"Call for implementing 'Strengthening Transparency in the Oil and Gas Sector' and 'Access to Information' laws", 31st March 2019

The Lebanese Transparency Association stresses the importance of implementing existing provisions on transparency and access to information within domestic legislation.

In fact, Law 84/2018 “Strengthening Transparency in the Oil and Gas Sector” and Law 28/2017 “Access to Information” contain provisions that should have been already implemented by the Lebanese governmental institutions. To that effect, we urge the Council of Ministers – CoM, the Ministry of Energy and Water (MoEW) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to urgently act upon the implementation of the below legal provisions.

The Lebanese Transparency Association – La Fassad, the Lebanese Oil and Gas Initiative - LOGI, Kulluna Irada, and the Organization for Petroleum and Energy Sustainability - OPES salute the efforts of the Minister of Energy and Water HE. Nada Boustany to launch the multi-stakeholder group election process, a needed step towards Lebanon joining the club of countries that implement the global Transparency Standard, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative – EITI.

While we acknowledge this important step towards increased transparency and accountability, we stress on the importance of implementing existing provisions on transparency and access to information within domestic legislation...

...In conclusion, we would like to reiterate that implementing the “Strengthening Transparency in the Oil and Gas Sector” and “Access to Information” Laws by the Lebanese Cabinet, the Ministry of Energy and Water and the Ministry of Finance sends a clear signal about the commitment of the Lebanese public institutions to transparency, prior to joining EITI.