Summary:
In Official Gazette No. 20 (Third Supplement) of March 14, 2022, the Regulations for the Formation and Operation of the Public-Private Mining Advisory Council (hereinafter the "Council") were published.
The Council is conceived as a participatory body between the State, the industry and the citizenry in charge of issuing criteria and observations regarding normative projects, as well as recommending the elaboration of projects to strengthen mining public policy.
Analysis:
1. The Mining Law and its General Regulations establish the possibility for the line ministry to create Advisory Councils that permit citizen participation for decision making in the definition of mining policies.
2. In turn, Executive Decree 151 of August 5, 2021 ordered the creation of a public-private Mining Advisory Council in order to promote participation in public mining governance.
3. This way, with Ministerial Decree MERNNR-MERNNR-2022-0012-AM of March 2, 2022, published in Official Gazette No. 20 (Third Supplement) on March 14, 2022, the Minister of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources issued the Regulations for the Creation and Running of the Public-Private Mining Advisory Council.
4. The Council is devised as an advisory body for decision making and will be made up of a Board of Directors and an Advisory and Management Committee.
5. The Council will have the power to issue opinions, recommendations and observations about draft legislation on mining and to recommend the drafting of bills to strengthen public policy on mining.
6. The Board of Directors will consist of (i) the highest authority of the line ministry or their representative, who will chair the Board; (ii) a representative of the accredited diplomatic corps in the country, of the countries with mining investments in Ecuador, and (iii) a representative of the Advisory and Management Committee.
7. For its part, the Advisory and Management Committee will consist of 10 members: (i) 3 representatives from the ministry and its attached institutions, (ii) 1 delegate from the Decentralized Autonomous Governments (“GADs”), (iii) 1 representative from the chambers of the production sector, (iv) 1 representative from academia, (v) 1 representative from foundations linked with the sector, and (vi) 3 representatives from the mining industry.
8. An announcement for the selection of the Council members will be made within 30 days from the publication of the Ministerial Decree in the Official Gazette.
For any additional information regarding this matter, please contact Jaime Zaldumbide S. (jzaldumbide@pbplaw.com)
Editorial Board
