REMEDIES FOR IMPROVING LOBBYING IN BULGARIA

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

The current legislation in place in Bulgaria does not refer to or use the term “lobbying”. There is no public register of lobbying activities, and the public does not have knowledge of who is lobbying whom, on what issues, when and how they are being lobbied. Moreover, information on how much money is being spent in the process as well as the results of lobbying efforts is not published or made publicly available. There are no requirements for public officials to report on meetings with lobbyists, nor are there any requirements for proactive publication of public officials’ and ministers’ calendars. The concept of a legislative footprint, which details the time, person and subject of a legislator’s contact with a stakeholder, has not been adopted.

A robust ethical framework for lobbyists (including companies) and lobbying targets is not yet in place in Bulgaria. The full potential of self-regulation is far from being utilised to foster integrity in lobbying. The onus for integrity is insufficient both with regards to public officials and representatives, as well as those who lobby them. Equality of access is the best ranking indicator for fair and ethical lobbying in Bulgaria. And yet the country’s score is relatively low. While formal opportunities for participation exist, there is still much to be done to make access to decision-making and policymaking processes more equal. The broader legal environment does not sufficiently support ethical lobbying. Considerable flaws exist in a number of laws and regulations, which are related to lobbying practices. This includes the normative framework on access to information, political financing and conflicts of interest

Remedies called for

1. Public authorities – both the parliament and the government - must introduce adequate (including legal) instruments that support transparent and ethical lobbying. In particular, they should utilise the legislative footprint tool. This would provide detailed information on who sought to influence legislation, what piece of legislation was targeted and by which channels influence was sought. The National Assembly must introduce a Public Registry of all organisations that submit written opinions on draft bills to the parliamentary committees. The register should include information on the name and headquarters of the organisation. Members of the management board, fields of expertise and type of represented interests should also be provided.
2. The National Assembly should adopt a parliamentary Ethics Code in order to develop the ethical infrastructure within the National Assembly as a step towards restoring public trust in the democratic functioning of the legislature.
3. Public authorities must make conflict of interest prevention an effective tool for adherance to the requirements for the “revolving door” of appointments between the public and private sector.
4. The government must review the access to information regime to ensure a more robust framework for active publication of information by institutions. This must involve the removal of existing obstacles to electronic access to public information. Public authorities – both the National Assembly and the government - must guarantee reasonable timeframes for public consultation (at least 30 days) and to organize the consultative process in a manner that is friendly and accessible to the stakeholders by: publishing an annual legislative programme of the National Assembly; publishing preliminary concepts on the need for and effect of the respective legislation; publishing of records of the consultations that have taken place on each draft legislative act.
5. Business and professional associations must make better use of selfregulation mechanisms. They must promote the standards of integrity in their interaction with public authorities. They also need to make explicit reference to integrity standards in their Ethics Codes. Where such codes are not yet in place, they should be adopted without delay.