The Papua New Guinea Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (PNGEITI) has published its first Beneficial Ownership (BO) Report as a requirement under the EITI 2019 global best practice standard.
Head of PNGEITI National Secretariat Lucas Alkan said that the report was published on the PNGEITI website in December 2020.
“All EITI implementing countries including Papua New Guinea are required to produce a Beneficial Ownership Report by the 1st of January 2020,” Mr Alkan reiterated.
He said in order for PNG to fully comply with the requirement, it must have a public register that registers the beneficial owners of corporate entities who apply for or hold a participating interest in exploration or production licenses of oil, gas, or mining contracts. This includes the identity of their beneficial owner and the details of the level of their ownership.
Aside from implementing the EITI Standard, PNGEITI is also committed to ensuring Beneficial Ownership information disclosure is implemented through its role in; Open Government Policy National Action Plan 2018-2020; the PNGEITI Annual workplan 2019; and the PNGEITI BO Roadmap for Implementing disclosure including existing legislations such as the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Act 2015; the National Policy for Transparency and Accountability in the Extractive Sector; and the Principles and Prudential Requirements by the Central Bank.
Mr Alkan said while the information for the BO report was collated and compiled by the consultant, it was found that reporting entities did not fully understand the concept of Beneficial Ownership Reporting.
“This is because they were unable to provide complete information of what was requested in the reporting template,” he said.
“In addition to the challenges faced in obtaining information for BO reporting, PNGEITI still does not have a legal basis to collect the required BO information which makes it difficult to obtain complete information from the companies,” Mr Alkan concluded.
The first PNGEITI Beneficial Ownership Report published in December 2020 on the PNGEITI website: www.pngeiti.org.pg http://www.pngeiti.org.pg/beneficial-ownership-reporting/
