The European Commission on June 4 hinted at possible changes to its lobbyists register ahead of a July review. The development comes as the register is set to celebrate its first birthday on June 23.

The register was launched by Administration and Anti-Fraud Commissioner Siim Kallas last summer. The Commission has invited stakeholders to submit proposals for reform by June 15, before an internal review to take place in July. 

'Fine-tuning' required 

"No doubt after a year, there will be a need for some fine-tuning, and I think the commission will do that in very clear terms," said Kallas's spokesperson, Valérie Rampi. "There's a lot of room for improvement, no doubt, but we'll see how that plays out by the end of the month. Without doubt, there will be changes to make."

"We'll analyse all feedback carefully and do the review in July," she added, stressing the importance of judging the register on qualitative rather than quantitative terms. 

Indeed, opinions vary as to the actual number of lobbyists active in Brussels (EurActiv 10/06/08). At present, just over 1,500 organisations have signed on to the register, but Kallas has cited a figure of 15,000 individuals active in EU policymaking circles.   

Lobby transparency groups, meanwhile, remain convinced that the voluntary approach embraced by the EU executive is not working. 

"Most lobbyists are not going to disclose relevant information voluntarily," said Jorgo Riss, director of Greenpeace's European Unit and a member of the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU), a transparency NGO. 

ALTER-EU presented a report last week alleging that "only around 23 percent of Brussels lobby organisations have registered so far," and "much of the information disclosed is insufficient or questionable". 

According to the NGO's own estimates, there are 2,600 lobbyists operating in Brussels, of whom 593 have registered. The organisation is complaining that a lack of clear guidelines for inclusion means that "the register is increasingly cluttered by associations that play no role in lobbying the EU.”  

Current register 'inadequate' 

Moreover, "think-tanks and law firms are boycotting the register, while major corporate lobby groups are still poorly represented," which ALTER-EU cites as proof of the "inadequacy" of the commission's approach. 

The EU executive refuted this assessment. Rampi insisted that she saw "quite a lot of big players" among those registered and declared the former Estonian prime minister to be "satisfied" with the sign-up rate so far. 

"The commission has always said that it wants to work on the basis of a voluntary approach, but if this were to prove unsatisfactory or insufficient, it would be quite prepared to introduce a mandatory system," Rampi added. 

The ALTER-EU report further claims that "unclear financial disclosure requirements allow lobby groups to disguise the size of their lobbying effort." This makes it "impossible to determine who the biggest spenders really are and what policies they are trying to influence." 

The NGO is calling on the commission to develop a mandatory system to replace the voluntary one in 2010, close "loopholes" on financial disclosure, more clearly define what constitutes lobbying, "punish" non-compliance and disclosure of misleading information and end exemptions for sectors such as competition policy. 

Commission urges Council participation

In April, the EU executive and the European Parliament agreed on common guidelines and a code of conduct for creating a single, one-stop-shop register for both institutions

But the Council, which represents governments, has so far been reluctant to sign on. Many of its employees are seconded from national posts at home, making their inclusion in an EU register more difficult. 

"Kallas has expressed his regret and disappointment that the Council has not considered joining the register, and has written to the Swedish presidency to ask… whether the Council would reconsider its position," Rampi said.

Work on implementing the Commission-Parliament idea is expected to progress when the new EU assembly starts work this summer.