EITI in Germany
3 topics, 7 objectives
To match the special national characteristics of its extractive industries, each country can specify its own objectives and priorities for the EITI-implementation, always on the basis of the mandatory EITI standard. The objectives are elaborated by the MSG. In order to implement them, a work plan is specified. It hast to be approved by the MSG. The MSG of the D-EITI has adopted seven objectives for the implementation of the EITI in Germany. These objectives can be divided into three thematic areas:
Development of an understandable D-EITI report, which promotes dialogue about the national extractive sector
Produce timely reports that are understandable and accessible to the general public and based on a transparent, open and innovative EITI process in Germany.
Process contextual information concerning the German extractive sector, with a view to promoting a broad debate on resource policy that includes aspects of sustainability (economic, environmental, and social).
Engage in understandable, commensurate and increasingly comprehensive reporting to the general public in compliance with the EITI Standard and in harmony with the EU Accounting and Transparency Directives. Concomitantly, additional value shall be generated
Ensure ongoing implementation of the D-EITI with the intended multi-stakeholder model while building capacity for broad-scale public debate.
Sharing of knowledge and experiences regarding the multi-stakeholder process in a federal country
Share experience from the multi-stakeholder process, in particular with respect to participatory democracy, citizen engagement and knowledge transfer, and also with regard to EITI implementation in a federal state.
Substantially enhance Germany’s credibility as regards its political and financial support for EITI.
Contribution to the development of the EITI standard as a global transparency standard
Contribute to the further development of the EITI Standard and its implementation and acceptance as a de-facto global standard, to support the global striving for transparency and accountability as well as the fight against corruption in the extractive sector.
Participants in the Multi Stakeholder Group (MSG)
D-EITI Special Representative: Dr. Franziska Brantner
Dr. Franziska Brantner is Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). The Federal Government appointed her D-EITI Special Representative in January 2022. She supervises the implementation of the D-EITI. The standard specifies her tasks and competencies thus:
The appointee must have the confidence of all stakeholders, the authority and the freedom to coordinate EITI actions across relevant ministries and agencies and must be able to mobilise resources for the EITI implementation.
Multi-Stakeholder Group
The Multi-Stakeholder group (MSG) is made up of representatives from government, business, and civil society. The MSG consists of fifteen members with five representatives from each of the three stakeholder groups. Additional members may be appointed upon proposal and with the agreement of the MSG members. The MSG is chaired by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). The task of the MSG is to steer and monitor the implementation of the D-EITI. In addition to the content of D-EITI reporting, this includes among other things the approval of work plans and annual progress reviews.
Government
Representatives:
- Dr. Beate Baron
Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (Deputy: N.N., Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action) - Dr. Robert Plachta
Federal Ministry of Finance (Deputy: Bodo Bajorat, Federal Ministry of Finance) - Frank Ranneberg
Ministry for Economic Affairs, Tourism, Agriculture and Foresty, Saxony-Anhalt (Deputy: Olaf Nalenz, Ministry for Energy Transition, Climate Protection, Environment and Nature, Schleswig-Holstein) - Norbert Conrad
Ministry for Economic Affairs, Transport, Housing and Digitalisation, Lower Saxony (Deputy: Jörg Bodenstein, Ministry for Environment, Energy and Nature Conservation, Thuringia) - Torsten Falk
Ministry of Finance, Hesse (Deputy: Alexander Mayer, Ministry of Finance, Hamburg)
Coordinator:
- Dr. Gudrun Franken
Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action
Companies
Representatives:
- Matthias Wachter
Federation of German Industries (Deputy: Hauke Dierks, Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce) - Dr. Martin Wedig
German Commodities and Mining Federation (Deputy: Birgit Schroeckh, Federal German Association of Lignite Producing Companies) - Dr. Matthias Frederichs
German Building Materials Association (Deputy: Tanja Lenz, German Building Materials Association) - Georg Hiemann
Harbour Energy Group (Deputy: André Findeisen, Federal Association for Natural Gas, Petroleum and Geoenergy) - Lena Kristin Michel
K+S Aktiengesellschaft (Deputy: Sven Siems, K+S Aktiengesellschaft)
Coordinator:
- Dr. Stefan Steinicke
Federation of German Industries
Civil society
Representatives:
- Prof. Dr. Edda Müller
Transparency International Deutschland e.V. (Stellvertreterin: Sarina Korte, Transparency International Deutschland e.V.) - Dr. Martin Pohl
Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau, Chemie, Energie (Stellvertreterin: Carola Dittmann, Stiftung Arbeit und Umwelt der Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau, Chemie, Energie) - Jürgen Maier
Forum Umwelt und Entwicklung (Stellvertreterin: Josephine Koch, Forum Umwelt und Entwicklung) - Dr. Henriette Litta
Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland e.V. (Stellvertreter: Walter Palmetshofer, Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland e.V.) - Florian Zerzawy
Forum Ökologisch-Soziale Marktwirtschaft e.V (Stellvertreterin: Marie Wettingfeld, Forum Ökologisch-Soziale Marktwirtschaft e.V.)
