Beneficial ownership transparency Accelerating the fight against hidden company ownership The fight against anonymous company ownership is rapidly becoming a key part of the global movement to combat corruption. Recognising the need to tackle the negative impacts of corruption, tax evasion and money laundering associated with hidden company ownership in the extractive sector, the EITI introduced a landmark requirement in the 2016 EITI Standard. This required the disclosure of beneficial owners of oil, gas and mining companies operating in EITI countries as of 1 January 2020. To achieve this mandate, EITI implementing countries developed roadmaps that outlined specific actions to make beneficial ownership transparency a reality. Some early adopters piloted beneficial ownership disclosure, including Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Honduras, Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Tajikistan, Tanzania and Zambia. These pioneering efforts revealed common challenges related to the legal and regulatory frameworks, data collection systems and government regulatory and monitoring capacities that were needed to establish beneficial ownership registers. Yet the exercise also offered some solutions, such as using EITI reporting as a means of collecting and disclosing beneficial ownership data. By 2017, against the backdrop of the Paradise Papers leaks, most EITI countries had planned to amend sector legislation and to make beneficial ownership disclosures mandatory. Many conducted capacity building and awareness raising activities directed at specific stakeholder groups, such as parliamentarians, industry, civil society organisations and media. The EITI has also supported several countries to carry out legislative reviews and establish public registers of corporate ownership. By 2019, more than 30 EITI countries had collected beneficial ownership information as part of EITI implementation. Despite this progress, however, there remained a need for more focused and collaborative action to make beneficial ownership disclosure an integral part of extractive sector management. countries’ progress in meeting EITI requirement 2.5 on beneficial ownership disclosure 32 EITI Anniversary Report