Transparency International Spain and Catalunya Antifrau Office organized a seminar-workshop on 5 October, in order to provide a space for debate and reflection on a central issue for encouraging participation in the public sphere and the proper functioning democratic as is the practice of lobbying. The session is part of the research project on lobbying and advocacy TI-Spain, sponsored by the European Union, in which the Anti-Fraud Office has been active.
During the session have been addressed corruption risks presented by this activity when done without sufficient guarantees of transparency and integrity, it has been analyzed the regulatory framework in a comparative and specifically the Catalan perspective, where the first Register of lobbies Government has started operating on 1 October 2015. In addition there have been some concrete experiences, such as the Charter of commitments Pernod Ricard and other companies in France, or the vision of an emerging industry Airbnb.
It has also discussed the introduction of incentives for responsible policies lobby, and self-regulatory mechanisms of those who do lobbying the various public institutions. The Catalan initiative to launch two separate Registers of lobbyists in Parliament and in the Administration of the Generalitat has been given special attention.
The approach has been very practical and has brought together key individuals from both the public sector, with responsibilities in the executive and the legislature, and the private, between which managers, leaders and consultants lobby / institutional, and professional legal advice and business.
Working Group at the headquarters of the OAC (Photo: OAC)
With financial support from the Prevention of and Fight against Crime Programme
European Commission – Directorate-General Home Affairs