Jakarta – Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia, in collaboration with the Indonesia Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) Indonesia and the Open Government Indonesia (OGI) Secretariat held a Webinar with the theme “Openness of Licensing Documents and Natural Resource Contracts through the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Initiative.” The online webinar on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, was part of a series of activities to welcome Open Government Week 2023.
Present as speakers at this webinar included Grita Anindarini, ICEL Program Director; Vivien Suerte-Cortez, Consultant of Thematic Policy Areas, OGP Global; and Agus Vahyono Adi, Head of Pusdatin ESDM as well as Chair of the Indonesian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Secretariat. Wicitra Diwasasri, PWYP Indonesia Researcher, also moderated it.
Grita Anindarini conveyed the opportunities and challenges of openness of licensing and contracts in the natural resource sector in Indonesia and reviewed several information dispute decisions. Grita revealed that the status of natural resource information disclosure based on information disputes from 2017 to 2022 was 22 information fully disclosed, 11 information partially disclosed, and seven information with rejected status.
“Contract of Work (KK) and Coal Mining Concession Work Agreement (PKP2B) documents, for example, are agreements that are subject to public law and have a public law dimension,” said Grita in her presentation regarding the legal framework for extractive contract disclosure in Indonesia based on Law Number 14 of 2008 concerning Public Information Disclosure (UU KIP), and Information Commission Regulation (PERKI) Number 1 of 2021 concerning Public Information Service Standards.
Grita also mentioned several challenges to contract disclosure in the extractive industry sector in Indonesia, including public bodies not publishing lists of exempted information and conducting consequence tests; arguments related to the impact of contract disclosure on Intellectual Property Rights (HAKI), and business competition; statements about the effects of contract disclosure on the disclosure of Indonesia’s natural resources; and potential litigation due to violations of confidentiality clauses in extractive industry contracts.
Vivien Suerte-Cortez explained the excellent practices and achievements of openness of natural resources – environment (SDA-LH) licenses and contracts in various countries, including Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Tunisia. Vivien suggested strengthening action to implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (EITI) standard related to licensing registration, publishing information about the licensing process, and opening licensing contracts in the natural resource sector.
Furthermore, Agus Cahyono Adi conveyed the achievements of openness of contract licenses in the extractive industry sector in Indonesia towards compliance with EITI standards. Contract and license data disclosure can be accessed through ESDM Geoportal, Minerba Satu Data (MODI), and Minerba Satu Peta Indonesia (MOMI). The portal contains tabular and spatial data of the entire Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) sector in Indonesia, applications containing data on mineral and coal companies, and applications that can spatially visualize the licenses of mineral and coal companies.
Agus Cahyono Adi also conveyed the efforts made by the Government in public information disclosure in the extractive industry sector, including conducting consequence testing to determine whether or not information can be disclosed to the public. Especially in the mining industry, opinions still exclude full disclosure of contract documents with various backgrounds.
As the initiator and implementer of the Open Government Partnership initiative, Indonesia is expected to actively encourage information disclosure by opening information on contract documents and licenses in various information channels that the public can access.
Author: Chitra Regina Apris
Reviewer: Aryanto Nugroho