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MCRB Wants Public Input into its Business Transparency Report
MCRB today launched the research phase for the 2015 Pwint Thit Sa report, also known as Transparency in Myanmar Enterprises (TiME) and invited companies and civil society organisations to get involved in promoting business transparency.
This will be MCRB’s second Pwint Thit Sa report. It is intended to encourage increased transparency by Myanmar businesses in the areas of anti-corruption, organizational transparency, and human rights, health, safety and the environment, based on information they publish on the internet. Last year’s report found that around 25 of the 60 companies studied had no website, and only about 10 of them published significant relevant information.
This year, MCRB will research 100 large Myanmar companies. Each company will be rated based on the information on these issues provided on the company’s official website or social media pages. Following initial research by MCRB, companies will be provided in May with findings about the information that MCRB has identified on their website, and invited to comment. They will be encouraged to publish more information, and adopt and implement relevant policies where they do not already have them. After a final check of their websites in June 2015, the results will be published in July, when the 100 companies will be ranked by their transparency.
This year, for the first time, MCRB will also systematically seek feedback from the public, including civil society organisations, about specific grievances that they have about the companies’ operations. Information can be sent to . MCRB will raise these issues with the companies when providing them with their draft scores, and invite them to comment.
Vicky Bowman, MCRB Director said: ‘A lot of organisations, whether government, business or NGOs, found last year’s report useful. For example, foreign companies wanted to know how their local partners or potential partners rated. It also gave a framework, based on international standards, for Myanmar companies to aim for if they want to prove they are doing business responsibly. Since last year’s report, a number of them have upgraded the information they publish.
‘However, as we said last year, this report measures only what companies say they do, and not what they actually do. We want to get more feedback from the public to act as a reality check. For example, has the company been involved in specific land grab cases, or does it mistreat its workers or prevent them from joining a trade union? We hope that those who have been negatively affected by any of these 100 companies’ operations will let us know, particularly if the company has not addressed the grievance satisfactorily’.
The Pwint Thit Sa project is also intended to build company capacity. Since the last report MCRB has conducted several well-attended workshops on issues such as good anti-corruption practice and human rights policy to help companies who are interested in improving their performance in these areas, and bringing it in line with international standards.
Background
Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB) is an initiative funded by the UK, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Netherlands and Ireland, based on collaboration between the UK-based Institute of Human Rights and Business, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights. The Centre was established to provide an effective and legitimate platform for the creation of knowledge, capacity and dialogue concerning responsible business in Myanmar, based on local needs and international standards, which results in more responsible business practices. It is a neutral platform working with businesses, civil society and government.
The companies being studied in 2015 have been drawn from the list of the Top 1000 commercial tax payers and Top 1000 income payers published by the Internal Revenue Department. Subsidiaries have been grouped together under their parent Group. Other large companies have also been added to the list.
A list of the 35 questions/issues which will be searched for on company websites is available here. Comments on this, and on the company list, including any suggestions for other companies to be included can be sent to
Many of the questions in the report are based on those in Transparency International’s Transparency in Corporate Reporting Report. This assessed companies’ anti-corruption reporting practices, the way they organize company holdings such as subsidiaries and joint ventures, and the level of information they report about each country they operate in.
Research by MCRB on company websites will begin in March. Companies will be informed of the research. They will receive the initial findings in April/May. Companies will have the opportunity to identify or add further information to their website. The overall findings will be published by July.
Civil society organisations and others are invited to submit specific complaints and grievances about particular companies to [email protected] by 30 April 2015, either in the form of press reports or original information, anonymously if preferred. They may also contact any member of MCRB. Information sources will be treated as confidential
The first, 2014, Pwint Thit Sa/Transparency in Myanmar Enterprises report is available here. The most transparent companies in that report were KBZ, Parami and Max Myanmar.
