Transparency on Lobbying Activities

a) Organising one or more workshops to consult civil society in discussions on criteria for making the data repository available and its enrichment.

The source code for the repository of information on special-interest representatives is published on GitLab.[6]

The digital repositories can be downloaded in several formats (JSON, CSV, XLSX). In addition, the website provides basic visualisation of aggregated data.[7]

An exhaustive list in HTML format indicates public officials with whom communication may constitute an act of special-interest representation. This is readily available on the “how to declare section” of the HATVP website.[8] In addition, there is a precise list of roles for which the government decides whether communication falls in this category, available in XLSX format.[9]

a)     accompanying publication with production of data visualisation and analyses

There is a basic animated dashboard with data visualisation on the landing page of the registry, and a more detailed one in the statistics section.[10] There is also a webpage dedicated to analysing the data and presenting lobbying activities.[11] Recent HATVP publications have been accompanied by data visualisations and analyses, although very basic in some cases. In its 2020 annual report, the HATVP provided numerous infographics, data visualisations and analyses.[12]

The list of declarations can be downloaded in CSV format.[13]

The HATVP is mandated by law[14] to control lobbyists and ensure compliance with registration. It carries out three types of checks on special-interest representatives, as part of its overall control strategy:

–   Control of non-registered special-interest representatives. This involves checking that representatives who meet the legally defined criteria are registered.

–   Control of annual activity declarations. This is a substantive control to verify the accuracy and completeness of the information declared.

–   Control of professional ethical obligations, in the event of a suspected breach.

Between 2019 and July 2021, the High Authority launched 180 controls on non-registered persons, 117 controls on the annual activity declarations and two controls relating to ethical obligations. Of these checks, 145 had been completed by 1 July 2021. In 2020, the HATPV carried out 77 checks, 51 for non-registrants and 26 annual activity declarations.[15]

• Improve the granularity of the activity registry by providing more details for each declaration. In particular, more information should be required on who is met, including names and detail on the reason for the meeting. In addition, following GRECO’s recommendation, “persons with top executive functions [should] be required to disclose regularly details of the lobbyists they meet and the topics discussed; all lobbyists who enter into contact with public officials (in particular, persons with top executive functions), regardless of whether they initiated the contacts, [should] be required to register on the register of lobbyists.”
• Increase the scope of the register on declarations of interests by increasing mandatory compliance to a broader range of public officials – for instance, members of ministers’ offices. The more lobbying activities are documented, the more civil society will be able to hold public officials accountable.
• Provide power of administrative sanctions to the HATVP. It is crucial that failure to comply, results in fast and substantial fines. The existing penal sanction is too heavy to be triggered for smaller omissions.