Promoting transparency in the field of energy and mines (TN0055)

Description of the commitment: Under this commitment, a new energy and mining open data website will be created in accordance with the relevant international standards, notably the ITIE standard. The aim is to promote the participatory, systematic and sustainable data dissemination process and to continue the process of Tunisia’s accession to the EITI Initiative. As a multi-stakeholder council was formed, consisting of all stakeholders in the extractive industries sector, in preparation for Tunisia’s adhesion to the EITI Transparency Initiative. The stakeholders, especially civil society, will be involved in visualizing the content of the portal and the way to provide information, based on the Transparency Initiative standard and comparative experiences for the purpose. Associations active in the sector and not represented in the council will also be involved in order to broaden the base of participation. Care will also be taken to encourage associations to exploit the data that will be included in the portal, in partnership with the Natural Resources Governance Institute. Consultation sessions will also be organized with civil society regarding the proposed draft regulatory texts in the context of implementing the requirements of the Social Responsibility Law, to make comments in this regard and send them to the concerned government parties. Special emphasis will be placed on the active associations in the regions producing natural resources, given the importance of the subject to them and to ensure the effectiveness and feasibility of the content of the proposed texts.

Problem/Background: Structural problems: The organizational instability within the Ministry of Energy and Mines has led to problems in the provision and updating of energy and mining data. Indeed, there is no dedicated website for the energy and mining sectors. In the past, there was a website for all the sectors operating under the Ministry of Industry, which meant that the energy and mines sectors were not hosted on a dedicated website despite their social, economic and symbolic importance. The merger and demerger of ministries have had a negative impact on the updating and ongoing development of the website due to coordination issues between the two ministries. - Problems of quality: The published data do not meet international standards in terms of form and content: Despite the efforts of the Ministry of Energy and Mines with respect to data publication, no significant results have been achieved, partly because of data format (not reusable or not clear enough for the non-specialists...) or incompleteness. For example, no aggregated data on income from natural resources or Social Responsibility Programs are published despite the important budget allocated to this end and the impact of these Social Responsibility Programs on social peace, especially in the areas producing natural resources. - Data publication is usually carried out unilaterally by the administration without the participation or knowledge of civil society, which reinforces the climate of mistrust between the stakeholders and the constant skepticism regarding the data provided by the administration in the framework of national and local campaigns. This sometimes led to the disruption of production, which negatively affected the sector’s profitability. - The failure to enact the Social Responsibility regulatory laws has had a negative impact on both the performance and governance of the energy and mining sectors. Indeed, when it comes to transparency and effectiveness of Social Responsibility programs implemented by companies operating in the natural resources sector, many questions are posed by the residents of the areas producing natural resources and CSOs. - Tunisia is experiencing a worsening energy deficit, which led the country to set ambitious energy transition goals given the high economic stakes, and the need for civil society to contribute to the policies related to this transition.

Identification of commitment objectives/expected results: The implementation of the commitment will contribute to building trust between the various stakeholders in the energy and mining sector by providing the necessary data and working in a participatory manner to improve the governance of the sector. The steps to undertake are as follows: * Create a new open data website for this sector that meets international standards in terms of data format, content and updating. * Ensure the sustainability of the data dissemination process through Tunisia’s accession to the Transparency Initiative, which requires that data be published on an ongoing basis and stakeholders be effectively engaged. * Enact the Social Responsibility regulatory laws to promote the transparency and effectiveness of the legal framework. * Highlight the key economic issues, such as the data on Social Responsibility programs in the energy and mining sectors, the income from natural resources and information related to renewable energies. Publish the data on the licenses and contracts awarded in this field, the beneficiary companies and the production volumes.

How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem: - The implementation of the commitment will contribute to enhancing transparency and improving governance of the energy and mining sectors by further entrenching management openness through sector data disclosure based on international standards of transparency. This can only strengthen trust between stakeholders and ensure they are engaged in the reform efforts. It should be recalled that the implementation of the EITI standard will contribute to institutionalizing dialogue, participation and transparency. - The implementation of the commitment will have important social and economic impacts by reducing protests and tensions. In fact, data disclosure and stronger stakeholder joint action will contribute to improving the investment climate in the sector, an adequate share for citizens from the sector’s revenues and reducing the energy deficit.

Relevance with OGP values: The creation of the open data site on which key sector information is shared and which will be updated on an ongoing basis will contribute to enhancing transparency regarding the management of natural resources. It will also ensure sustainable transparency regardless of the structural changes at the Ministry in charge of energy. The implementation of the EITI standard will also help to build a culture of participation through the working methods adopted by the Stakeholder Council. Indeed, the relevant data will be shared to enable ocial and non-ocial supervisory parties to assess how well natural resources are managed.

Source of funding /Relation with other programs and policies: UNDEF, NRGI

Stages and implementation timeline: Development of a portal for the energy and mining From July 2021 to July 2022; sectors that includes the most important data on the two mentioned sectors, including renewable energies; Preparation and approval of the regulatory texts related to the Social Responsibility Law. From July 2021 to January 2023; Submitting Tunisia's adhesion request to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. From July 2021 to January 2022

Action Plan Review

7. Promoting transparency in the field of energy and mines

Results Report

Commitment 7. Promoting transparency in the field of energy and mines

Commitment 7 sought to promote transparency in the energy and mining sectors, but challenges remained in implementing this reform as seen in previous action plans, such as institutional instability and lack of political support. [20] Intended activities included developing a dedicated portal for the energy and mining sector, drafting and approving regulatory texts for the Social Responsibility Law, and submitting Tunisia's application to the EITI. The Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Renewable Energies faced instability due to the creation and dismantling of the ministry, negatively affecting the coordination and continuity of efforts. ^[21]

The regulatory texts for the Social Responsibility Law, passed in 2018 from parliamentary legislative initiative, had not materialized. [22] Government reluctance was evident during the debates, especially following a proposal to allocate a portion of company revenues to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). ^[23] Meanwhile, the lack of transparency continues to fuel tensions in Tunisia's energy sector, especially in regions rich in natural resources. [24] The non-realization of this engagement has impeded improvements in governance within the sector. Additionally, there have also been dysfunctions in the multistakeholder group for the natural resource transparency initiative.

According to OGP Tunisia website, a participatory process to submit the application to EITI was carried out with cross-sectoral consultations involving companies, parliamentarians, and civil society in the capital as well as resource-rich regions such as Gabes, Tataouine, Kebili, and Gafsa, with support from the Natural Resource Governance Institute and the United Nations Democracy Fund. ^[25]