Lobbying Law Passed: What are the New Rules for Interest Representation?

The National Assembly (NA) finally adopted, on second reading, the so-called lobbying law. The MPs changed the name of the bill to the Law on Transparency in Representation of Interests.

What is representation of interests?

Representation of interests is any oral or written communication carried out in favor of public, group or private interests with the aim of influencing the decision-making regarding the creation, amendment, supplementation, repeal and content of normative acts, national strategic and program documents, positions of the Republic of Bulgaria regarding legally binding and strategic acts of the European Union or international organizations in which our country participates, decrees for promulgation or returning for reconsideration of laws.

Who is not subject to the law?

Communication carried out by persons holding public office, when exercising their powers, public authorities, when exercising their powers by law, a natural person acting in a personal capacity and in their personal interest, is not a representation of interests.

Who does the law apply to?

This law applies when representing interests before the National Assembly, the President and Vice President of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Ministers, the ministers, the regional governors, the mayors, the chairmen of municipal councils and municipal councilors, the heads and members of other public institutions, who have the power to adopt or issue normative and general administrative acts in certain areas, the MPs provided.

Register and reporting

The creation of a Transparency Register is envisaged to the Audit Office. The President of the Audit Office annually by April 30 submits to the National Assembly a report on the functioning of the register and publishes it on the website of the audit body.

The procedure for holding personal meetings with representatives of interests is regulated by the respective institution and is published on its website. Personal meetings are reflected in a meeting calendar of the person, which is connected to the Transparency Register. The date of the meeting, the persons present, and the topic discussed are reflected in the calendar.

Sanctions

A natural person who performs an activity without being registered in the register within the statutory deadline shall be punished with a fine of 1,000 to 2,500 euros, and a legal entity shall be subject to a property sanction of 2,500 to 7,500 euros. In case of repeated violation, the fine, respectively the property sanction, is doubled.

Other important moments

The register carries out an automatic data exchange with BULSTAT, the Commercial Register and the Register of Non-Profit Legal Entities, etc.

The representative of interests can delete their registration when they stop performing the activity and for at least six months for them. After deletion from the register, the data is stored for a period of five years.

The National Assembly ordered the legal entities and sole traders registered in the register to indicate in their annual activity reports the amount spent on the representation of interests.

Opinions

Georgi Krastev (GERB-SDS) pointed out that with the adoption of this bill, we will provide EUR 437 million in connection with the commitments made by the European Commission. Georgi Georgiev (GERB-SDS) commented that the voted texts give grounds for illuminating the processes of interaction with the public authorities. Atanas Slavov from “We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria” noted that this bill has given rise to and will continue to generate debates because it does not distinguish between the concept of representing interests and advocating for a public cause.