The Board agreed that Norway has made inadequate progress in implementing Requirement 2.5 on beneficial ownership of the 2019 EITI Standard

The Board's decision

Following the Validation of Requirement 2.5 on beneficial ownership that commenced on 1 January 2021, the Board came to the following decision on 10 June 2021:

Norway has made “inadequate progress” in implementing the initial criteria for Requirement 2.5 on beneficial ownership of the EITI Standard. The Board commends the government for establishing an appropriate legal framework for beneficial ownership disclosures, even if reporting practices have yet to be implemented. While no beneficial ownership information has been requested from corporate entities that apply for or hold participating interests in oil, gas and mining exploration or production licenses to date, the government plans to establish a public online register covering all companies in Norway in 2021. In the second phase of implementing Requirement 2.5, Norway should ensure that all companies holding or applying for an extractive license disclose their beneficial owners. Information on the legal owners of all extractive companies should be comprehensively disclosed. Progress will be assessed in Norway’s next Validation, commencing on 1 October 2022. In accordance with the EITI Standard, Norway’s government, in consultation with stakeholders, may request an extension of this timeframe or request that Validation commences earlier than scheduled.

Background

Following Norway's second Validation, the EITI Board concluded on 27 February 2019 that Norway had made “satisfactory progress” in implementing the 2016 EITI Standard (see Board decision 2019-22/BM-42).

In June 2019, the EITI Board agreed a framework for assessing Requirement 2.5 on beneficial ownership. To ensure that progress on Requirement 2.5 would be assessed in all countries within a reasonable timeframe, the Board agreed that any country that had achieved overall “satisfactory progress” in a Validation that commenced or was concluded in 2019 would undergo a beneficial ownership Validation on 1 January 2021. The Board upheld this decision when agreeing on the transition to a new Validation model. The decision applies to four countries: Armenia, Germany, Nigeria and Norway.

The assessment follows the Board-agreed framework for phase 1 of assessing beneficial ownership disclosures. The Board agreed that between January 2020 and December 2021, the Validation would focus on whether the implementing country had met a set of initial criteria and provide recommendations for strengthening beneficial ownership disclosures. The progress in meeting other EITI Requirements has not been assessed as part of these Validations. Due to the transition to the new Validation model, the Board agreed an assessment on Requirement 2.5 only and did not agree an overall assessment of progress in implementing the 2019 EITI Standard.

The draft Secretariat’s assessment was sent to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy of Norway on 10 March 2021. The ministry was requested to share the draft assessment with key stakeholders from government, companies and civil society. As of October 2017, Norway has no MSG (see Board decision 2017-49/BM-38). In accordance with the 2019 Validation procedure, stakeholders provided feedback on the draft assessment on 12 April 2021. The Secretariat’s assessment was then finalised for review by the Validation Committee.

Corrective action

The EITI Board agreed the following corrective action to be undertaken by Norway. Progress in addressing the full set of criteria of Requirement 2.5 will be assessed in the next Validation commencing on 1 October 2022:

1. In accordance with Requirement 2.5, Norway is required to publicly disclose the legal and beneficial owners of all companies holding or applying for licenses and contracts in the extractive industries.