Register of lobbyists

18.11.2009

WRITTEN QUESTION E-5929/09
by Hans-Peter Martin (NI)
to the Commission

To date, around 2 100 associations, firms and organisations have signed up to the register. It is estimated that the total number of lobbying organisations in Brussels is 2 500 and that there are at least 15 000 lobbyists.

Although the register was introduced over a year ago, two particular categories of ‘interest representatives’ are still significantly under-represented on it, namely law firms and think tanks.

To what does the Commission attribute this particular problem?

When can we expect that the way the voluntary register for lobbyists operates will be reviewed in the light of experience?

Will the Commission make every effort to introduce mandatory registration for lobbyists, as in the US, and also to introduce in the EU the standards of lobby transparency and supervision which are already established in the US?

OJ C 10 E, 14/01/2011