The European Lobbying Registrars’ Network met in Edinburgh

On March 31, 2023, the members of the European Lobbying Registrars’ Network met in Edinburgh at the invitation of the Scottish Parliament to discuss lobbying regulatory practices. Attending were representatives from Austria, Catalonia, Germany Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Scotland, Serbia and Slovenia.

The new members of the network presented their system, including Finland and Greece. Germany drew up an initial assessment of its register, launched on January 1, 2022 at the Bundestag, and on which more than 5,700 lobbyists are now registered.

A representative of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also participated in the meeting to present the organization’s recommendation on the principles of transparency and integrity in lobbying. Currently, only half of the OECD countries regulate lobbying.

The members also discussed the compliance challenges related to their registers and the use of technologies. The High Authority presented its algorithmic tool which helps interest representatives in entering their activities returns and thus improve the quality of the information they declare.

Finally, Scotland announced that it will take over the secretariat of the network from France while Lithuania will host the next network meeting in Vilnius in the spring 2024.