breakthrough is that Kazakhstan has introduced an electronic version of the provision of EITI reports through the portal of the Unified State Subsoil Use Management System , available online to all interested parties and anyone.

In 2013, based on the results of Validation, the International EITI Board assessed Kazakhstan’s compliance with all EITI requirements and assigned the status of “EITI Follower Country” (Minutes of the 25th Meeting of the International EITI Board http://eiti.geology.gov.kz/ru/homepage/ normative-base ).

Since 2014, Kazakhstan has introduced the provision of EITI reporting by subsoil user companies (tax payers) online through the Unified State Statistics Service portal. Reconciliation with data from the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan (recipient of taxes) is carried out automatically, and final reconciliation reports, including disaggregated information for each company, are available on the website to all interested parties online http://egsu.energo.gov.kz/webapp/ pages/home.jsf .

Since 2015, reporting on the expenses of subsoil user companies for the social development of regions has been introduced online through the Unified State University portal, accessible to everyone. A reconciliation of data on expenses of subsoil user companies for the social development of regions and data from akimats that used these funds is carried out. The final social investment reconciliation report is available on the EITI National Website.

In 2017, Kazakhstan underwent another validation process. On February 13-14, 2018 in Oslo (Norway), during the 39th Meeting of the International EITI Board, a decision was made regarding the status of Kazakhstan. The International EITI Board agreed that Kazakhstan has made significant progress in implementing the EITI and made a number of recommendations to improve further implementation of the EITI.

The priority areas for further implementation of the EITI in Kazakhstan are:

• Implementation of the Road Map for the disclosure of final beneficiaries http://eiti.geology.gov.kz/ru/homepage/bo-roadmap in accordance with the International requirement of the EITI Standard 2016, which will become mandatory by 2020.
• Open data policy, promoting transparency, data availability, public debate, eliminating corruption. Timely filling of information on open data, as well as expanding the range of their content on the Government Open Data website.
• Contract disclosure is one of the most important steps for countries implementing the EITI, as it aims to more effectively manage extractive resources. Contract transparency promotes constructive relationships between citizens, companies and Government, which can reduce conflict and promote stability in the sector.