Germany to introduce mandatory lobbying register
The German cabinet agreed on 2nd March to introduce a mandatory lobbying register. In it, professional lobbyists need to register digitally with the German Bundestag before contacting parliamentarians or members of the federal government.
For lobbyists, it will be obligatory to provide information about the employer or client, the number of employees and the amount of the financial expenditure. The obligation to register will also apply to meetings with heads of departments and sub-departments of the federal ministries. Yet, it will not be necessary to disclose individual contacts to politicians. A so called “executive footprint”, outlining which lobbyists influenced a draft law, will neither be part of the register.
Violations of the registration obligation will be penalized with up to 50.000 Euros and non-compliant lobbyist might be blacklisted for the German Bundestag. The register is meant to be openly accessible to the public. The cabinet’s aim is to introduce the law in 2021. It could then potentially take effect as soon as 2022.
Though little information is known about the planned register so far, as the draft stands, it does not seem to cover all indicators under Principle 2 (Transparency). There appear to be no obligations to disclose information regarding the content of the lobbying work, further details of monetary contributions, any materials, third-party organisation memberships or internal policies.
As most international lobbying legislation, the German proposal covers the legislative and part of the executive branch. Whilst the EU Transparency Register requires reporting on targeted policies and activities, the German version seems to require disclosure on broad themes of lobbying only. Furthermore, the French High Authority for Transparency in Public Life includes a section on “revolving door” policies (i.e. individuals switching between public and private sector posts in short time). This is not part of the proposed German legislation as it is already included under a previous law. Since 2015 (former) politicians have to report their change into private sector if doing so within 18 months after holding a public post and might face a prohibition of this move. This supports Principle 1 clause 7 of the responsible lobbying framework, which suggests a cooling-off period for any such changes.