Presentation by Melanie Bossuroy, Transparency Unit, Secretariat General, European Commission and Marie Thiel, Administrator Transparency Unit, European Parliament during the Seminar on Integrity in Lobbying at OECD Integrity Week 2014. Further information is available at http://www.oecd.org/cleangovbiz/oecd-integrity-week-2014.htm.

1. 1
Melanie Bossuroy
Transparency Unit, Secretariat General, European Commission
Marie THIEL, Administrator
Transparency Unit, European Parliament
21 March 2014
OECD, Brussels
EU Transparency Register

2. Presentation outline
2
I RECENT DEVELOPMENTS OF THE REGISTER
• Statistical overview & recent growth
• Political & technical review of the TR
II COVERAGE – WHO & WHERE FROM?
• Statistical overview – limited research available
• Analysis of coverage of TR – limited research available

3. I RECENT DEVELOPMENTS OF THE
REGISTER

4. 4
Statistical overview & recent growth
Transparency Register

5. GROWTH RATE OF REGISTRATIONS =
1 000 organisations/ year
EC REGISTER OF INTEREST
REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 2011:
• Approx.
4 000 organisations
EU TRANSPARENCY REGISTER
MARCH 2014:
• Approx.
6 500 organisations
(despite approx. 400 disbarments
under new monitoring procedures)

6. 6
500
registrat-
ions in
past 3
months
= 5%
growth

7. 7
Transparency Register

8. 8
Register statistics

9. Register statistics (24/02/14)

10. Transparency Register review

11. 11
Background
• Review of TR foreseen by Interinstitutional Agreement (IIA)
2011
• Technical meetings held between stakeholder (European
umbrella organisations) & JTRS in 2013
• Political meeting between EC Vice President Šefčovič &
stakeholders in June 2013
• High Level WG (EP/EC) set up for the revision of the TR (all EP
political groups represented)
• 9 meetings held between July-December 2013
• List of 30 measures for improvement made
• Revised draft Interinstitutional Agreement 2014
• Voted & approved in EP AFCO Committee 18 March 2014

12. 12
Result of discussions of the Working Group
Political issues tackled
• Whether to move to a mandatory model of register
• Participation of Council in the scheme
Technical recommendations
• More incentives offered to registrants
• Level playing field across categories & more precise
information required from registrants
• Clarifying the sections of registrants
• Update of Code of Conduct (applicable to all registered or
not)
• Revised procedures for complaints & alerts
• Improvements to IT interface
• Update of guidance

13. 13
Next steps
• EC approval & EP vote in plenary April 2014
• Signature of revised Interinstitutional Agreement 2014
• Implementation of 30 measures for improvement by latest 01
January 2015
• New review foreseen for latest 2017

14. 14
Complexity of
"lobbying" sector
Incentivise registration but also
allow open access
to the EU institutions
Pressure for mandatory system
but no clear legal basis
Promoting visibility & use of
the Register
Ensuring widest possible
sectoral coverage &
improving quality of data
Challenges
Dealing more efficiently with
alerts & complaints

15. NUMBER OF REGISTRANTS WITH HEAD
OFFICE IN EU COUNTRIES = approx . 90%:
BELGIUM = 1 541 SPAIN = 370
GERMANY = 779 FINLAND = 102
FRANCE = 676 POLAND = 82
UK = 617 BULGARIA = 34
ITALY = 544 ESTONIA = 5 ETC.
II COVERAGE – WHO & WHERE FROM?
15

16. NUMBER OF REGISTRANTS WITH HEAD OFFICE
IN NON EU COUNTRIES (approx. 10%):
China = 2
USA = 151 Australia = 5
Switzerland = 106 Ukraine = 8
Norway = 53 Canada = 17
Turkey = 18 Russia = 5 etc.
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17. Coverage
• A recent study in 2013 considered that
• 75% of relevant actors in Section I (Public Affairs
Consultancies) are registered
• 60% of relevant actors in Section III (NGOs) are
registered
• Law firms widely boycott the register
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