RECOMMENDATIONS TO NATIONAL DECISION-MAKERS IN THE EU FOR IMPROVING LOBBYING

Source: TI

Transparency: Guarantee the public has sufficient information on contact between lobbyists and public officials to understand how decisions are made and to hold their representatives to account

1. Review immediately all laws, policies and practices on access to information. Access to information laws should adhere to fundamental principles and all information must be considered “public by default” including data on lobbying.
2. Require public institutions and representatives to capture and proactively publish information on their interactions with lobbyists including meeting summaries, calendars, agendas and documentation received.
3. Ensure a ‘legislative footprint’ is created for every legislative proposal to ensure full transparency of decision-making processes.
4. Disclose publicly the membership of government and parliamentary expert and advisory groups, as well their agendas, minutes and participants’ submissions.
5. Establish and strengthen existing registers of lobbyists by making them mandatory and requiring timely registration and periodic reporting on activities by all professional lobbyists and organized interest groups.
6. Ensure that the registers apply to both direct and indirect lobbying efforts targeting the full range of institutions and individuals performing public decision-making functions.
7. Ensure that the registers capture a minimum set of lobbying-related information including lobbyist details; client identity (if applicable); target institutions and officials; the intent of lobbying activities; summary expenditure incurred; and any political donations and in-kind contributions provided.
8. Ensure that the information complies with open data principles, including being available online, free of charge, in an easy accessible machine-readable format. Linking the various data sets, including through a single portal and allowing for bulk download.

Integrity: Ensure lobbyists and public officials act with integrity and ethics in their interactions

1. Strengthen existing codes of conduct for public officials with particular attention to

• Conflicts of interest, including the incompatibilities of being a lobbyist
• Gifts and hospitality
• Interest and asset declaration
• Duty to documents contacts

1. Establish minimum ‘cooling-off’ periods before former public and elected officials can work in lobbying positions that may create conflicts of interest and a permissions process from a designated ethics office before a lobbying-related appointment in the private sector can be taken up by former public officials, former members of parliament, and former members of the executive (national and subnational levels)
2. Establish a statutory code of conduct for lobbyists laying out the core ethical principles including honesty and accuracy of information provided; early disclosure of identity and interests; respect for institutional rules incumbent on public officials; prohibition of undue influence, including inducements and gifts and hospitality above a minimum value; and a speedy resolution of conflicts of interests.

Equality of access: Promote diverse participation in and contribution to political decision-making processes to ensure they are not captured by a select few interests.

1. Establish  a legal right of citizens and interest groups to provide input into legislation and policy items under consideration.
2. Ensure the legal framework explicitly lays out the varied means for public participation in legislative and policy processes, including timeframes, mechanisms for dissemination of information, attendance and participation rules, and channels to submit comments.
3. Introduce a legal requirement on public bodies to publish the results of consultation processes, including the views of participants in the consultation process.
4. Introduce a legal obligation on public authorities to strive for a balanced composition of expert and advisory bodies, representing a diversity of interests and views.
5. Make open all calls for applications to sit on advisory/expert groups and ensure common selection criteria are used to balance different interests.
6. Introduce a lobbying requirement that advisory and expert group members disclose their interests and affiliations relevant to items under consideration.
7. Prohibit lobbyists and corporate executives from sitting on advisory/expert groups in personal capacity.

Oversight: Ensure compliance and effective operation of the rules

1. Ensure the operation of an adequately resourced independent oversight body or mechanism to enforce rules regarding the transparency of lobbying activities and ethical conduct (post-employment, conflicts of interest, gifts and hospitality). The body should also focus on carrying out effective promotional and educational measures.