New Lobbying Regulation Report

A report worth reading was recently published by the OECD: Self-Regulation and Regulation of the Lobbying Profession. Its focus on European countries provides a valuable complement to American lobbying regulation. Below is a condensed version of the report's executive summary:

"This report examines self-regulation and regulation of the lobbying profession in an effort to rein in the perception or reality of undue influence-peddling, with a particular emphasis on European experiences. In their role of creating a bridge between the private sector and the public sector, lobbyists and public officials instinctively relate according to the “reciprocity principle,” in which lobbyists providing needed research, gifts or other items of value help create a sense of obligation on behalf of appreciative public officials. This unique nature and relationship between lobbyists and public officials alone warrants special transparency requirements not due others in the private sector.

"The study documents measures taken by lobbying associations in self-regulating the profession through a series of personal interviews with leaders of the associations in Europe. These interviews unveil an extensive analysis of the history and roles lobbying associations serve in professionalising the practice of lobbying. Some of the professional lobbying associations have refined ethics codes for lobbyists from general concepts to specific behavioural guidelines in an effort to curtail inappropriate influence-peddling. These associations have also dedicated extensive resources to ethics training and education for lobbyists – a role in which the professional associations excel.

"The research then quickly turns to employing the most comprehensive survey to date of attitudes among European lobbyists toward self-regulation and regulation of the lobbying profession. Many of the results of this survey are surprising, such as finding a marked consensus among lobbyists that transparency of the profession is necessary and constructive. But sharp differences begin to emerge within the lobbying profession over who would best manage a lobbyist transparency program. Most notably, lobbyists who believe that inappropriate influence-peddling within the profession is a “frequent” or “occasional” problem strongly favour a government-run lobbyist transparency program. Lobbyists who believe that ethical violations are “not often” or “never” a problem in the profession tend to favour a lobbyist transparency program managed by a professional association or by lobbyists themselves.

"Where public cynicism in the integrity of government is not so strong, carefully planned and administered efforts by lobbyists and their lobbying associations to abide by principles of transparent and honest policymaking may well be sufficient. In jurisdictions where public cynicism is more challenging, a stronger set of self-regulations and regulations may be in order to regain the trust of the citizenry. Clearly, the “best model” for establishing transparency and accountability in government to a large extent must be tailor-made for the political realities of each jurisdiction and country.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics

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