BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 5
Trend:
Kazakhstan has recently introduced a simplified process for licensing in its subsoil sector, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) told Trend in a written statement.
EITI said that these simplifications were introduced within the framework of the Code on Subsoil and Subsoil Use, approved in December 2017.
"Additionally, the Code addresses the issue of hidden ownership by introducing the concept of control over a company and allowing the government and business partners to know who they work with. This development is welcome because anonymous company ownership structures can be used to obscure corrupt activity," said the transparency organization.
The requirement to disclose registers of beneficial owners of extractive companies is a relatively new development in the EITI Standard, which came into effect in January 2020.
"Beneficial ownership information on Kazakhstan’s extractive companies is made available by the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development and is accessible online," according to the EITI.
The organization also noted that progress has been made on social expenditures, where a dedicated budget code has been established to track extractive company social expenditures for the benefit of communities.
"This can serve as a useful tool for citizen oversight and accountability of the sector. It is especially important under current circumstances, where revenue from the extractive sector may be allocated for Covid-19 relief. Making these systems more robust, by providing more clarity on different types of social expenditures would be beneficial and help boost transparency further," the statement concluded.
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