Lobbying regulation — the EU mandatory transparency register

KEY POINTS

The agreement:

• applies to various activities (‘covered activities’) carried out by interest representatives to influence the formulation or implementation of EU policy or legislation, or the decision-making processes of the signatory institutions or other EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies;
• identifies covered activities including:
  • organising or participating in meetings, conferences and events, and engaging in any similar contacts with EU institutions,
  • contributing to, or participating in, consultations, hearings or similar initiatives,
  • organising communication campaigns, platforms, networks and grassroots initiatives,
  • preparing or commissioning policy and position papers, amendments, opinion polls, surveys, open letters, other communication or information material, or commissioning and carrying out research;
• exempts a range of activities, such as:
  • the provision of legal and other professional advice to clients in specific circumstances,
  • activities by employers and trade unions acting as participants in social dialogue,
  • activities carried out by individuals acting in a strictly personal capacity and not in association with others,
  • spontaneous, purely private or social meetings and meetings taking place in the context of an administrative procedure established by the treaties or legal acts of the EU;
• does not apply to the activities of the following bodies:
  • EU Member State public authorities, including their national and subnational embassies and permanent representations,
  • intergovernmental organisations and their agencies and bodies;
• does not apply either, subject to some exceptions, to activities of the following bodies:
  • EU, national or subnational associations and networks of public authorities,
  • public authorities, including diplomatic missions and embassies, of non-EU countries,
  • political parties,
  • churches and religious associations or communities, and philosophical and non-confessional organisations.

The signatory institutions agree to apply the principle of conditionality, whereby registration in the register is a necessary precondition for interest representatives to be able to carry out certain covered activities. To that end, they adopt conditionality measures by means of individual decisions on the basis of their powers of internal organisation. The signatory institutions may further adopt complementary transparency measures to encourage registration and strengthen the joint framework.

Interest representatives that apply to be entered in the register must:

• provide a wide range of information listed in Annex II to the agreement and agree to make that information publicly available, notably:
  • their name, contact details, staff numbers, legal representative and interests represented, along with the organisations or entities of which the registrant is a member and the registrant’s members,
  • the EU legislative proposals, policies or initiatives they target, membership of Commission expert groups and other EU-supported forums and platforms or of intergroups or other unofficial groupings of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs),
  • financial information, including, within specific bands, annual costs of their activities, costs for intermediaries carrying out activities on their behalf, revenue from individual clients (for intermediaries) or total budget and sources of funding (for registrants that do not represent commercial interests);
• observe the code of conduct set out in Annex I to the agreement, with its 16 rules and principles, which requires that registrants:
  • declare the interests and objectives they promote and specify the clients or members whom they represent,
  • not obtain or try to obtain information dishonestly or persuade MEPs, members of the Commission or EU staff to break the rules and standards of behaviour applicable to them,
  • not abuse their registration for commercial gain,
  • ensure the information they provide for registration purposes is complete, up to date and accurate.

The agreement establishes:

• a management board of the register — consisting of the secretaries-general of the signatory institutions — to:
  • determine the register’s priorities and the budget and share required for the implementation of those priorities,
  • adopt an annual report and oversee the overall implementation of the agreement;
• a secretariat of the register — consisting of the heads of unit responsible for transparency issues in the signatory institutions and their staff — to manage the register, which involves:
  • establishing guidelines for registrants and providing help-desk support to applicants and registrants,
  • deciding upon the eligibility of applicants and monitoring the content of the register,
  • carrying out investigations and applying measures in accordance with the procedure in Annex III to the agreement.

The management board and the secretariat of the register are empowered to adopt, on behalf of the signatory institutions, individual decisions concerning applicants and registrants.

The signatory institutions ensure the secretariat of the register has the necessary human, administrative, technical and financial resources.

Other EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and Member States (for their permanent representations) may notify the management board of the register of measures they take to make certain activities conditional upon registration in the register or of any complementary transparency measures they take on a voluntary basis.

Conditionality and complementary transparency measures adopted by the signatory institutions and other EU institutions, bodies, offices or agencies or Member States (for their permanent representations) are made public on the website of the register.

The agreement replaces its 2014 predecessor and will be reviewed no later than 2 July 2025.