ANNEX IXSupplementary provisions
ANNEX IX PUBLIC INFORMATION AND TRANSPARENCY MEASURES In line with the desire of the Government of Liberia to adopt transparent and accountable natural resource management, as exemplified by the scrupulous implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the Parties agree that publication of information and other transparency measures are essential for successful implementation of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) as indicated in Article 21 of this Agreement. In this light, both Parties are committed to regularly publishing all information of interest to stakeholders and information to facilitate implementation and monitoring of the VPA. This Annex describes the information to be published by the Government of Liberia or that can be made available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act by the Government of Liberia. 1. CATEGORIES OF INFORMATION THAT WILL BE ROUTINELY PUBLISHED The following information described below will be made available to the public by regular publication, as described in Sections 2.5 and 2.6 of the Freedom of Information Act 2010. The information may be provided by various means depending on the nature of the information and the target audience, for example: (a) websites; (b) multi-stakeholder implementation platform; (c) public meetings; (d) press conferences; (e) national radio and newspapers; (f) brochures and newsletters. As indicated in Annex VIII, a comprehensive communication strategy will be developed to support dissemination of information to all stakeholders using the most appropriate means. 1.1. Information relating specifically to the VPA (a) The VPA and all its Annexes. (b) Reports produced by the Joint Implementation Committee (JIC), which must include the following information: — number of FLEGT licenses issued by Liberia, — number of rejected applications for FLEGT license applications, — instances of non-compliance with the FLEGT licensing process in Liberia and measures taken to address such cases, — annual quantities of timber and timber products exported to the Union, — number of FLEGT licenses received by the Union, — quantities of timber and timber products imported into the Union under the FLEGT licensing scheme, by the Union Member State in which importation took place. (c) Reports produced by the independent auditor. (d) Procedures guiding the functioning of the JIC. (e) Aides-memoires and other reports by the JIC, including monitoring and impact studies as indicated in Annex X. (f) Procedures and terms of reference guiding the functioning of the national stakeholder committee for monitoring the VPA. (g) Guidelines for LAS compliance targeting different stakeholders. (h) Guidelines for social agreements. 1.2. Information on management of the forestry sector (a) Information about and documents from government agencies that exercise oversight over the forestry sector and that are required under the publication arrangements outlined in Sections 2.1–2.3 of the Freedom of Information Act 2010, to make such information routinely available, including: — enabling legislation of the government agency or authority, — its existing policy, procedures and rules, — its budgets, — the financial accounts of the agency or authority, — its organisation chart, including lines of reporting, — material contracts, — procedure for appealing against decisions by the authority or its officers, — resolutions of the board of directors, — audit reports, — public comments, reports, strategies and manuals relating to the forest sector, pursuant to Section 18.15 of the National Forestry Reform Law. (b) All legislation, regulations and operating procedures that have been enacted by the Government of Liberia. This includes all aspects of the regulatory framework that are referred to in the Liberian legality definition in Annex II. 1.3. Information on forest resource allocation (a) Forest licenses issued, including timber sales contracts (TSC), forest management contracts (FMC), agreements and permits for operations and for processing wood products, including forest use permit (FUP) and private use permit (PUP). (b) Agricultural concession contract agreements pertaining to products listed in Annex I. (c) Documents relating to competitive bidding: pre-qualification evaluation panel report. (d) Concession contracts awarded. (e) Social agreements between forest communities and all contract or permit holders. (f) Maps of communal forests and their areas. (g) List and maps of all TSCs, PUPs, FUPs and FMCs awarded. 1.4. Information on forest resource production (a) Volumes and monetary values (as determined by approved FOB price lists) of harvested forest resources, processed forest products and exported forest products, reported as: — total annual production, — by species produced under each forest resources licence. (b) Annual volume of timber and derived products imported into Liberia or transited through Liberia. 1.5. Information on forest fees and revenues (a) Schedule of all forestry-related fees and taxes. (b) FOB prices. 1.6. Information on law enforcement in concession areas (a) Penalties imposed and the list of those who actually paid and those who did not pay or complied. (b) Annual volume of timber products sold at public auction and the monetary value of the sales. 2. INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC WHEN REQUESTED UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT The procedures for granting access to information, records or documents under this Annex will follow the procedures outlined in Chapter 3, Sections 3.1-3.14, of the Freedom of Information Act. 2.1. Information on forest resource allocation (a) Documents relating to pre-qualification which will be made available upon request after completion of the pre-qualification process: — list of pre-qualified companies. (b) Documents relating to competitive bidding which will be available upon request after the winning bid have been selected and all who submitted a bid have been notified: — bid documents, — bid evaluation panel report. (c) List of prohibited persons (i.e. persons prohibited from holding interests in commercial logging companies due to currently holding public office). (d) List of debarred persons (i.e. persons debarred from the Liberian logging industry due to involvement in use, management or harvesting of forest resources while aiding or abetting civil disturbances involving use of weapons). (e) List of suspended persons (i.e. persons suspended due to default on financial obligations related to forest use). (f) All documents, records and information relating to approved business and forest management plans. (g) Location and ownership of land subject to Forest Resources License. (h) Names of forest resource holders and brief description of the areas covered by the holder’s forest resource licence (size of the area and type of forest resources). 2.2. Information on forest resource production (a) Volume and location of wood available for harvest under the annual coupe per concession. (b) Information held on the Liberian LAS database. (c) Annual volume of timber products consumed on the domestic market by type of product and species. 2.3. Information on processing (a) List of registered processing companies and their contact details. (b) Production capacity per processing unit by company. (c) Annual volume of logs processed by species and type of product per processor. 2.4. Information on forest fees and revenues (a) Amount of fees and taxes assessed on business entities in the forestry sector assessed by the Ministry of Finance and the amounts paid per forest resource contract–holder. (b) Amount of money received and disbursed by the Government to the Community Forestry Development Funds. (c) Amount of money received and disbursed by the National Community Benefit Sharing Trust. (d) Amount of money received and disbursed by the Trust to Community Forestry Development Committees, with a breakdown by project, date and affected community. (e) Outcomes of complaints from the public in connection with the County Forestry Development Fund and the National Benefit Sharing Trust or any Community Forestry Development Committee. 2.5. Information on law enforcement in concession areas (a) Charges of violations, arrests, settlements and convictions associated with the operations under the forest resources licence as recorded by the FDA. (b) Forest resources license fee invoices and payment information. 3. PROCEDURE FOR ACCESS TO PUBLIC INFORMATION, RECORDS OR DOCUMENTS This Annex is in line with Liberia’s Freedom of Information Act which makes it mandatory for every public institution and private entity that receives public resources and benefits or engages in a public function to outline how the public can gain access to different pieces of information. The FDA and all other public agencies have developed, or are developing, procedures for making information available to the public. To make this Annex operable, the procedures/guidelines/or instructions for responding to requests for information need to be developed and approved. In addition, the reporting and public disclosure provisions that apply to the LLD and the LVD will be further developed during the implementation of this Agreement.