English
Cambodia’s Mineral Exploration Licensing Process: Governance Risk Assessment
This Governance Risk Assessment was conducted as part of Transparency International’s Mining for Sustainable Development (M4SD) Programme. The aim of this study is to identify the systemic, regulatory and institutional vulnerabilities to malpractice in awarding mining and mining-related licences, permits and contracts. The study will also assess the specific governance risks created by these vulnerabilities and present recommendations. This report presents the main findings from the research and the results of the risk assessment.
Summary of Findings:
The risk assessment found that the very-high risks identified related primarily to the evaluation process, public consultation, beneficial ownership challenges, and the need for the better clarify of the guidelines.
- Risks in Application Evaluation exist due to the lack of a legal and governance framework to define the criteria for the evaluation, composition of the evaluation panel, and the requirement for diligence on applicant’s technical capacities, financial resource, and past lawful compliance.
- Risks in Public consultation relate to good stakeholder representation and need for proper public consultation guideline under the legal frameworks.
- Risks in the beneficial ownership concern relates to the lack of transparency in the governance system and involve inter-ministry jurisdiction (MME and MoC).
- Risk in the need to clarity of environmental guideline lies in the bafflement of the requirement for environmental compliance.
