Guidance note 27 on creating an open data policy
Relates to requirements 7.1.b, 7.1.c, 7.2.c, 7.2.d, and 5.1.b
Download guidance note in English
Download guidance note in Spanish Russian French
| Sep | OCT | Nov |
| 21 | ||
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |

To encourage the analysis of the data published by EITI implementing countries, the EITI collects and publishes summary data:
The EITI also encourages routine online reporting. For more information, see our page on systematic disclosure.
Examples of how implementing countries are publishing open data at source are available below.
The quick summary tool below allows you to compare key figures from EITI Reports with each other.
All available summary data files for EITI Reports have been uploaded to our website. These files are also stored on a google drive, accessible through the link below. The files are in Microsoft Excel format.
The EITI Principles declare that “a public understanding of government revenues and expenditure over time [can] help public debate and inform choice of appropriate and realistic options for sustainable development” (EITI Principle 4).
The EITI Standard therefore requires EITI Reports that are “comprehensible, actively promoted, publicly accessible, and contribute to public debate” (EITI Requirement 7.1). Improving the accessibility and comparability of EITI data is essential to realise these objectives.
To further this work, the EITI Board has agreed an open data policy. EITI Requirements 7.1 and 7.2 require national open data policies and data to be published in a way that is freely accessible.
This page brings together examples of open data disclosures in EITI implementing countries as well as extractives data collected by implementing countries and submitted to the EITI International Secretariat.
Open data is also an important stepping-stone towards EITI mainstreaming. Mainstreaming is about opening up governments systems by embedding the EITI’s disclosure requirements into routine online reporting. For more information about mainstreaming, please visit our this page.
Countries implementing the EITI Standard publish EITI Reports that disclose the revenues and other information on the extractive sectors of our member countries. As part of these publications, companies report payments to government (taxes, royalties, etc) and the government reports what it has received. These two sets of figures are compiled and reconciled by an independent administrator and published in the EITI Report.
The reports and data also include a wide range of information on characteristics of the report, such as the scope of the report and location of additional sources. They also address availability of contextual information, such as contracts, licenses, legal and fiscal framework as well a summary of the sector specific figures (contribution to the economy, total revenues, etc).
Summary data is EITI’s tool for collecting and publishing data from EITI Reports in structured way. The summary data files are Excel files, which are filled out by our implementing countries using the Summary Data Template. The national secretariats submit one Excel-file for every fiscal year covered by an EITI Report. The files include classification of revenue streams according to the IMF’s Government Finance Statistics (GFS) Manual 2014 framework. GFS is an international standard for classifying government revenues, making them comparable across different countries and time-periods.
These files are then imported to our website, forming the basis for most of the visualisations and information covered on our country pages.
Disclaimer: We advise to consult the original reports for detailed information. Where figures are not available in US dollars, the annual average exchange rate is used. Should you have any comments or questions regarding EITI data, please contact us through [email protected].
Below we highlight some examples from EITI implementing countries embracing open data. Some countries have created interactive data portals with various features, while others publish downloadable data files containing information on the extractives sector.
You can also access the documents below via our guidance portal. In particular, section 7 on open data as well as the guidance on timeliness and data quality under section 4 could be of interest.
Relates to requirements 7.1.b, 7.1.c, 7.2.c, 7.2.d, and 5.1.b
Download guidance note in English
Download guidance note in Spanish Russian French
Relates to requirement 4.9
Download guidance note in English
Download guidance note in other languages
Since the guidance note is quite large (7 MB) we have included a lighter version (1.4 MB) containing less sharp images.
The EITI Standard seeks to ensure a credible EITI reporting process that produces reliable data. While data quality issues are relevant to all aspect of EITI implementation,
We have developed standards and codes of best practices in areas such as data dissemination, fiscal transparency and monetary and financial policies (IMF 1997). Promoting transparency in the extractive industries is another area that the Fund has actively pursued in its technical assistance work. Under the aegis of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), a template is now available for reporting and monitoring government revenues from natural resources.
Open data has received a lot of attention in the international arena during the last decade. In parallel to this, the EITI has expanded its work in this area, with a newly-approved open data policy and requirements for EITI implementing countries on open data policies and disclosures. This paper identifies and discusses some key opportunities and challenges of open data in the Nigerian context. It provides recommendations for both EITI and NEITI in their transition toward open data.
EITI Requirement 7.1.c in the EITI Standard 2016 states that multi-stakeholder groups are required to: “Make the EITI Report available in an open data format (xslx or csv) online and publicise its availability.”
In addition, section 5.4 of the Standard Terms of Reference for Independent Administrators requires the delivery of “summary data from the EITI Report electronically to the International Secretariat according to the standardised reporting format available from the International Secretariat”.