The Austrian Transparency Act 2013 for Lobbying and Interest Representation Dr. Dietmar Dokalik, Ministry of Justice

The Austrian Transparency Act 2013 History Objectives Duties Activities covered Exemptions Register of lobbyists Criticism

History 2011: public consultation on first draft, controversial discussion models: 2010 OECD principles for transparency and integrity in lobbying; 2011 agreement between EC and EP Summer 2012: passed by parliament 1 January 2013: entry into force

Objectives Transparency in exerting influence on authorities problematic if influence is exerted in a clandestine and secretive manner (“wheeling and dealing“) Good governance Transparency will increase the quality of legal and administrative acts and enhance their acceptance.

Duties For consultant and in-house lobbyists: can only conduct lobbying while listed in the Register of Lobbyists (subject to penalties under administrative law) must comply with certain principles must have a code of conduct and a reference to it on their homepages (no specific sanction) Obligations on lobbying firms towards their clients Public officials cannot work as consultant lobbyists 6-month cooling-off period (Civil Service Employment Act)

Duties For statutory representative bodies Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Labour, Chambers of certain regulated professions (e.g. lawyers, notaries, physicians) and other stakeholder associations bodies representing professional or other sectoral interests (e.g. ISPA) Duty of registration only, no specific sanctions

Activities covered Definition: Lobbying is any organized and structured contact with a public official with the aim of directly influencing the legislature or executive i.e. very close to Council of Europe Recommendation

Activities covered “organized and structured contact“ NOT covered: chance encounters during public events spontaneous reactions to specific statements at public meetings or on the Internet

Activities covered “with a public official“ MPs, judges, other office holders in legislature or executive also Austrian staff in Brussels (attachés, etc), but NOT Austrian MEPs or members of international organisations NOT covered: contacts with Austrian “agencies“, i.e. companies or institutions hived off from public administration, even if 100% public ownership

Activities covered “with the objective of directly influencing the legislature or executive“ any decision-making process by the legislative or executive branch, at national or regional level NOT covered: offers of goods/services

Activities NOT covered Public officials acting within their sphere of competence Persons acting on their own behalf in a private capacity (cf. Art 3(2)e) Parties to administrative or court proceedings representing their own interests Lawyers, notaries and other persons authorised to represent parties (cf. Art 3(2)a and b)

Activities NOT covered Foreign diplomatic representatives Activities initiated by the respective public official (e.g. public tenders, public consultation on draft legislation)

Exemptions Fully exempt: Political parties (cf. Art 4(1)) Officially recognised churches (cf. Art 4(2)) Social insurance institutions, i.e. statutory pension, health and accident insurance funds Stakeholder associations unless they have designated lobbying staff („de minimis“-clause)

Register of Lobbyists accessible to the general public free of charge: http://www.lobbyreg.justiz.gv.at also the annual revenue and representation cost subject to registration fee (once, from 105 Euro to 630 Euro) Listed on 4 May 2017: 87 lobbying firms 118 enterprises with in-house lobbyists 18 statutory representative bodies 63 other stakeholder associations

Criticism TI-AC 2017 Exemptions for certain entities too far- reaching (esp. stakeholder associations) Effective control and dissuasive sanctions needed for all entities Need for disclosure of lobbyists approaching public officials (“legislative footprint“) Cooling-off period: 1 year

Thank you for your attention. Contact: dietmar.dokalik@bmj.gv.at