The European Investment Bank has announced a second round of consultations on its Complaints Mechanism, Transparency, and Public Disclosure policies.
The Bank is seeking comments by November 13 on new drafts and invited interested parties to discuss them at a meeting in Brussels on November 9. The Luxembourg-based organization aims to finish the consultation process in early 2010.
One visible alteration is the merging of the transparency policy and public disclosure policy into one document, a regular suggestion of outside observers. The second draft also includes additional statements on the obligations of project promoters to ensure public participation.
Comments made about the first drafts, and the EIB’s responses, are contained in documents released to start the second phase.
The preliminary reaction of transparency activists reviewing the second draft, however, was that not much had been changed from a first draft, which itself was considered to offer little in the way of additional disclosure.
Activists are expected to call for more timely disclosure of information on environmental assessments of projects, and additional transparency by the EIB governing bodies, such as posting an agenda and issuing minutes.
The EIB’s first round on disclosure policy review began in May, as reported by Freedominfo.org on June 12 and June 19.
Comments were filed in July by the Global Transparency Initiative, CEE Bankwatch, and CounterBalance.
The EIB has done something few other IFIs have done—publish all the comments from the first round, with permission of the submitters.
Stakeholder comments received during the second round will be analyzed by the Bank’s Review Panel to see the extent to which they can be taken into account, according to the EIB announcement.
After approval by the Bank’s Management Committee, the revised draft documents will be published, for information, on the EIB website three weeks prior to consideration by the EIB Board of Directors, together with a Public Consultation Report. The Consultation Report will include a summary of the consultation process and a list of stakeholder contributions together with the Bank’s reasoned comments. The full text of the stakeholder contributions will be published, for information purposes only, on the Bank’s website, subject to the owner’s consent. They will also be available for consultation by the Members of the EIB Board of Directors.
By Toby McIntosh
Filed under: IFTI Watch