dr Grzegorz Makowski, The Institute of Public AffairsPrague, Czech Rep., 9-10 December 2010

Law on the Lobbying Activity in the Legislative Process (Journal of Law No. 169 of 2005 item 1414)

The Structure: General provisions Principles of disclosure of lobbying activity in the

legislative process The registry of entities performing professional lobbying

activity, and the rules of performing professional lobbying Supervision over professional lobbying Penalties for violation of provisions of the Act 3 secondary acts

The Subjects: central government authorities, the Lower Chamber of Parliament, the lobbyists.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Regular lobbying:

any activity conducted by legally allowed means, which leads towards the exertion of influence upon the organs of public authorities in the lawmaking process

Professional lobbying:

gainful lobbying activity conducted on behalf of third parties in order to arrive at the interests of such third parties being taken into account in the lawmaking process

PRINCIPLES OF DISCLOSURE OF LOBBYING ACTIVITY IN THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

Obligation to the ministries and the government to prepare legislative plans.

Provisions concerning public hearing institution (at the governmental and parliamentary level)

THE REGISTRY OF ENTITIES PERFORMING PROFESSIONAL LOBBYING ACTIVITY, AND THE RULES OF PERFORMING PROFESSIONAL LOBBYING

Main registry is run by the Ministry of Interior and Administration

Separate registires in Sejm and Senate

CONTROL OVER PROFESSIONAL LOBBYING

The ministries are obliged to prepare annual information on actions taken by professional lobbyists.

No reporting obligations for professional lobbyists

PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION OF PROVISIONS OF THE ACT

Professional lobbyists conducting their activity may be fined with amount between approx. from 800 to 10 000 EUR

Main disadvantages:

The scope of the Law - inadequate to the nature of the phenomenon.

The definitions of lobbying – too broad and imprecise.

Mixing up lobbying instruments with institutions of citizen control over public institutions, and mechanisms of participatory democracy.

Showy nature of the rules guaranteeing a fair and lawful lobbying .

The apparent incompatibility of some provisions of the Law with the Constitution of Poland.

Number of professional lobbyists in Poland: unknown

Number of associations of professional lobbyists: 1

Number of professional lobbyists registered in the mainregistry: 165 (May 2010)

The number of registered lobbyists in the parliament: 13 (2010)

Intensity of lobbyist contacts with the ministries: 5 (according to the official report 2006)

Attendance of lobbyists to public hearings: 14 hearings and 0 professional lobbyists among participants (May 2010)

MINIMUM CONDITIONS FOR GOOD REGULATION OF LOBBYING

Precise deffinition

Registry of professional lobbyists

Reporting obligations for bothprofessional lobbyists and institutions

Identify the needs.

Do not proceed with legislation in an atmosphere of a scandal.

Do not overregulate.

Carefully consider the regulation of lobbying in the context of the universal rights of citizens to participate in decision-making processes.

‘Spellcasting by law’ does not pay. It is better to ensure transparent legislative procedures (in particular the conduct of public consultation and preparation of regulatory impact assessments), than to create a specific lobbying law.

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