SCORECARD OF INTEREST REPRESENTATION REGULATION IN EU MEMBER STATES

Currently some form of regulation exists in six of the EU Member States:

1. Germany
2. France
3. Lithuania (Law introduced in 2001)
4. Austria (Law introduced in 2012)
5. Poland (Law introduced in 1992)
6. Slovenia (Law introduced in 2011)

Slovenia and Austria introduced legislation in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Hungary revoked its previous legislation in 2011. Six other Member States are currently looking at the possibility of regulating interest representation:   

1. Czech Republic
2. Denmark
3. Estonia
4. Ireland
5. Italy
6. United Kingdom

The United Kingdom and Ireland are both expected to introduce legislation in 2013 and have held public consultations on these proposals during 2012.         

It should be noted that more and more academic work is undertaken by academic and research institutions on the topic of interest representation, lobbying practices and regulatory systems. This leads to a better understanding of public policy advocacy as well as the emergence of several curricula dedicated to this field.