[OKFN-EN] [Sunlight International] [open-government] The world needs better lobbyist registers - but the UK's proposed lobbying bill won't help
James McKinney
james at opennorth.ca
Wed Sep 18 19:33:59 UTC 2013
Here's the link to the open letter, in case anyone (like me) was wondering what was being referred to: http://blog.okfn.org/2013/09/09/an-open-letter-on-the-uks-proposed-lobbying-bill/
On 2013-09-18, at 2:34 PM, Tangui Morlier wrote:
> Hey Jonathan, Greg, Julia and all,
>
> Regards Citoyens would gladly like to sign along OKFN's open letter on
> lobbying regulation. We actually advocated for months for very similar
> objectives here in France, proposing a global lobbying register
> regarding both parliamentary and executive administrations, including
> rules for expenses and actions disclosure and possible judiciary
> sanctions when infringing these rules (here is the text in french of the
> amendment we proposed and that was defended by a few MPs and only
> briefly discussed in both parliament chambers:
> <http://www.regardscitoyens.org/documents/notes/20130705-RegardsCitoyens-LoiTransparence-S%c3%a9nat-PJLO12-723-PJL12-724-Lobbying.pdf>).
>
> We actually also wrote an open letter signed by many organisations, we
> will be glad to have as well the support of OKFN in the future : a
> coming bill on civil servants deontology might be the opportunity to
> push for these regulations again :)
> <http://www.regardscitoyens.org/il-est-temps-de-reglementer-le-lobbying-un-appel-de-la-societe-civile-sur-les-lois-transparence/>
> An english version is readable down this pad:
> <http://lite.framapad.org/p/ZQKB4Mmst8>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Tangui for Regards Citoyens
>
> Le 05/09/2013 18:42, Jonathan Gray a écrit :
>> Fantastic work guys! :-)
>>
>> This is a great start towards the kind of overview I was thinking could
>> be useful. There's definitely scope for more guidance and succinct
>> analysis around this - and imagine this is something you'll also be
>> thinking about.
>>
>> Do keep us in the loop and let us know if you need any input!
>>
>> All the best,
>>
>> Jonathan
>>
>>
>> On 5 September 2013 18:38, Greg Brown <gbrown at sunlightfoundation.com
>> <mailto:gbrown at sunlightfoundation.com>> wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> *
>> *
>>
>> As Julia has just mentioned, Sunlight is collecting information on
>> how other countries regulate lobbying, determining which systems are
>> most effective, and thinking through how we can assist efforts to
>> regulate lobbyists around the world. While we have long been a
>> leading voice on lobbying transparency in the US, we want to expand
>> our reach to the international community.
>>
>> *
>> *
>>
>> In pursuit of this goal, we’ve started a deep dive looking at
>> countries around the world that regulate lobbying. To see some of
>> our early findings, see this public spreadsheet
>> <https://docs.google.com/a/sunlightfoundation.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Av_Sh9ghfOyHdDBQd1B4aHdFQmJsQUxpMHlKOXBQbFE#gid=0>.
>> This spreadsheet will continue to be filled out as our research
>> progresses. We also welcome updates from the community.
>>
>> *
>> *
>>
>> All in all, lobbying regulations exist in shockingly few countries:
>> US, Canada, Israel, Australia, Taiwan, a handful of European
>> countries, and a few others. And even among these countries, a
>> number of the regulatory schemes are entirely toothless, like the
>> voluntary systems of France, Germany, and the EU or the weak laws of
>> Georgia and Macedonia, which fail to properly define what
>> constitutes lobbying activity.
>>
>> *
>> *
>>
>> Once we have a better understanding of lobbying regulation around
>> the world, we will explore developing a set of globally applicable
>> guidelines, which will draw from both our domestic advocacy work
>> <http://sunlightfoundation.com/policy/one-pagers/ldea/>and our
>> international research
>> <https://docs.google.com/a/sunlightfoundation.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Av_Sh9ghfOyHdDBQd1B4aHdFQmJsQUxpMHlKOXBQbFE#gid=0>.
