Publish What You Pay 

Save the Date 17^th September 2012

We’re pleased to announce a tentative date for our tenth birthday. From the 17^th September onward PWYP will be hosting a conference to celebrate and reflect our first decade as well as looking ahead at the years to come.
 

Citizens look to Denmark for leadership in EU on transparency rules

Since Denmark assumed presidency of the EU on 1 January 2012, the country has received petitions from citizens and civil society organizations calling for the European proposals for oil and mining transparency measures to be strengthened and adopted.

Over a thousand citizens have signed Tearfund’s petition asking Denmark to lead the EU's fight for effective laws against corruption. You can sign the petition here.

In Ghana civil society organisations wrote to the Danish Minister of Business and Growth, Mr. Ole Sohn on 16 January 2012.  They voiced their strong support for the EU amendment proposals to the Transparency and Accounting Directives, which would oblige extractive companies to publish their payments on a country-by-country and project-by-project basis. The letter emphasises the importance of project level reporting, as well as pointing to other issues that could strengthen the current amendments.

Read the full letter

Euro-MP meets with African campaigners and pledges support for robust rules

BRUSSELS – The push for stronger transparency laws for oil, gas and mining companies is gathering pace. The European Parliament and Council are currently examining potentially ground-breaking legislation that would require all European listed as well as large private oil, gas, mining and logging companies to disclose the payments they make to governments around the world on a project by project basis.

Arlene McCarthy, the European Parliament’s rapporteur for the EU Transparency Directive met with Publish What You Pay campaigners from Chad, Ghana and Niger last week.

Ms McCarthy said: “Talking to civil society representatives from Africa has confirmed the enormous benefits country-by-country reporting for EU companies will have on developing countries.

Especially project-level disclosure will allow local communities in resource-rich countries to expose any corruption and hold their governments accountable for using revenues towards development.
With more information for European investors too, and a more stable operating environment for companies, this is a win-win situation and I intend to push for the strongest possible measures on transparency.”
Commenting on the meeting Steve Manteaw from Ghana and Chair of the PWYP Africa Steering Committee said: “We welcomed the opportunity to meet with Ms McCarthy to bring our concerns to her. This legislation will make a real difference in our ability to ensure the revenues generated from our natural resources benefit everyone rather than a select few.

What we need are strong laws that are fit for purpose. This means no exemptions being granted to companies under any circumstance and strong project-level reporting which will enable communities and local governments to track the payments owed to them.”

This meeting comes at the heels of a speech Bill Gates made this week in the European Parliament where he voiced his support for the EU rules currently under consideration.

Australian Stock Exchange Listings - Civil Society submits recommendations

PWYP members in the Asia-Pacific region have sent submissions to the Australian Stock Exchange calling for stronger reporting measures for extractive companies. Last October, the ASX opened a consultation process as it considered increasing the disclosure measures for mining and energy companies.

PWYP Australia recommended that the ASX require extractive company issuers to report on a project-by-project basis, and called for an urgent consultation on country and project level payment disclosure. PWYP Australia also provided information on how their recommendations should be implemented.

PWYP Australia’s submission was accompanied and supported by letters from the Revenue Watch Institute, PWYP Indonesia, PWYP United Kingdom, CAER and others.

The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors referenced PWYP Australia’s submission in their own and called for Country-by-Country and Project-by-Project reporting. The ACSI’s members represent more than AUD$300 billion in funds under management. PWYP Australia is looking to invite support from further investors through the UNPRI Clearinghouse.

All the submissions have been gathered on our website.

… and in other Australian news…

Radio National hosted the Australia mining panel : protecting human rights and the environment. On the panel were Scott Ludlam (Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia), Sean Rooney (CEO of the Foundation for Development Corporation)and Melanie Stutsell (Director of Health, Safety, Environment and Community for the Minerals Council of Australia).  You can listen to the panel here. On EITI, Senator Scott Ludlam voiced his support for expanding Australia’s EITI pilot to full implementation of the initiative.  

Read a blog by Australian Coordinator Claire Spoors : The time for Australian and mining revenue transparency is now. 

