The establishment of this register is outlined in the final text of a legislative framework designed to set transparency rules applicable to the interaction between public and private entities, whether national or international, aspiring to ensure legitimate interest representation.
“The RTRI is a unique and publicly accessible registry, to be made available through open access on the Internet portal of the Assembly of the Republic, with the protection of personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and implementing legislation. Entities subject to registration must be listed in the RTRI before being granted a hearing or participating in hearings promoted by them,” the newly approved diploma states.
If the new legislation is enacted by the President of the Republic, legitimate interest representation activities are those carried out “in compliance with the law with the aim of influencing, directly or indirectly, the development or implementation of public policies, legislative and regulatory acts, as well as the decision-making processes of public entities, conducted in their own name, on behalf of specific groups, or representing third parties.”
Excluded from this are “the practice of acts exclusively performed by lawyers and solicitors in the exercise of legal mandates; and activities of social partners, namely, trade unions and business or employer organizations, while participating in social dialogue and only within that framework.”
Public entities are defined as the Presidency of the Republic, the Assembly of the Republic, and the Government, including the offices of its members; the self-governing bodies of the Autonomous Regions, including their members’ offices; the representatives of the Republic for the Autonomous Regions, including their offices; the direct and indirect administration bodies and services of the State; the Bank of Portugal; independent administrative entities and regulatory entities; and the bodies and services of autonomous, regional, and local administration, including their offices and intermunicipal entities.
The final text now approved mentions that “all consultations or interactions within the framework of legitimate interest representation (…) must be identified at the end of the legislative procedure, in a form to be approved by the respective entity, which also defines how to publish it on its website.”
“Without prejudice to communication to the competent entities for the purposes of other applicable sanctions, the violation of duties (…) may lead, after an instructional procedure with defense guarantees conducted by the management body of the RTRI, to the application of sanctions,” it states.
Among the sanctions envisaged are the “total or partial suspension of an entity from the register for a period of up to two years; the imposition of access limitations on individuals who have acted on its behalf and violated the duties outlined in this law, for a period of up to two years; and exclusion from participating in public consultation procedures for up to two years.”
Regarding incompatibilities and disqualifications, it specifies that “holders of political offices and high public positions cannot engage in interest representation activities with the legal entity, Ministry, or body of which they were holders for a period of three years counting from the end of their functions.”
“The activity of legitimate interest representation when carried out on behalf of third parties is incompatible with holding a position as a member of sovereign bodies, political office, or high public office; functions in an independent administrative entity or regulatory entity, or in support offices for holders of political offices and high public offices,” it is added.
