EITI Online Data (UA0083)

Ensuring the transition to electronic implementation of Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and online data disclosure Ukraine joined the EITI in 2013 within the framework of implementation of its OGP Action Plan for 2012-2014. At the same time, the EITI standards and best international practices that entail publication of data in machine-readable open data format have not been implemented yet. To this end, it is necessary to automatize the collection of primary information for report drafting. Actions Responsible Timeframe Partners Indicator 1. Carrying out a feasibility study Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry MoF Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources December 2018 – May 2019 International Renaissance Foundation, German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), American Chamber of Commerce, NGO DiXi Group, Energotransparency Association Feasibility study conducted, respective report produced 24 State e-Government Agency 2. Determining requirements to an online platform for extractive industries data disclosure -//- February – September 2019 -//- ToR developed 3. Developing an online platform for extractive industries data disclosure Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry MoF Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources State e-Government Agency September 2019 – August 2020 International Renaissance Foundation, German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), American Chamber of Commerce, NGO DiXi Group, Energotransparency Association Design layout and software for online-platform developed; Texts and photo content produced Expected results of this activity are reducing the timing for submitting and processing data within the framework of EITI reporting; ensuring disclosure and publication of the most relevant data on extractive industries in open data format; timely publication of EITI reports; reducing the cost of report production.

14. Introduce online EITI

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan: [119] Ensuring the transition to electronic implementation of Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and online data disclosure

Ukraine joined the EITI in 2013 within the framework of implementation of its OGP Action Plan for 2012-2014. At the same time, the EITI standards and best international practices that entail publication of data in machine-readable open data format have not been implemented yet. To this end, it is necessary to automatize the collection of primary information for report drafting.

Milestones:

1. Carrying out a feasibility study
2. Determining requirements to an online platform for extractive industries data disclosure
3. Developing an online platform for extractive industries data disclosure

Start Date: December 2018

End Date: August 2020

Context and objectives

This commitment builds on Ukraine’s efforts under previous action plans to implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Standard. Ukraine became a candidate country to EITI in 2013 and has published three EITI reports since 2015, which provide an immense amount of financial information about the country’s extractive industries. [120] During the third action plan period, disclosure of information according to EITI Standard was made mandatory with accountability mechanisms by law #2545-VIII. [121] However, according to the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry (MECI), the current procedure for collecting and processing data for EITI consumes a lot of time and resources. [122] The Acting Head of EITI Ukraine, for example, explained that authors of EITI reports currently collect information from companies manually. [123] This does not comply with the new global EITI Standard, [124] which were adopted in June 2019 at the EITI Global Conference 2019. [125] According to an interviewed civil society representative from DiXi Group, without formal governmental commitments, publishing EITI open data in Ukraine could risk of low prioritization or even failure. [126]

This commitment aims to completely transition the collection of extractives information to electronic, machine-readable, open-data format, and to automatize data collection via an online platform. Publishing EITI information in an open-data format on a dedicated online platform clearly relates to the OGP value of access to information and technology and innovation for transparency.

This commitment anticipates multiple transparency-related results, including collecting data in real time, [127] reducing the timing for submitting and processing data within the framework of EITI reporting, ensuring disclosure of the most relevant data in open data format, timely publication of EITI reports, and reducing the cost of report production. [128] An interviewed civil society representative added that local communities will receive access to financial information that is essential for planning their budgets, [129] based on the September 2018 law that requires 5% of rent payments from extracting profits to go to the budgets of local self-government. [130] The State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources (SSGMR) also emphasized the importance of tax earnings by local communities for their strategic development planning. [131] Given that these are significant improvements over the status quo, this commitment could have a moderate potential impact on improving disclosure of data on the extractive sector in Ukraine.

Next steps

Due to its outstanding impact in opening government during the third action plan and a significant potential impact in the fourth, the government should streamline this commitment.

• The government should review civil society concerns about the current legal deadlock of the multistakeholder group members, which stalls its functioning. The IRM researcher recommends re-electing the multistakeholder group and introducing transitional procedures to avoid such situations in the future.
• The Minister of Energy and Ecology could take leadership in reviewing and aligning the methodology of data collection and reporting across ministries and agencies, as a civil society expert in the field advised. This would ensure the reliability of public data on extractive industries.

For the fifth action plan, IRM researcher recommends the government provide a more detailed narrative explanation of the problem, objective, and solution in the text of the action plan. It is also advisable to develop and list more specific indicators of accomplishment for each commitment activity.

14. Introduce online EITI

Completion: Substantial

The Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry conducted an independent feasibility study on developing an online platform. Then, along with its partners, it commissioned a developer, and the developer has built a version of the online platform that is being tested. ^[121] However, at the time this report was written, the Ukraine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative online platform was not publicly available. [122]