British All-Party Parliamentary Groups host panel on transparency in the extractive industry

On 24 January 2012, the British APPG on International Corporate Responsibility and the APPG on the Great Lakes Region of Africa, with PWYP, hosted a panel on transparency in the extractive industries.

The panel discussed the amendment proposals introduced by the European Commission in October 2011, which would oblige listed (and large non-listed) extractive companies to publish what they pay on a country and project basis. Panellists discussed the need for these rules, potential challenges in their implementations and possible complimentary measures.

Publish What You Pay welcomed the point made by Elodie Grant Goodey, Head of Societal Issues and Relationships, that for BP “exemptions are not an issue”. A number of companies are seeking to water down the ground breaking US and proposed EU legislation by calling for an exemption clause for countries where disclosure of payments is prohibited. Research has shown that no such secrecy law exists and providing an exemption in the US and EU rules would simply provide a perverse incentive for opaque countries to introduce prohibitions on disclosure.

MP Paul Uppal, who chaired the panel, stated after the event that, “Research has proved that a lack of transparency in extractive industries is often associated with mismanagement and corruption, especially in countries heavily dependent on income from those industries….

In order to reverse the resource paradox we need greater accountability and transparency from host governments and the extractive industries”.

 Guinea announces review of mining contracts

Conakry, 10 January 2012 – The Guinean government announced a review of the mining contracts issued before the introduction of the new mining code. The purpose of this review is threefold: to obtain a fairer deal for Guinea, to advance the principles established in the new mining code (introduced September 2011) and to work towards a better implementation of the law in the Guinean mining sector.
This initiative will be carried out by two committees, in collaboration with stakeholders, and with a renewable mandate of one year. All contracts will be published at the beginning of the process and any renegotiated or amended contracts will also be published.

Speaking at the Davos Forum, Guinean President Alpha Condé reaffirmed his commitment to transparency stating that all mining contracts would be published online.

You can also read RWI’s press release.

For more information on contracts, visit PWYP’s page on contract transparency.

Africa Mining Vision 2050 - AU adopts implementation plan

The Africa Mining Vision 2050, originally adopted in 2009, is “Africa’s own response to tackling the paradox of great mineral wealth existing side by side with pervasive poverty.”

In December 2011, at the Africa Union meeting in Addis, Africa’s Mineral Resource Ministers adopted an implementation plan for the AMV. PWYP was present at this meeting where the plan was finalised.

The implementation plan will be endorsed by the Head of States over the coming months. This year, PWYP Africa will disseminate the AMV and its action plan, as well as providing insight and evidence from comparative analysis of the Africa Mining Vision with national policies. It will use this additional tool to advocate for better legislative and policy frameworks in African countries.

We will have more information on this matter when the final communication is issued by the African Union. 

Une date pour l'agenda

Nous sommes heureux d’annoncer une date provisoire pour la fête de notre dixième anniversaire. A partir du 17 septembre 2012 nous organiserons une conférence pour fêter -  et faire un moment de réflexion -  sur notre première décennie ainsi que se pencher sur les années à venir. 

La Guinée révise ses contrats miniers

Conakry, le 10 janvier 2012 – Le gouvernement Guinéen a annoncé un examen de ses contrats miniers datant d’avant le nouveau code minier (introduit en septembre 2011). Cet examen a trois buts : d’obtenir des accords plus justes pour la Guinée, d’avancer les principes établit dans le nouveau code minier et de progresser vers une meilleure mise en œuvre de la loi dans le secteur minier.

Deux comités poursuivront cette démarche, travaillant avec les parties prenantes, avec un mandat éventuellement renouvelable d’un an. Tous les contrats seront publiés au début du processus et tous contrats renégociés ou changés seront aussi publiés.

Le Président Guinéen Alpha Condé a réaffirmé son engagement à la transparence en proclamant que tous les contrats miniers seront publiés sur l’internet.

Vous pouvez lire le communiqué de Revenue Watch.

Pour plus d’informations sur les contrats, visitez notre page sur la transparence des contrats sur notre site (in English). 

Vision du régime minier d’Afrique – L’Union Africaine adopte un plan de mise en œuvre