While the World Bank, OECD and others have developed guidance and standards on SOE governance, the EITI Standard exclusively addresses governance considerations relevant to SOEs operating in the extractive sector.
The 2019 EITI Standard includes requirements that relate directly to SOEs (detailed below) and monitors their adherence through Validation. In addition to these requirements, many other aspects of the EITI Standard are relevant to SOEs in the extractive sector.
SOEs take part in multi-stakeholder groups in their country of operation.
Where SOEs are license holders or are responsible for establishing the licensing process and awarding and registering licenses, requirements relating the publication of information on license awards and on maintaining public registries of license holders are relevant.
SOEs holding production contracts or entering into production contracts on behalf of the state are required to disclose these contracts in terms of the contract transparency requirements of the EITI Standard.
Where SOEs engage in production, production data is included in transparency commitments under the EITI Standard.
Disclosure of revenues paid or collected by SOEs in the form of taxes, royalties, non-budgetary payments and sub-national payments is required in terms of the EITI Standard. Revenues and payments made for the transportation of goods by or on behalf of SOEs is also made public in accordance with the EITI Standard.
Publication of social and environmental payments by SOEs is required in accordance with the EITI Standard.
Where SOEs are EITI supporting companies, they also commit to the Expectations for EITI supporting companies.
Through these disclosures, applied to over 50 countries that have committed to the EITI Standard to date, EITI reporting has greatly improved the quantity and quality of publicly available information on SOEs.