site.btaForeign Investors, Businesses, Civil Sector Call for Lobbying Act at Meeting in Justice Ministry

Meeting at the Justice Ministry here on Friday, representatives of foreign investors, Bulgarian businesses and non-governmental organizations, members of the Business Integrity Club, called for legal regulation of lobbying activities in Bulgaria through an independent law. The Ministry has prepared a concept for regulating lobbying activities to serve as a basis for future legislative initiatives. 

After taking into account all the comments of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Commission, the draft concept was examined by the Council of Ministers this year and approved by an order of caretaker Justice Minister Maria Pavlova. The aim is to ensure rules and a standard for lobbying, transparency and integrity in lobbying, as well as the establishment of standards of ethical conduct among those carrying out lobbying activities, the Justice Ministry said in a press release.

All drafted texts will also go through the approval of the OECD and the European Commission, Deputy Justice Minister Mihaela Mechkunova underscored.

According to representatives of foreign investors, it is good to think about the terminology (it was pointed out that in Europe there is more and more talk not about lobbying but about representation of interests), to spell out the guaranteed rights of representatives of interests and others, in addition to imputing obligations. NGOs raised the issue of the scope of the future law.

According to the approved concept, it will regulate the bodies and persons who are the addressees of lobbying activities; the creation of a legislative footprint (which will track the main external interventions from the beginning to the end of the legislative process or when the acts are adopted and issued); a transparency register; a calendar of meetings of public office holders who are the addressees of lobbying; the adoption of ethical rules of conduct; an independent and resourced body that is empowered to maintain a register, to monitor the implementation of the law.

Participants in the meeting included the Bulgarian-Swiss Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Italian Entrepreneurs, the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria, the British-Bulgarian Business Association, the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria, the national representation of Transparency International and the National Organization of Customs Agents.