Legal basis identified for mandatory EU lobby register

Brussels, 17 June 2013 – An independent legal analysis launched today in Brussels has revealed that the EU institutions have a legal basis on which to act to make the Transparency Register mandatory. The study, launched at the beginning of the Register’s review process, was commissioned by ALTER EU and the Austrian Arbeiterkammer to counter the Commission’s arguments that the EU has no competence to make the register binding on lobbyists.

The voluntary register, which entered into force in June 2011, covers the European Commission and Parliament and is currently being reformed by the two institutions. Although the European Parliament has spoken out on several occasions that it wants a mandatory register, [1] the Commission favours a voluntary approach, often citing the lack of legal basis from the EU Treaties.

But according to Markus Krajewski, Professor in Legal Studies at Erlangen-Nürnberg University in Germany, the new EU Treaties provide a legal base for a mandatory lobby register – Article 298 (2) Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) provides a legal base for mandatory transparency of lobbyists when they target the EU institutions in their administrative tasks. When taken with the “implied powers doctrine”, the regulation could be extended to cover lobbying towards officials that are engaged in legislative tasks.

Access Info Europe is a Steering Committee member of ALTER-EU since 2011. Together we have been calling on the EU institutions to use the Register’s review process to prepare for a transition to a mandatory lobby register, and to improve the quality of the information published so that citizens access to have accurate information about lobbying in Brussels.

Please, find the legal analysis done by Markus Keajewski, here.