EU rules spark debate on lobbying and IT

After three years of work, the European Commission Monday launched the European Union's first register of political lobbyists and an accompanying code of conduct, but the move has been broadly criticized for being too blunt an instrument to achieve real transparency.

Until now there has been no attempt to regulate the Brussels lobbying process or to open it up to public scrutiny.

When the E.U. embarks on a reform of technology-related laws, or when its executive body, the European Commission takes on an industry titan like Microsoft in an antitrust battle, an army of lobbyists gets to work in an effort to influence events.

A common criticism of some of the biggest technology and telecoms companies has been that they hide behind numerous lobbying organizations and industry associations, disguising the extent of their role in the E.U. legislative and regulatory processes.

Technology companies rank among the biggest spenders on political influence in Brussels so you would expect them and their representatives in the E.U. capital to have the most to lose from signing up to the register and code.

However, far from objecting, many privately agree with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including environmental campaigner Greenpeace, that the initiative is ineffectual.

Lobbyists are being urged, but not obliged, to sign up to the register from Monday. Registered lobbyists must declare approximately how much they are paid, and by whom.

The code of conduct requires lobby groups to declare their interests when meeting E.U. politicians and officials, and to ensure that "to the best of their knowledge" the information provided to politicians is "unbiased...and not misleading."

The initiative's main criticisms are that the register is not obligatory and does not require naming individual lobbyists -- just their lobbying firm, trade association, NGO or trade union.

ALTER-EU, an alliance of NGOs campaigning for greater lobbying transparency, also argues that the rules for financial disclosure are too weak and are unfairly skewed in favor of corporate lobbyists.

"Industry lobbyists are asked to give a 'good faith estimate' of their lobbying expenditure in Brussels, while public interest organizations must disclose their total budget. Transparency campaigners demand that lobbyists be treated equally and disclose lobbying expenses as well as overall budgets," ALTER-EU said in a statement issued Monday.

Craig Holman, a campaigner at the U.S. transparency group Public Citizen described the Commission's register as "one of the world's weakest."

Brussels has never experienced a lobbying scandal on the scale of the ones in Washington, D.C., in recent years involving former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. European Commissioner in charge of administration, Slim Kallas, said when he started work on the register three years ago that the aim was to avert an Abramoff-style scandal.

Holman warned that by its voluntary nature and because it fails to require detailed breakdowns of lobbying finances, the European system is unlikely to achieve that aim.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.