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Lobbyists, Governments and Public Trust, Volume 1
Increasing Transparency through Legislation
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- Foreword
- Table of Contents
- Acronyms
- Executive Summary
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Chapter 1. Building a Framework for Enhancing Transparency and Accountability in Lobbying
- + Summary
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Developing an appropriate framework
- Developing a framework for enhancing transparency and accountability in lobbying to maintain trust in government should begin with clarifying public concerns...
- Standards and rules related to lobbying must respect and conform to the socio-political and administrative context in each jurisdiction...
- Standards and rules related to lobbying should be consistent with the wider regulatory framework that fosters good governance.
- Fostering a culture of integrity in public organisations and decision making entails clear standards of conduct for public officials when contacted by lobbyists.
- Maintaining trust in government may require the establishment of specific restrictions for public officials leaving their office, in the form of “cooling-off” periods during which they should not lobby their former organisations.
- + Clearly define the scope of policy or regulation on lobbying
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Establish clear standards and procedures for collecting and disclosing information on lobbying
- Disclosure requirements can generate much information. However, an effective lobbying regulation should ensure that:
- Core disclosure requirements should elicit information that:
- Supplementary disclosure requirements should take into consideration the legitimate information needs of key players in the public decision-making process as well as facilitate public scrutiny.
- To adequately serve the public interest, disclosures on lobbying activities should be made in a registry and updated in a timely manner in order to provide credible and up-to-date information to the public and public officials.
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Set standards of conduct to foster a culture of integrity in lobbying
- Lobbyists share the responsibility for fostering a culture of integrity in lobbying by setting standards for professionalism, openness and transparency by self-regulation.
- When significant public concern is raised by the conduct of lobbyists, public authorities should consider the establishment of clear conduct requirements of lobbyists in line with public expectations.
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Put in place mechanisms for effective implementation to secure compliance
- To enhance compliance, a coherent spectrum of strategies and practices should involve key actors and also carefully balance incentives and sanctions.
- Effective enforcement of lobbying policy or regulation entails not only available dissuasive sanctions but also their timely application in case of a breach of stated standards.
- Administrators of policy or regulation for enhancing transparency in lobbying should be independent of political pressure and provided with sufficient resources to effectively carry out their responsibilities.
- Securing the objectives of lobbying policies or regulations may also require that officials have the authority to provide interpretation, to review filings, to demand clarifications from registrants, on the one hand,...
- The public has a right to know how public decisions were influenced by stakeholders and interests. When there is so much at stake that competition for public goods may make it impossible to achieve compliance...
- In order to meet the growing expectations of society for good governance, governments should review the functioning of lobbying policies or regulations on a regular basis and make necessary adjustments in light of experience with implementation.
- Notes
- Bibliography
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Chapter 2. Comparative Review of Legislation for Enhancing Transparency and Accountability in Lobbying
- Summary
- + State of the art: Current models for regulating lobbying
- + Issues of definition: Who is to be regulated?
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Disclosure: How much is enough?
- Reporting processes and technologies
- + Codes of conduct
- + Securing compliance
- Establishing and maintaining the integrity of the regulatory regime
- Notes
- Bibliography
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Chapter 3. Canada’s Federal Lobbying Legislation: Evolution and Operation of the Lobbyists Registration Act
- Summary
- + Purpose and description of the Lobbyists Registration Act
- + The Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct
- + Lobbyists, their registration and disclosures
- + The Registry of Lobbyists
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Registration statistics
- + Enforcement
- Education and awareness
- + Organisation, resources and priorities
- The Lobbying Act
- Notes
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Chapter 4. Quebec’s Experience: Developing a Legal Framework for Lobbying and Lobbyist Registration
- Summary
- + Why regulate lobbying?
- + What is to be considered lobbying?
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Which obligations are to be imposed on whom?
- + What control mechanisms are to be set up in order to ensure compliance?
- Assessment of implementation
- Conclusions
- Notes
- Annex 4.A1. Studies Conducted for Quebec’s Five-Year Review of the Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Act
- Bibliography
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Chapter 5. Poland’s Experience: Developing and Implementing the Act on Legislative and Regulatory Lobbying
- Summary
- + The socio-political context
- + Redefining the draft law on lobbying: The Parliamentary process
- + Key elements of the Act
- + Steps required of the government administration to implement the Act
- + New Act on Lobbying: Critical views and challenges
- Register of entities conducting professional lobbying activity
- + Implementation and enforcement: Survey results and future steps
- Notes
- + Annex 5.A1. Survey on the Implementation of Poland’s Lobbying Act
- Bibliography
Lobbying can improve policy making by providing valuable insights and data, but it can also result in unfair advantages for vested interests if the process is opaque and standards are lax. Lobbying is resource intensive. The financial services sector in the United States spent USD 3.4 billion lobbying the federal government between 1998 and 2008, principally promoting the deregulation of the financial sector. Legions of lobbyists provide “guns for hire” worldwide. In 2008, there were over 5000 registered lobbyists in Canada at the national level, while the European Commission in Brussels had over 2000 registered as of August 2009. This report reviews the experiences of Australia, Canada, Hungary, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States with government regulations designed to increase scrutiny for lobbying and lobbyists. Current approaches, models, trends and state-of-the-art solutions are examined to support a deeper understanding of the potential and limitations of existing norms. The report also presents building blocks for developing a framework for lobbying that meets public expectations for transparency, accountability and integrity.
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Publication year : 2009
License: All rights reserved ©
Times read: 49
