Belgian and EU Lobbying regulations in the spotlight

Lobbying has recently come under increased scrutiny from lawmakers. As of 24 April 2024, the Walloon Parliament joined the ranks of the Belgian Federal Parliament (2018) and the Parliament of the French-speaking community (2023) in enforcing lobbying regulations. Each has adapted its internal rules to include a lobby register inspired by the EU Transparency Register. Further regulations were discussed before the June elections.

The EU Transparency Register itself has seen development in the past years, marked by the adoption of the Interinstitutional Agreement on 20 May 2021 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, and the European Commission, establishing a mandatory Transparency Register.

In this alert, we take stock on the current legal framework for lobbying at Belgian and EU levels by answering six key questions:

1: Which institutions regulate lobbying?

2: Who is required to register?

3: What information must be provided when registering?

4: What obligations does registration entail?

5: What is the sanction in case of non-compliance?

6: What other rules may be relevant in the context of lobbying activities?

1. Which institutions regulate lobbying?

At Belgian level, lobbying is currently regulated in three parliaments through their rules of procedure: the Federal parliament (the House of Representatives), the Parliament of the French-speaking community and the Walloon Parliament.

At EU Institutions level, lobbying activities are regulated by the European Commission via the EU Transparency Register. Specific rules of procedures apply for the three legislative and executive bodies, the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the Commission itself.

2. Who is required to register?

As a general rule, whether at Belgian or EU levels, any organisation carrying out lobbying activities should register, including if lobbying on its own behalf. More precisely, individuals acting on behalf of an organisation in the framework of lobbying activities must register as contact persons of such organisation. Thus, in order to know who must register, it is necessary to determine what activities are covered by the definition of lobbying.

All three Belgian Parliaments define lobbying broadly as any activity carried out with the aim of directly or indirectly influencing the development or the implementation of the policies and the decision-making process. However, some activities are explicitly excluded from the scope of the lobbying regulation such as activities of any entity entrusted with an institutional role by a Belgian legislation (for example, trade unions and employers’ associations).

At EU level, lobbying is more precisely defined as “influencing the formulation and implementation of policy or legislation, or the decision-making process of EU institutions”. An illustrative list of activities covered is given, and includes in particular the organisation or participation in meetings, conferences or events with EU institutions, or “preparing or commissioning policy and position papers, amendments, opinion polls and surveys, open letters and other communication or information material, and commissioning and carrying out research”. Similarly to Belgian rules, the EU framework excludes certain activities such as legal advice, representation of clients to protect their fundamental rights (i.e. right to be heard), and submissions in response to targeted request for information (e.g. in the context of an investigation).

3. What information must be provided when registering? 

When engaging in lobbying activities as outlined above, an entity must register with the relevant aforementioned lobbies’ register and provide the following information: its name; its legal form; the address of its registered office and its business identification number; its telephone number; its email address; a description of its purpose; the name of its contact person(s) (i.e. individual(s) acting for it in the framework of lobbying activities).

On top of that, EU rules also require to disclose the entity’s links to EU institutions in terms of legislative or policy files targeted.

4. What obligations does registration entail? 

As a general rule, by registering, an entity and the individuals lobbying on its behalf must comply with obligations that require to:

• accept that the information they provide in the register is made publicly available;
• agree to act in accordance with the code of conduct of the relevant institution, pursuant to which they usually must:
  
  o declare, to members of the concerned institution (and their staff or officials), the interest or interests they represent;
  
  o refrain from any attempt to obtain information dishonestly;
  
  o not claim any formal relationship with the institution in any relationship with third parties;
  
  o generally comply with all rules, codes and practices of good governance established by the relevant institution and refrain from obstructing the implementation and enforcement of such rules, codes and practices;
• ensure that the information they provide in the register is correct and agree to cooperate in the administrative requests for additional information and updates.

5. Is there a sanction in case of non-compliance?

At Belgian level, there are currently no sanctions for failing to comply with the registration obligation or with the aforementioned codes of conduct. However, bills providing for such sanctions were debated in various parliaments before the end of the current legislative term.

At EU level, non-observance of the Transparency Register’s code of conduct may result in an investigation into the concerned entity and in the entity’s registration being suspended. Informally, this implies that the entity may not access the premises of the EP or have direct meetings with EU officials.

6. What other rules may be relevant?

 Four key other regimes could be relevant in the context of lobbying activities, namely:

• codes of ethics governing the conduct of public officials adopted by the various public institutions;
• criminal law offence of public corruption (Art. 246 of the Belgian Criminal Code);
• legislation on the financing of political parties during electoral campaigns; and 
• commitments arising from self-regulation of the lobbying sector (see in particular the charter of ethical conduct of BEPACT, the Belgian Public Affairs Community).

Any questions? Please reach out to one of the authors of this alert or your usual Linklaters contact.