Codes of conduct are common in many professions and occupations. Codes of conduct provide guidance to individuals on responsible and ethical professional practices. They define rules of behaviour based on core principles and ethical standards for members of the profession or occupation. They increase peer pressure on professionals to comply with certain generally accepted standards. They can also enhance the reputations of individuals by publicizing the principles for which they stand, and provide a means of evaluating the ethics of individuals who practise in the profession.

As the number of ethics rules and standards increase, holders of public office must be made aware of the rules adopted. While adopting new rules and standards is a key element to any successful ethics regime, holders of public office also need to be educated with regard to those rules. Training is an important instrument in any strategy to increase awareness of the existence of rules and standards. However, ‘one-stop training’ is not enough either. The effective implementation of a conflicts of interest policy requires the ongoing education of all holders of public office.

Source: OECD

Serving the Public Interest

The implicit understanding of politics is that the “special interests” and their lobbyists “buy” politicians.The problem with this view is not only that is it wrong, but also that it misdirects citizens. In short, it asks citizens to analyze politics without the actual politics –without the competition between competing interests, without the shifting alliances and coalitions, without parties and ideology, without any sense of there being a policy process, and without the many unpredictabilities and uncertainties that make politics actually interesting.

Source: Transparency International (2015)

Strengths of lobbying safeguards against undue influence and rules to promote ethical lobbying in European political systems based on a Scale 0-100, where 0 is the weakest and 100 is the strongest. Results are presented in descending order with highest scoring country. The overall score is an un-weighted average of results in three categories: transparency, integrity and equality of access.

1. Slovenia: 55

2. Lithuania: 50

3. United Kingdom: 44

4. Austria: 40

5. Lithuania, Ireland: 39

1. Agenda Setting

1. Agenda Setting

The political agenda is agreed by the parliament and government but can be shaped by NGOs, or groups of NGOs, through campaigns and lobbying for issues, needs and concerns. New policy initiatives are often the result of influence of the campaigns of NGOs. During this step NGOs aim to influence decision-makers on behalf of a collective interest and act in a way that is complementary to political debate.

Contribution of NGOs

When talking about sovereignty, a distinction can be made between formal and effective sovereignty. Whereas formal or de jure sovereignty has to do with a state’s supreme legal authority over its own decision-making, effective or de facto sovereignty concerns a state’s practical capacity to control its own affairs. Also sovereignty can be subdivided into three dimensions, which are state, constitutional and popular sovereignty. State sovereignty refers to a state’s legal capacity to take decisions within its territorial jurisdiction without being subject to external constraints.

Under a contingency lobbying contract, as opposed to a flat fee or hourly compensation arrangement, the lobbyist is paid only if the governmental decision he or she is attempting to influence is resolved in favor of the client.

Lobbying of the European Union (EU) needs to become more transparent and open to public scrutiny. EU policy-makers should therefore collect and disclose comprehensive information on who influences whom in the EU decisionmaking process to ensure a level playing field for all interest representatives and thus balanced legislative outcomes. It will help to ensure that legislation has the public interest at its heart and that the risks of corruption, conflicts of interest and regulatory capture are reduced.