Implementing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (Eiti): Stakeholders’ Perspectives in the Case of Colombia

Abstract: This thesis will address accountability and transparency issues in the Colombian Extractive Industry by assessing the eventual subscription of the country to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The EITI is an attempt to induce accountability and transparency in extractive revenues that eventually will foster the alleviation of poverty and instability in developing countries. The aim of the research is to explore the implementation of the EITI framework in Colombia by considering the stakeholders’ points of view, their political and economic considerations regarding the issue and their level of commitment to the initiative. As a result, using a constructivist approach, this research wants to determine the incentives and constraints of endorsing the EITI as an alternative in the management of resource wealth in Colombia. It further addresses the problem of transparency and accountability in resource-rich countries by focusing on voluntary codes of conduct and the emerging debate about their legitimacy, reputation concerns and relation to the existing legal framework either at the government or the private dimension. It also discusses the deployment of the EITI in Colombia by considering the legal and institutional issues that encompass the resource management within the country. In this respect, special attention will be paid to the Royalties Reform of 2012, the extractive industry’s chain production law and the contractual relation between the extractive companies and the government. Finally, by means of a SWOT analysis, it attempts to give some conclusions regarding the situation of the standard in the country and give some recommendations for improving its implementation in Colombia.