>> The goal is to empower advocates working towards greater
>> transparency in lobbying and to push governments to adopt effective
>> new measures to regulate the influence of lobbyists. Please keep an
>> eye out for more on this in the coming months.
>>
>> *
>> *
>>
>> In this effort, we hope to assist those who are working towards a
>> more transparent democratic system that is beholden to all citizens,
>> not just lobbyists and influence peddlers.
>>
>> *
>> *
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Greg
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 9:24 AM, Julia Keserű
>> <jkeseru at sunlightfoundation.com
>> <mailto:jkeseru at sunlightfoundation.com>> wrote:
>>
>> Jonathan, Sunlight has just started a deep dive in country level
>> lobbying regulations. I'm on vacation right now but my
>> colleagues, Greg and Lisa will fill you in with more details
>> very soon.
>>
>> In the meanwhile though, here's a great resource on lobbying
>> laws: http://www.regulatelobbying.com/
>>
>> Best, Julia
>>
>> ---------- Továbbított üzenet ----------
>> Feladó: "Jonathan Gray" <jonathan.gray at okfn.org
>> <mailto:jonathan.gray at okfn.org>>
>> Dátum: 2013.09.05. 11 <tel:2013.09.05.%2011>:35
>> Tárgy: [open-government] The world needs better lobbyist
>> registers - but the UK's proposed lobbying bill won't help
>> Címzett: "open-government at lists.okfn.org
>> <mailto:open-government at lists.okfn.org>"
>> <open-government at lists.okfn.org
>> <mailto:open-government at lists.okfn.org>>,
>> <okfn-en at lists.okfn.org <mailto:okfn-en at lists.okfn.org>>
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I thought some of you might be interested in the following post
>> on the Open Knowledge Foundation blog on the importance of
>> lobbyist registers and how the UK's currently proposed lobbying
>> bill won't result in a decent one without some important changes.
>>
>> I've been thinking that it might be useful to have a list of
>> lobby registers and related legislation from different countries
>> around the world - highlighting their strengths and weaknesses
>> from a transparency perspective. Does anyone know of anything
>> like this? If not, might anyone be interested in contributing to
>> such a resource?
>>
>> As I allude to in the post, we'd like to see every country in
>> the world with a decent register of lobbyists, and perhaps this
>> kind of comparative roundup could be valuable for people working
>> on policy or advocacy in this area.
>>
>> All the best,
>>
>> Jonathan
>>
>>
>> THE WORLD NEEDS BETTER LOBBYIST REGISTERS – BUT THE UK’S
>> PROPOSED LOBBYING BILL WON’T HELP
>>
>> September 4, 2013 in Featured
>> <http://blog.okfn.org/category/featured/>, Open Data
>> <http://blog.okfn.org/category/open-data/>, Open Government Data
>> <http://blog.okfn.org/category/open-government-data/>, Policy
>> <http://blog.okfn.org/category/policy/>
>>
>> Lobbyist registers are supposed to enable citizens to find out
>> who is lobbying whom for what, and how much they are spending in
>> the process.
>>
>> They are supposed to help to safeguard against big money having
>> an unfair influence in politics – ultimately to ensure that
>> political decisions are based on argument, evidence and
>> democratic deliberation, and not bought with cash from the
>> highest bidder.
>>
>> *We think lobbyist registers are an essential part of government
>> transparency, and that every country in the world ought to have
>> one.*
>>
>> Furthermore we think it is essential that lobbyist registers
>> are published as open data <http://okfn.org/opendata> so that
>> their contents can be easily analysed, queried, and connected
>> with other information sources.
>>
>> As we’re increasingly seeing corporations and special interest
>> groups lobbying across borders, we’d like to track how big money
>> is shaping discussion and decisions about issues that matter –
>> from energy and the environment to tax and trade – in countries
>> around the world.