Coordinator:
- Walter Palmetshofer
Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland e.V.
Composition of the MSG
Requirement 1.4 of the EITI Standard provides for an independent multi-stakeholder group to steer and oversee the national implementation of the initiative and to balance the interests of the most important stakeholder groups in the German extractive sector. Decisions of the MSG should be made by consensus.
The MSG must be composed of appropriate stakeholders, including but not limited to:
- Representatives of relevant government bodies (authorities, including parliamentarians)
- Representatives from the private sector (e.g., companies and business associations from the extractive sector as well as chambers of industry and commerce)
- Civil society representatives (including independent civil society groups, other civil society representatives and individuals related to the extractive sector)
Important! Civil society involved in EITI must be independent from government and/or companies, both operationally and politically.
The MSG ensures appropriate representation of the three stakeholder groups and reports to the extended stakeholder groups.
In accordance with standard requirement 1.4, the members of the respective stakeholder group ensure that the interests of the entire stakeholder group are included in the multi-stakeholder process in addition to the interests of their own organization, institution, or company.
Each stakeholder group must have the right to nominate its own representatives independently of the other stakeholder groups. The aim must be to achieve pluralistic and diverse representation. Representatives should be appointed based on open, fair, and transparent procedures.
The MSG and the individual stakeholder groups must also ensure a balanced gender ratio in their representation in order to achieve progress towards gender parity.
The process for appointing new MSG members is defined in the rules of procedure of the MSG (see § 2 No. 2, 3):
Members are appointed by the Federal Government for a period of at least two (2) years. To maintain the MSG’s ability to work, the principle of continuity of persons applies. If a member leaves prematurely, the successor is appointed by the Special Representative of the Federal Government for the Implementation of the EITI in Germany (D-EITI) on the recommendation of the respective stakeholder group.
The stakeholder groups nominate their representatives to the MSG in an independent, open process and ensure their representativeness. This means that the stakeholder groups select their members themselves in their own internal nomination processes.
- Among the government representatives, two seats are held by the federal ministries. The federal states are to be represented with up to three seats, including one representative each from the economic ministries of the federal states, the finance ministries of the federal states and the mining authorities of the federal states (at the proposal of the Länder Committee for Mining (Länderausschuss Bergbau) on behalf of the Conference of Economics Ministers (Wirtschaftsministerkonferenz). The representatives of the federal states in the MSG are mandated by the Federal-Länder Working Group (Bund-Länder-Arbeitsgemeinschaft) on the D-EITI in accordance with its rules of procedure. The selection of persons for the respective representations is based on the internal organization in the government agencies that are responsible for D-EITI-relevant topics due to legal regulations.
- In the private sector, membership follows the call of the respective industry associations. The associations request participation from the companies. Interested companies contact their respective industry association, which then forwards the expression of interest to the private sector stakeholder group in the D-EITI MSG. The aim is to ensure that each sector is represented by at least one company. Each company and association responsible for sending MSG members ensures the continuous representation of the organization. The decision on the selection of new members lies with the responsible associations and companies.
