EU Transparency Register: bridging the North Atlantic divide

The beginning of October 2016 marked an historical moment for the EU Transparency Register, with a symbolic ten-thousandth entry recorded on 5 October 2016. Due to the continuing high influx of new registrations, another significant moment came about, this time however on a much more global scale. The EU Transparency Register, with over 10,400 entries, broke through to the world’s top position in terms of the number of active lobbyists registered. Having left the Canadian Registry of Lobbyists behind (with 5,286 active lobbyists on 7 November 2016), the EU register has now stepped ahead of the US House of Representatives Lobbying Disclosure – the previous leader (with 9,700 registrants at end July 2016, according to Open Secrets). Both countries’ systems are qualified as highly regulated and have been up and running for more than two decades.

Overall, there are substantial dissimilarities between the North American lobbying regimes and the European Union model. In light of the recently triggered negotiations on a new interinstitutional agreement on a mandatory transparency register, proposed by the European Commission on 28 September 2016, which doubtlessly contributes to the popularity of the current system, it is worth making a comparison.

Written by Marie Thiel.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Delivering on transparency: Commission proposes mandatory Transparency Register for all EU institutions https://www.europeansources.info/showDoc?ID=1216422

ESO: Background Information: Transparency http://www.europeansources.info/record/transparency-3/

---