ASSESSMENT LOBBY RULES/LITHUANIA

Lithuania

• Partially mandatory
• Narrow definition
• Mandatory provision applicable to professional consultants, businesses and business associations only with conditionality principle. Civil Society Organizations (CSO's) encouraged to register as 'influencers'. Very extensive system of legislative footprint including cross-declaration of contacts by lobbyists and public officials including elected.
• Register of lobbyists
• Register scope: Legilstaive and Executive
• Register category: identification, category, field of activity, areas of legal regulation, violations
• Limited information provided
• Public access
• Code of Conduct
• Independent authority overseeing lobbying activities
• Interaction scope: Executive and Legislative.

The current rules concerning lobbying give positive results in terms of submitted declarations.

Note

The countryʼs most recent version of the Law on Lobbying came into force in 2015 and requires all lobbyists to enroll in a public registry by paying a fee while forcing them to comply with transparency requirements such as submitting reports that include revenues and spending related to lobbying, as well as their interests in relation to legislative proposals. Lobbying is defined as an action carried out with the purpose of influencing change or repeals in existing legislation or the adoption or rejection of new legislation, however, the law does not apply to associations or NGOs. Furthermore, all registered lobbyists are bound by the Lobbyists’ Code of Ethics which has been prepared and approved by the Chief Institutional Ethics Commission. The Institutional Ethics Commission oversees compliance with institutional ethics standards, regulates public and private interests in public office and controls certain lobbying activities. As of 2015, all lobbyists, including those of the NGO’s, are obliged to register with the Chief Official Ethics Commission and to report any lobby activity.