What is the EITI? The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a global Standard to promote open and accountable management of natural resources. It seeks to strengthen government and company systems, inform public debate, and enhance trust. In each implementing country it is supported by a coalition of governments, companies and civil society working together. History of EITI In the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was an expanding library of academic literature around the resource curse by such acolytes as Jeffrey Sachs, Joseph Stiglitz, Terry Lynn Karl and Paul Collier detailing how the huge potential benefits of oil, gas and mining were not being realised and were associated with increased poverty, conflict and corruption. The problem went beyond just the well-known economic phenomenon of 'Dutch Disease' by which natural resource wealth made other export sectors uncompetitive. Other common effects were around the capturing of the revenues by elites, the stunting of the development of tax systems to capture revenue from non-extractive sectors, exacerbated regional and community tensions. These writings outlined out the complexities of the governance of extractive resources – from bidding, exploration, licenses, contracts, operations, revenues, supply chains, local content, transit, services, allocations, and spending. They noted environmental, social and political concerns. They each outlined remedies for addressing the curse, often noting that no single action would be capable of tackling all these challenges. However, the literature was clear – transparency and dialogue had to be part of the starting point How the EITI works Assessing transparency: EITI Validation By the time of the third EITI Global Conference in Oslo in October 2006, the implementing countries (now joined by Niger and Cameroon) were preparing their first EITI reconciliation reports. Azerbaijan had al¬ready produced reports covering revenue from 2003–2005 and Nigeria a report covering 1999–2004. Alongside the production of an EITI Source Book in 2005, which provided guidance on how to produce these reports, the International Advisory Group had sufficient emerging approaches to introduce the EITI Validation Guide, which set out the indicators that implementing countries had to meet in order to become EITI Compliant. The guide was introduced at the Oslo conference, effectively marking the end of the beginning for the EITI. The guide also included for the first time a formal process to sign-up to become an EITI “Candidate” country. What is the EITI? The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a global Standard to promote open and accountable management of natural resources. It seeks to strengthen government and company systems, inform public debate, and enhance trust. In each implementing country it is supported by a coalition of governments, companies and civil society working together. History of EITI In the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was an expanding library of academic literature around the resource curse by such acolytes as Jeffrey Sachs, Joseph Stiglitz, Terry Lynn Karl and Paul Collier detailing how the huge potential benefits of oil, gas and mining were not being realised and were associated with increased poverty, conflict and corruption. The problem went beyond just the well-known economic phenomenon of 'Dutch Disease' by which natural resource wealth made other export sectors uncompetitive. Other common effects were around the capturing of the revenues by elites, the stunting of the development of tax systems to capture revenue from non-extractive sectors, exacerbated regional and community tensions. These writings outlined out the complexities of the governance of extractive resources – from bidding, exploration, licenses, contracts, operations, revenues, supply chains, local content, transit, services, allocations, and spending. They noted environmental, social and political concerns. They each outlined remedies for addressing the curse, often noting that no single action would be capable of tackling all these challenges. However, the literature was clear – transparency and dialogue had to be part of the starting point How the EITI works Assessing transparency: EITI Validation By the time of the third EITI Global Conference in Oslo in October 2006, the implementing countries (now joined by Niger and Cameroon) were preparing their first EITI reconciliation reports. Azerbaijan had al¬ready produced reports covering revenue from 2003–2005 and Nigeria a report covering 1999–2004. Alongside the production of an EITI Source Book in 2005, which provided guidance on how to produce these reports, the International Advisory Group had sufficient emerging approaches to introduce the EITI Validation Guide, which set out the indicators that implementing countries had to meet in order to become EITI Compliant. The guide was introduced at the Oslo conference, effectively marking the end of the beginning for the EITI. The guide also included for the first time a formal process to sign-up to become an EITI “Candidate” country.