15 November 2005
The Inter-American Investment Corporation Board of Executive Directors approved its new Disclosure of Information Policy on October 11, 2005.
On October 11, 2005, the Board of Executive Directors of Inter-American Investment Corporation approved its new Disclosure of Information Policy. The Policy becomes effective December 1, 2005, with the exception of new disclosure requirements for IIC financial information and Board documents, which will take effect March 1, 2006. The policy will be subject to review by the Board within 4 years of its complete implementation.
An important improvement in the IIC’s new policy is a requirement for the disclosure of Environmental Impact Assessments for projects with “potentially diverse and significant negative impacts” (Category IV) at least 120 days prior to Board consideration of the project. The IIC will also disclose an Environmental Review Summary and roster of all Category IV EIAs on the Corporation’s website. Furthermore, the IIC will allow for the disclosure of some draft operational regulations, policies and rules, but makes no clear commitment to a minimum standard.
Finally, documents from the Annual Meetings of the Board of Governors, including summary proceedings and speeches made by the Governors, will be made publicly available. The same documents from meetings of the Board of Executive Directors will also be disclosed, as well as agendas and minutes of these meetings and reports by the chairs of the committees of the Board of Directors.
Little has changed
Aside from these measures, little has changed substantially from the previous disclosure policy. While IIC announces a presumption in favor of disclosure of information- “Information concerning the Corporation and its activities will be made available to the public in the absence of a compelling reason for confidentiality”- policy language defining confidentiality remains opaque and exceptions to disclosure are not narrowly explicated. Additionally, information disclosed about IIC-financed projects remains limited. Though IIC releases Investment Summaries for all its projects, including the name of its client, the nature of the operation, and the scope of the project and the extent of IIC financing, these summaries are made publicly available only 30 days prior to project approval by the Board, a timeframe which provides little or no opportunity for genuine engagement with an informed civil society and people affected by the projects.
Key information to be disclosed under IIC’s new disclosure policy includes
- Final and draft Operational Policies – documents “that are likely to have a broad impact on the Corporation’s operations,” like the Disclosure policy, Procedure for Environment and Labor review of IIC projects, and Policies for Operations with Financial Intermediaries, subject to redaction; for purposes of public consultation, the IIC “may disclose drafts of policies that are likely to have a broad impact on the Corporation’s operations.”
- Investment Summary – project summary including name of the client, the nature of the operation, the scope of the project and financing, for all IIC loan, equity investment, guarantee or other financing operations.
- Project factual technical information (upon request).
- Environmental Review Summary – includes IIC environmental classification, a summary of environmental impacts and safety issues and recommendations for avoiding or mitigating these issues.
- Environmental Impact Assessment – detailed surveys prepared for projects that have negative affects on the environment.
- OVE Documents Submitted to the Board – documents produced by IDB office that verifies findings and ratings and issues attestations of IIC self-evaluation reports.
The review process for the new Disclosure of Information policy was limited- the only information available on IIC’s webpage, “Public Consultation” informed civil society that the review began on April 6, 2005, and closed after a 90-day consultation period, July 5, 2005. There is no information available about whether an announcement was circulated about the review nor any records of public comments on IIC’s website.
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