EITI: 11 Years On. Challenges Ahead

UCL Centre for Ethics and Law is presenting an EITI Roundtable on 11^th September 2018 at the Gideon Schreier Lecture Theatre, UCL Faculty of Laws, Bentham House, Endsleigh Gardens, London.

In 2007 the launch of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) started an international process in which company payments to governments and government receipts have been disclosed, audited, and publicly examined. Over the last 11 years EITI has made significant progress on revenue transparency in a good number of countries worldwide that have voluntarily signed up to its standards. The Roundtable will discuss the challenges ahead and any outstanding issues relating to corporate governance, accountability and transparency in the extractive industries.

Corporate Governance

• Has there been an effective sector debate about corporate governance?
• Is there room to improve corporate governance?
• Is the sector today any better managed than 11 years ago? 
• Are further reforms necessary?

 Accountability

• Is both upward and downward accountability currently working well?
• Should the Secretariat be subject to any scrutiny?

Transparency

• Are countries being treated fairly?
• Have grounds for denying conformity status been applied too strictly?
• Should there be a link between accountability and transparency?

Our Roundtable speakers include:

• Professor Iris Chiu, Director, UCL CEL
• Philippa Foster Back, Director, Institute of Business Ethics
• Dr Francisco de la Peña, UCL CEL
• Eddie Rich, Deputy Head, EITI
• Tomas Vail, Senior Associate, White & Case
• Jeremy Weate, Natural Resource Governance Expert

About the Speakers

Iris H.-Y. Chiu is Professor of Corporate Law and Financial Regulation at the Faculty of Laws, University College London. She has published on directors’ duties, shareholder stewardship and corporate governance, as well as regulatory theories and governance in the financial sector. She is Executive Editor of the European Business Law Review and Co-Series Editor of the Palgrave Macmillan Corporate and Financial Law Series, and a Director of the UCL Centre for Ethics and Law.

Philippa Foster Back, CBE is Director of the Institute of Business Ethics, where she is responsible for implementing strategy, leading the team and ensuring that the Institute meets its charitable aims of raising awareness and spreading best practice in the field of business ethics.

Dr Francisco de la Peña Fernández-Garnelo is a corporate finance specialist in the energy industry. Having practised corporate law with Clifford Chance, Francisco served as Commercial Director at LGO Energy plc and as Vice President at Amaltheia Capital. Francisco is a Director of Alfaz Energy, a Visiting Lecturer at UCL Laws, and a Member of the Advisory Board of the UCL Centre for Ethics and Law.

Eddie Rich has been Deputy Head of the EITI since 2007. He initially led on Africa and the Middle East as well as oversight for finance, human resources, communications, and the Global conferences, and now covers EITI implementation globally. 

Tomas Vail is Senior Associate in White & Case, where he advises and represents clients in disputes throughout the world, most frequently in the petroleum and mining industries in Russia and the CIS, Eastern Europe and Africa, advising specifically on tax stability provisions and cost recovery mechanisms.

Jeremy Weate is an international development consultant, focusing on transparency, accountability and good governance in the extractive industries. He has worked in over twenty-five countries across Africa and Asia on projects related to EITI, policy and legal frameworks as well as political economy analyses.

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