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29th Mar 2024

EU lobbying registry has 'no real benefit'

A UK cross-party parliamentary committee inquiry into the lobbying industry has issued a report that criticises the European Commission's voluntary registry of lobbyists as having "no real benefit" and of being no model for the introduction of a similar registry in Britain.

After a year and a half of investigations into the sector and its influence on legislation, the eleven-member Public Administration Select Committee on Monday (5 January) called for the creation of a registry of lobbying activity for the UK, but insists that, unlike in the case of the commission's current framework, lobbyists should be forced to sign up to it.

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"We see no advantage whatsoever to a voluntary register, which, as has been shown in the European Commission's case," the report reads, "allows those who wish to hide the nature and scale of their activity to do so, and leads to the availability of uneven and partial information of no real benefit to those wishing to assess the scale and nature of lobbying activity."

The UK report looked at existing legislation on lobbying in Australia, Canada, the EU, Germany and the United States and found that the EU had produced the weakest framework of the bunch.

Having compared the different national strategies, the MPs concluded that the best result would be achieved if a lobbying registry was mandatory and covered all those involved in influencing decision-makers.

The registry should also be managed and enforced by an oversight body funded by lobbyists but staffed externally and "with robust input from outside the industry."

In another break with the commission's registry, the MPs also call for any registry to include the names of individual lobbyists. The commission registry contains no names apart from those of the lobbying firms.

The UK deputies also want to see all information made publicly available about contacts between lobbyists and decision makers, including diary records and minutes of meetings, whenever they meet.

Owen Espley, a campaigner for lobbying transparency with Friends of the Earth in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said the result of the committee's inquiry was "long overdue."

"Its account of the commission's registry is entirely accurate," he said. "The commission should take into account its domestic recommendations for the EU as a whole when it reviews the operation of its registry after a year."

"A voluntary registry will always fail to cover all actors involved in lobbying."

The commission's registry was launched in June last year. As of today, some 800 organisations and companies have signed up.

Transparency campaigners estimate that between 15 and 20,000 lobbyists attempt to influence legislation in Brussels, a figure also often quoted by commissioner Kallas.

New joint registry with parliament will be mandatory

But the commission brushed off the criticism, saying it is happy that its transparency initiative is now being picked up by the member states.

"We welcome that the debate on lobbying has moved down to the EU member state level," said Valerie Rampi, spokesperson for administration commissioner Siim Kallas, the architect of the registry.

"The commission really picked up this initiative from scratch in 2005," she added, speaking to this website. "Before that time, there was very little regulation of lobbying in EU capitals."

She said that the commission will be following closely how the debate progresses in the UK and what the government will do.

"Although the report was published [on Monday], the work on it happened in the autumn, and the number of those having registered since has gone up quite a bit, although we note that there is still a problem with lawyers and think-tanks, who have contributed their fair share."

She also said that the work the commission is doing in partnership with the European Parliament, to develop a "one-stop shop," so that lobbyists only have to register once rather than with both the institutions, should deal with worries that the current register is voluntary and that individuals are not registered.

"It will be de facto mandatory and name names, as every individual lobbyist has to register to get an access card in order to enter the buildings."

The Council of Ministers, however - representing the member states, and the most secretive of the EU's three main institutions - will not be participating in the project.

The group charged with the common lobby registry is expected to present its proposals in June.

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