Identification of companies

The first step was to identify the companies that were relevant for the first D-EITI report. Here the Independent Administrator used a database analysis 1 to select all the companies which are mainly active in the extractive industry and which are allocated to the lignite, crude oil/natural gas and quarried natural resources (including potash & salts) sectors. The classification criterion was the allocation of the companies to sub-sections 05 to 08 pursuant to Regulation 1893/2006/EC of December 20, 2006 (also read the recommendations of the Independent Administrator). In the second step, these companies were filtered according to the size criteria stipulated by the HGB for ‘large’ companies.
The Independent Administrator manually expanded the group of these provisionally-identified companies by including groups of companies in which a potential ‘consolidated tax group infection’ caused by ‘active’ subsidiaries existed (for details also read the recommendations of the Independent Administrator). The results were subsequently subjected to an analysis by the MSG members. The following knowledge and/or results were obtained:
  • Companies the main activities of which are allocated to the storage (e.g. construction and operationof cavern storage facilities for the storage of natural gas) of natural resources underground are not considered, since the extraction of natural resources is not their primary activity, despite their being allocated to sub-sections 05 to 08.
  • All the companies identified and allocated to sub-section 07 (ore mining) do not actively engage in extractive mining in Germany and are therefore not considered.
On the basis of the above-described selection process, a total of 48 companies and/or groups of companies were identified for possible participation in the D-EITI process and were requested to take part. Due to the difficult data situation, however, this number (48) cannot be described as being clear or conclusive.

It is evident that the selection criteria specified by the MSG ensure a prominent level of coverage for the lignite, crude oil and/or natural gas, potash and salts/industrial brine sectors (See table on participating companies). These are solely free-to-mine natural resources and these particular sectors contain comparatively few, but relatively large business units. On the other hand, quarried natural resources are extracted by a very high number of business operations with many extraction facilities and/or mines. One key reason for the purely regional production and marketing of these natural resources is the prohibitive cost of their transport. According to estimates by the German Building Materials Association – Quarried Natural Resources (BBS), the 25 largest quarried natural resources suppliers would account for only about 1.6% of the total number of companies in the industry and around 22% of the total number of the industry’s extraction sites. It must also be assumed that a number of companies and/or consolidated companies (which are already among the 25 largest providers in this sector) do not fulfil the size criteria and are therefore not identified by the selection criteria screen adopted by the MSG. As a result of the high number of non-identified small and medium-sized enterprises in the quarried natural resources sector, the coverage of this sector clearly lags behind that of the other sectors.

1 Orbis Europe Datenbank des Anbieters Bureau van Dijk (www.bvdinfo.com), abgerufen am 2. Oktober 2018.

IDENTIFICATION OF COMPANIES

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Glossar

In Federal States in which legislation does not include an excavation law and the State-level Nature Conservation Law does not apply to the extraction of non-energetic, ground-based natural resources in the context of dry excavations, this type of natural resource extraction falls within the scope of the relevant state building regulations.

Legal limitations also exist: State building regulations apply to the excavation of solid rock (limestone, basalt, etc.), for example, in quarries with an area of up to 10 hectares (ha) in which no blasting is carried out. In the event that this area is exceeded, or if water bodies are formed after completion of the extraction operations, the German Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG) and/or Water Resources Act (WHG) are applicable.
In Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia, the above-ground excavation of non-energetic, ground-based natural resources in the context of dry excavations is determined at state level by the existing excavation laws (AbgrG). For the excavation of solid rock (limestone, basalt, etc.) in quarries where blasting does not occur, the AbgrG applies to sites with an area of up to 10 ha. In the event that this area is exceeded, or if water bodies are formed after completion of the extraction operations, the German Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG) and/or Water Resources Act (WHG) are applicable. In the other Federal States, this type of natural resources extraction is regulated by the respective state building regulations or by the state-level nature conservation laws.

In general, the AbgrG applies to those raw materials the excavation of which is not directly subject to mining law or the mining authorities. These raw materials include (in particular) gravel, sand, clay, loam, limestone, dolomite and other rocks, bog mud and clays. However, the jurisdiction between AbgrG and mining law can vary from case to case in the case of certain raw materials, such as quartz gravels. The requested authority must always verify its own jurisdiction in each case. The AbgrG also encompasses surface area usage and the subsequent rehabilitation of the area.
The German Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG) is the most important and practice-relevant law in the field of environmental law. It constitutes the basis for the approval of industrial and commercial installations. In the natural resources extraction industry, quarrying companies must have approval to extract stones and earth. Every quarrying area of 10 hectares or more must undergo a full approval procedure, including public participation and UVP (environmental impact assessment). A more simplified approval procedure is used for quarrying areas of less than 10 hectares.

The sphere of responsibility for the legal immission control approval procedure is fully specified in the Immission Control Acts of the Federal States. The Federal States are tasked with the administrative enforcement of the approval procedure. Each individual state’s Environment Ministry – the highest local immission protection authority – usually bears the responsibility for this procedure. Subordinate authorities include regional councils, district authorities and lower-level administrative authorities. Administrative jurisdiction generally lies with the lower-level administrative authorities.
The GDP measures the value of goods and services produced domestically (creation of value) within a given period (quarter, year). The Federal Office of Statistics calculates the GDP as follows: production value minus intermediate consumption = the gross value added; plus taxes on products and minus subsidies = GDP
The gross value added is calculated by deducting intermediate consumption from the production values, so it only includes the value added created during the production process. The gross value added is valued at manufacturing prices, i.e. without the taxes due (product taxes), but including the product subsidies received.

During the transition from gross value added (at manufacturing prices) to GDP, the net taxes (product taxes less product subsidies) are added globally to arrive at an assessment of the GDP at market prices’. Source: Destatis
The planning approval procedure under mining law is used for the approval procedure of a general operating plan for projects which require an environmental impact assessment (§§ 52(2a), in conjunction with 57 a of the BBergG).
There are different definitions and methodological approaches at the international as well as at the national level as to what subsidies are and how they are calculated. According to the definition of the German government’s subsidy report, this report considers federal subsidies for private companies and economic sectors (ie grants as cash payments and tax breaks as special tax exemptions) which are relevant to the budget. Subsidies at the federal level can be viewed via the subsidy reports of the federal states (see Appendix 5 of the German government subsidy report).
In compliance with § 68(1), Water Resources Act (WHG), the excavation of landowners’ natural resources such as gravel, sand, marl, clay, loam, peat and stone in wet extraction operations requires a planning approval procedure. The reason for this is that groundwater is exposed in wet extraction, resulting in above-ground water. The planning approval procedure is implemented by lower-level water authorities.

The procedural steps of the planning approval procedure are governed by the general provisions of §§ 72 to 78 of the Administrative Procedures Act (VerwVfG). Within the meaning of § 68(3), nos. 1 and 2 of the WHG, the plan may only be established or approved if an impairment of the common good is not to be expected and other requirements of the WHG as well as other public-law provisions are fulfilled.