The Open Knowledge Foundation and the Sunlight Foundation are teaming up to convene a new global group on lobbying transparency.

They want civil society organisations, journalists and citizens around the world to be able to use information about lobbying to understand and report on the influence of big money on politics and to push for reforms in this area. To this end they would like to connect and support campaigners working to improve lobbying transparency around the world so that they can:

In its review of the transparency register, the EU will propose new ways to penalise lobbyists who refuse to disclose information about their methods, but divisions over mandatory registration still hamper the tool's effectiveness. A joint working group of the European Parliament and European Commission are expected to finalise a review of the EU’s transparency register for lobby organisations by the end of December. The review will beef up the register's control of lobbying activities in Brussels.

Thanks to a new set of rules, lobbyists registered with the French National Assembly will be required to disclose more information about their lobbying activity, including their objectives, clients, and lobbying budget. More robust disclosure regarding the activities of lobbyists is a welcome development, and one that has been fought for by groups like Transparency International and Regards Citoyens.

The quest for coherence is not easy. The EU has to accommodate many diverse and legitimate sectoral and national interests. Its decision-making system is moreover complex and involves the various institutions of the EU through a variety of ways. This diversity in decision-making filters through to the level of implementation so that existing information and machinery for concerted action, vital to achieve a degree of coherence, are frequently inadequate.

What is Coherence?

Founded in 2000, Fipra - Finsbury International Policy & Regulatory Advisers – is today, Europe’s leading and most extensive public affairs consultancy network advising clients on a range of government relations and regulatory policy issues. Over the last 13 years, Fipra has expanded across the globe and now operates in over 50 countries both in Europe and Internationally.

The Association of Public Affairs Agencies (APAA) was launched in May 2012. Individual companies participating in the association are convinced of the usefulness of this field and the necessity of high professional standards in the conduct of such activities. In the Czech Republic there are quite a high number of companies dealing with public affairs activities either directly or as part of other activities. The key objective of the association is to reach higher transparency and professionalism on the market.

APAA's Objectives and Activity Focus:

Policy requires shaping and managing people’s behaviour, so understandably those groups of persons affected by policy either positively or negatively are important actors to be consulted in the policy formulation process. Policy actors can be categorized broadly into three sectors of society: State, Market and Citizen.

Policies are made i.e. they are formulated by a wide range of players i.e. elected officials and their appointees. In the private sector, policy makers are CEOs, Boards of Directors and other top ranking corporate officials.

The research here below was produced by Tim LaPira, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at James Madison University, and a Sunlight Foundation Academic Fellow.

The notion of political representation of interest groups is clearly related to functional rather than territorial representation. Interest groups are generally defined as organisations that are separate from government that attempt to influence public policy. They provide institutionalized linkage between the government or the state and major interests in society.

Public Policy Advocates communicate with government representatives, officials and legislators on behalf of clients and causes. Public Policy Advocates represent a variety of entities, including individuals, companies, trade and professional associations, foundations, NGOs etc.

Public Policy Advocates may attempt to persuade government officials through direct contact or by organizing grassroots efforts to encourage citizens to communicate with their elected officials about selected topics.