>>
>> We think that this kind of inquiry is essential for democracies
>> to function.
>>
>> Map showing how much firms spend lobbying the EU
>> <http://api.lobbyfacts.eu/map> created at Open Interests Europe
>> Hackathon
>> <http://okfnlabs.org/events/hackdays/lobbying.html> organised
>> by OKFN Labs <http://okfnlabs.org/>
>>
>> While the UK is a world leader in opening up its public data,
>> unfortunately *the proposedLobbying Bill
>> <http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2013-14/transparencyoflobbyingnonpartycampaigningandtradeunionadministration.html> in
>> its current form will not deliver the lobbyist register that the
>> UK needs*.
>>
>> Aside from widespread concerns that it will have a “chilling
>> effect on civil society and its freedom of expression”
>> <http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/governance/news/content/15918/charity_lawyer_warns_new_lobbying_bill_poses_existential_threat_to_charity_campaigning>,
>> the bill contains major loopholes and omissions which means that
>> it will not deliver real or meaningful transparency around
>> lobbying in the UK.
>>
>> Firstly, *the bill would only apply to a fraction of the UK’s £2
>> billion lobbying industry*. It would only require disclosures
>> from those /whose main business is lobbying/. Hence it would not
>> cover companies who have in-house lobbyists, big lobbying
>> consultancies who offer a range of services, and other entities
>> which offer lobbying services such as think tanks, law firms or
>> management consultancies. And for those whose main business is
>> lobbying it only covers those who lobby the highest echelons of
>> government – not special advisers or mid-level civil servants.
>>
>> Secondly, *the bill would require lobbyists to disclose very
>> little information about their activities*. Essentially it asks
>> lobbyists for a list of their clients and nothing at all about
>> which issues they lobby on, which departments they target, or
>> how much they are paid.
>>
>> We at the Open Knowledge Foundation sincerely hope that the
>> proposed bill will be revised to address these and other
>> limitations.
>>
>> If the bill goes ahead as it is, then it will be a significant
>> missed opportunity for government openness in the UK, and a
>> major blow to the government’s aspiration to be – in the words
>> of the Prime Minister – “the most open and transparent
>> government in the world”.
>>
>> /If you’d like to read more you can take a look at SpinWatch’s
>> analysis
>> <http://www.lobbyingtransparency.org/images/spinwatchpcrcevidence.pdf>.
>> While MPs voted for a second reading last night
>> <http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm130903/debtext/130903-0001.htm#13090336000002>,
>> there’s still time to ask them to reconsider the bill. If you’re
>> based in the UK you can write to your MP either via SpinWatch’s
>> form
>> <http://www.spinwatch.org/index.php/campaigns/lobbying-register> or
>> with your own message atWriteToThem <http://www.writetothem.com/>./
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Jonathan Gray
>>
>> Director of Policy and Ideas | **@jwyg <https://twitter.com/jwyg>**
>>
>> TheOpen Knowledge Foundation <http://okfn.org/>
>>
>> *
>>
>> Empowering through Open Knowledge
>>
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>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> *Greg Brown*
>> Policy Fellow | Sunlight Foundation <http://sunlightfoundation.com/>
>> (630) 379-3809 <tel:%28630%29%20379-3809> | @GregBrownm
>> OpeningParliament.org <http://OpeningParliament.org>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Jonathan Gray
>>
>> Director of Policy and Ideas | **@jwyg <https://twitter.com/jwyg>**
>>
>> TheOpen Knowledge Foundation <http://okfn.org/>
>>
>> *
>>
>> Empowering through Open Knowledge
>>
>> okfn.org <http://okfn.org/> | @okfn <http://twitter.com/OKFN> | OKF on
>> Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/OKFNetwork> | Blog
>> <http://blog.okfn.org/> | Newsletter <http://okfn.org/about/newsletter>
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>>
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