Lobbying law passes in Romanian Senate without debate

Lobbying will be defined in Romania as the action of individuals or groups with varied, specific and well-defined interest that aim to influence political decision. This activity will be allowed at any time in the decisional process – before, during or after a decision is made, according to a legislative project tacitly adopted by the Romanian Senate, profit.ro reports.

The project excludes several types of actions from being called lobbying, including those carried out by non-profits, while political parties and some organisations are also excluded.

A lobbying law has been a demand of the business environment in Romania for many years, but all initiatives on this topic since 2000 have either been rejected or abandoned.

The definition of lobbying will have to be very finely tuned in order to  not be interpreted as influence peddling.

Lobbying is highly developed in the EU and the US – there are around 15,000-20,000 individuals and over 430 companies in the industry in Brussels.

Read more about

Director Emanuel Parvu’s new film competes as Cannes Film Festival kicks off today

read more

The recently-submitted legislative project skipped debates in the judicial committee of the Senate, meaning it is now seen as having been tacitly adopted and will be sent forward for debates in the Chamber of Deputies, which is the decisional chamber for the project.

The project says that to influence public institutions’ decisions, lobbying will target the totality of actions carried out by a company in the name of a client and based on a contract signed by the two parties. This definition will exclude activities by non-profit associations, since they can only be involved in advocacy campaigns because their activity is non-commercial and doesn’t involve the representation of a client’s particular interests, and financing for such entities are not commercial, profit-driven contracts.

The law also will not be applied to: representing the interests of union organisations or business owners’ organisations; activities of public representatives regarding their own attributions; persons who promote their own interests without an entrepreneurial character; promoting rights or representing the interests of a party or entity that has connections with administrative/judicial authorities; legal consulting and representation by lawyers, notaries, fiduciary agents and other authorised individuals; promoting foreign policy interests in diplomatic relations; activities carried out at the request of public representatives.

At the same time, the law will not apply to political parties, officially-recognised cults and denominations, associative structures by local public administration authorities, public institutions in the field of social insurance or interest groups that are not categorised as interest representatives.

The project is based on the idea that, in democracies, the existence of interest groups is natural and, in some cases, legitimate. Interest groups form a representation mechanism for citizens’ interests and, through their activities, they are a way to verify the extent to which public policies satisfy the social needs of citizens.

Proponents say that banning lobby activities or placing them in a negative light by associating them with criminal activity is an unacceptable attitude. “We are convinced that in order to fight corruption, conflict of interest or influence peddling, prevention must come before punishment,” they write.

Lobby firms, companies that hire internal lobbyists and interest groups will have to register officially in a list managed by the Trade Registry Office of the Bucharest Court and will have to provide data considered necessary to maintain transparency. They will also have to work based on a good practices code.

A person involved in lobbying activities will have to present their mission at the first contact with a public representative, as well as the identity and interests of their clients. They will not be allowed to put any illegal or inadequate pressure on public officials.

Public officials will not be allowed to carry out lobbying activities during their terms in public institutions.

Photo: dreamstime.com