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

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

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

4. 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.

5. 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)

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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)

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

13. 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)

14. Register of Lobbyists
accessible to the general public free of charge:
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

15. 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

16. Thank you for your attention.
Contact: