EU lobbyists okay 'minimum' transparency rules[fr] 

The Society of European Affairs Professionals (SEAP) has handed in its contribution to the EU transparency initiative on 28 July, revealing the position of an organisation involved in regulating the ethical behaviour of lobbyists in Brussels.

SEAP claims to set "high ethical standards" for its 200 individual members who, for the most, represent business interests to the EU institutions and have agreed to a voluntary code of conduct.

In its position paper, SEAP says it is "in favour of increased transparency" in lobbying and says its members are ready to register on a public database that would give details about the objectives of the organisations or companies they represent as well as "general information on finances" such as annual revenue.

But it insists that this should be done on a voluntary basis, as it is "convinced that ethical behaviour is linked to persons, not to organisations". Possible sanctions in case of wrongdoing should be "addressed to members in their individual capacity", it says.

In particular, SEAP opposes any detailed budget reporting. "We are not in favour of reporting on the allocation of finances to individual lobbying issues," it says, arguing that this "may be impossible to quantify". SEAP also points out that "the registration of interests represented is obvious for associations, but difficult for consultants, who represent the interests of their varying clients".

SEAP says it "does not see any scope for a consolidated code" to be imposed on the whole lobbying profession, which includes business lawyers, consultants, environmental campaigners and youth organisations. 

However, it does agree that EU institutions "formulate minimum requirements" that should be incorporated in the different codes of conduct regulating individual professions. "Every lobbyist should remain free to join a professional organisation of his choice," SEAP believes, saying "sanctioning procedures should be specific to each organisation" and "not be referred to outsiders".

However, SEAP does see a role for the European Ombudsman to act as an external watchdog to monitor compliance with each different code.

In a recent move, EPACA, a trade association representing 34 public affairs consultancies in Brussels, appointed a panel with powers to exclude a whole company from membership if it is found guilty of unethical behaviour. With 34 member companies employing more than 700 staff, EPACA claims to represent some 70% of the European public-affairs consulting market.

Paul de Clerck, a corporate transparency campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said the Commission should take the lead and impose hard sanctions against those found breaching ethical rules. For example, the Commission could exclude offenders from consultations, put them on a 'black list' and ban them access to all EU institutions' buildings.

But in the absence of hard sanctions - which the Commission excludes at the moment - SEAP said it did not find much in terms of incentives in the Commission Green Paper, which includes automatic e-mail alerts to subjects of known interest to the lobbyists. 

"We do not see great additional value … in the incentives for registration mentioned in the Green Paper," SEAP said.

This echoes earlier comments by Jeremy Galbraith, from Burson-Marsteller in Brussels, a member of EPACA. Alerts, he said, are "not a big deal" since most EU institution newsletters and online alerts are already available by simple e-mail registration.