- The selection of civil society organizations was based on a broad representation of all topics relevant to raw materials policy. This includes organizations dealing with issues such as transparency, accountability, open government and data, environment, development, labour, and social issues. For civil society, each organization that sends MSG members ensures the continuous representation of the organization. The organizations themselves determine who they would like to send as their representatives to the working group. If civil society organizations are interested in participation in the D-EITI, they can contact the civil society representatives.
The stakeholder groups consider the diversity of their members, including gender equality, in the internal nomination processes to ensure that membership reflects the changing nature of the extractive sector and the requirements of the EITI Standard at all times (Section 1.4 EITI Standard, § 2 (3) of the MSG’s Rules of Procedure).
All members of the D-EITI MSG are subject to the EITI Association Code of Conduct.
Contact us
Are you interested in joining the D-EITI MSG?
Please contact the D-EITI Secretariat, which coordinates inquiries and establishes contact with the interest groups represented in the MSG.
Meetings of the multi-stakeholder group
Observers may attend meetings without the right to speak or vote. The chair must be informed of any additional invited participants at least ten days before the meeting in question.
If you are interested in attending a meeting as an observer, please contact the D-EITI Secretariat.
Financial Support for Civil Society
The D-EITI multi-stakeholder process is based on a representative involvement of all stakeholders of the German resource sector and on an active, equal and informed participation of all organisations involved. With a view to enable this participation and to guarantee for a successful implementation of the EITI in Germany, civil society is receiving financial support from the government in order to build up necessary resources and implement activities. In 2023 the following organisations received a grant of 115.000 € in total (2015: 146.000 €; 2016: 120.000 €; 2017: 90.000 €; 2018: 100.000 €; 2019: 100.000 €; 2020: 100.000 €, 2021: 100.000 €, 2022: 115.000 €):
Forum Ökologisch-Soziale Marktwirtschaft e.V., Forum Umwelt und Entwicklung, Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland e.V. and Transparency International Deutschland e.V.
This grant enables the organisations to inform their respective stakeholders on the status of EITI implementation in Germany and to build up a differentiated opinion on future implementation. Furthermore the grant provides the opportunity to have an intensive preparation and follow-up of the issues discussed in the MSG by building up expertise on these issues.
From candidacy to EITI Compliant country
The introduction of the internationally-successful EITI model offers new opportunities to increase transparency and dialogue in the German extractive industry. The German Federal Government is using the D-EITI to send a signal about its international natural resources policy – a signal aimed at strengthening developing and emerging countries in the common fight against corruption and at promoting transparency and accountability in their transactions with natural resources. This step is also intended to encourage other countries to participate in the international transparency agenda.
November 2023
February 2024
December 2022
February 2022
January 2021
November 2020
December 2019
Mid 2019
November 2018
October 2018
August 2017
From preparation to canditacy: What has the D-EITI already achieved?
February 2016
December 2015
March 2015
March 2015
November 2014
July 2014
July 2014
The EITI Standard Covers
Cooperation
The objective of the EITI is to strengthen trans-national transparency and accountability and fight corruption in the extractive industry. In implementing the EITI in Germany, the D-EITI has therefore set itself the task of contributing to the acceptance, application and further development of the EITI standards at international level. On the other hand, Germany will also benefit from the implementation experiences of the countries that already hold memberships in the EITI. The most important element is the dialogue with international partners.
The International Secretariat of the EITI organises regular exchanges of information, e.g. between EITI member countries at meetings of the EITI Board. The D-EITI is also in direct contact with other EITI member countries and countries interested in EITI membership. The focus here is on EU (The Netherlands) OECD (UK, Mexico, Colombia) and partner countries in Europe (Armenia, Albania, Ukraine).
For the purpose of conducting this dialogue, all D-EITI documents and the website of the D-EITI are translated into English. This gives other member countries (and the countries which want to become members) the opportunity to benefit from the German EITI experiences.