EU Transparency Register – provides useful but limited information on lobbying activities

Summary:

Lobbying is an essential democratic tool allowing organisations and individuals to provide input into policy and decision-making. The European Parliament and the European Commission set up the EU Transparency Register through an interinstitutional agreement, later joined by the Council. We assessed whether the register is a useful means of providing transparency on the lobbying activities in EU policy and decision-making. We found that it provides useful information to citizens. However, weaknesses and gaps in that information reduce the transparency of lobbying activities taking place in the three signatory institutions. We recommend strengthening the register’s framework and publishing information on non-scheduled meetings with lobbyists. Moreover, we recommend improving data quality checks and the user-friendliness and relevance of the public website.

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