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Melanie Bossuroy
Transparency Unit, Secretariat General, European Commission
Marie THIEL, Administrator
Transparency Unit, European Parliament
21 March 2014
OECD, Brussels
EU Transparency Register
Presentation outline
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I RECENT DEVELOPMENTS OF THE REGISTER
• Statistical overview & recent growth
• Political & technical review of the TR
II COVERAGE – WHO & WHERE FROM?
• Statistical overview – limited research available
• Analysis of coverage of TR – limited research available
I RECENT DEVELOPMENTS OF THE REGISTER
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Statistical overview & recent growth
Transparency Register
GROWTH RATE OF REGISTRATIONS = 1 000 organisations/ year
EC REGISTER OF INTEREST REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 2011:
• Approx.
4 000 organisations
EU TRANSPARENCY REGISTER
MARCH 2014:
• Approx.
6 500 organisations (despite approx. 400 disbarments under new monitoring procedures)
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500 registrat-ions in past 3 months = 5% growth
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Transparency Register
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Register statistics
Register statistics (24/02/14)
Transparency Register review
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Background
• Review of TR foreseen by Interinstitutional Agreement (IIA) 2011
• Technical meetings held between stakeholder (European umbrella organisations) & JTRS in 2013
• Political meeting between EC Vice President Šefčovič & stakeholders in June 2013
• High Level WG (EP/EC) set up for the revision of the TR (all EP political groups represented)
• 9 meetings held between July-December 2013
• List of 30 measures for improvement made
• Revised draft Interinstitutional Agreement 2014
• Voted & approved in EP AFCO Committee 18 March 2014
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Result of discussions of the Working Group
Political issues tackled
• Whether to move to a mandatory model of register
• Participation of Council in the scheme
Technical recommendations
• More incentives offered to registrants
• Level playing field across categories & more precise information required from registrants
• Clarifying the sections of registrants
• Update of Code of Conduct (applicable to all registered or not)
• Revised procedures for complaints & alerts
• Improvements to IT interface
• Update of guidance
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Next steps
• EC approval & EP vote in plenary April 2014
• Signature of revised Interinstitutional Agreement 2014
• Implementation of 30 measures for improvement by latest 01 January 2015
• New review foreseen for latest 2017
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Complexity of "lobbying" sector
Incentivise registration but also allow open access
to the EU institutions
Pressure for mandatory system but no clear legal basis
Promoting visibility & use of the Register
Ensuring widest possible sectoral coverage &
improving quality of data
Challenges Dealing more efficiently with
alerts & complaints
NUMBER OF REGISTRANTS WITH HEAD OFFICE IN EU COUNTRIES = approx . 90%:
BELGIUM = 1 541 SPAIN = 370 GERMANY = 779 FINLAND = 102 FRANCE = 676 POLAND = 82 UK = 617 BULGARIA = 34 ITALY = 544 ESTONIA = 5 ETC.
II COVERAGE – WHO & WHERE FROM?
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NUMBER OF REGISTRANTS WITH HEAD OFFICE IN NON EU COUNTRIES (approx. 10%):
China = 2
USA = 151 Australia = 5
Switzerland = 106 Ukraine = 8
Norway = 53 Canada = 17
Turkey = 18 Russia = 5 etc.
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Coverage
• A recent study in 2013 considered that • 75% of relevant actors in Section I (Public Affairs
Consultancies) are registered
• 60% of relevant actors in Section III (NGOs) are registered
• Law firms widely boycott the register
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