Source: TI

Registration and Disclosure by Lobbyists

1. Estonia
2. Slovakia
3. Czech Republic
4. Council of the EU
5. Bulgaria
6. Germany
7. Portugal
8. Hungary
9. Cyprus

Oversight of Register and Transparency Rules

Source TI

Scale 0-100, where 0 is the weakest and 100 is strongest.

Access to information

Source: TI

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. The government should introduce a comprehensive definition of lobbying/lobbyist/lobbying targets and adopt rules to enable registration and monitoring of lobbying activities and contacts in executive and public sectors.

 2. Chamber of Deputies and the Senate should consider adoption of a Code of Conduct for MPs, which will include reporting of lobbying contacts.

States establish diplomatic missions and send both diplomatic and non-diplomatic staff abroad in order to represent and protect their interests and those of their nationals.Such missions and personnel are granted different privileges and immunities in the receiving states so that they can perform their official functions as independently and efficiently as possible. These guarantees are supposed to prevent attacks on diplomatic missions and their staff by both public officials and private persons and are intended to avoid any other obstacles to performance of their official functions.

Undue influence occurs when particular individuals or groups gain an unfair advantage over public decision-making at the expense of the public interest. This can particularly occur when decision-making is opaque, when public officials or third parties act unethically, or when access to political system is skewed in favour of select interests.

Lobbyists don’t have to and in fact shouldn’t wait until there’s a burning issue to make contact with policymakers. Establishing and maintaining regular contact with as many legislators, staffers, and other influential people as possible will serve you when the crunch comes.

There are three basic rules for this kind of contact: approach policymakers personally; have a clear goal in mind to talk to them about; and make sure they understand the advantages of supporting you and the costs of not doing so.

Approach Policy Makers personally

Lobbying in Bulgaria remains largely unregulated and much of it happens behind closed doors and beyond public scrutiny, 

Having an effective organization is crucial to successful legislative lobbying. You have to gather your allies, create a coordination structure, do your homework on the issue, define your message, establish and maintain a communication network, and cultivate media relationships so that you can use everything you have when you need it. Finally, legislative lobbying demands that you take the long view, and expect that you’ll be at it for a long time.

Step 1: Marshaling your allies