Initiatives by various parties, exhibiting more similarities than differences, aim to approve transparency regulations applicable to private entities that engage in legitimate interest representation to public entities, commonly referred to as lobbying, and to establish a transparency register for this interest representation.
The PSD, having scheduled this matter, reintroduces a bill similar to the one from the previous legislature, which was under discussion in an Ad Hoc Committee for monitoring the Anti-corruption Agenda, suspended due to the premature end of the legislature.
The Social Democrats propose regulating legitimate interest representation towards public entities by creating a transparency register for interest representation (RTRI) at the Assembly of the Republic, along with a public agenda of interactions between both parties.
This RTRI would be a “single, public, and free” register, mandatory for all entities wishing to engage in lobbying activities.
Even though the Social Democratic bill excludes “the practice of acts characteristic of lawyers and legal agents in the exercise of legal representation” from the law’s scope, PSD deputy António Rodrigues stresses that these professionals “are considered the same as any other individual” if they wish to lobby public entities, needing to register and identify their clients, marking one of the main distinctions from other bills.
The PS’s proposal begins by outlining the chronology of this debate, lingering in parliament for nearly a decade (since the XIII legislature), having faced a presidential veto in 2019, and no bill has been approved in a final global vote, mainly due to various prematurely ended legislatures.
Thus, the Socialists assert that the goal is to revive the principles of bills that previously garnered broad consensus, primarily that entities intending to develop interest representation activities “must compulsorily be recorded in the register used by each entity before being granted an audience or participating in hearings promoted by these.”
While the PS also excludes “the practice of acts characteristic of lawyers and legal agents” from the law’s application, it considers, on the other hand, that legitimate interest representation activities are incompatible with practicing law and legal agency, a norm also present in CDS-PP and Chega’s bills.
Apart from this difference, CDS-PP and Chega present bills very similar to the Social Democrats, stipulating, like the PS, a three-year period during which holders of political and high public office are prevented from engaging in interest representation activities “towards the legal entity or ministry in whose body they served.”
All envisage that the register will be accompanied by a Code of Conduct and a mechanism allowing the tracking of the entire legislative footprint of the bills.
Public entities considered include, among others, the Presidency of the Republic, the parliament (including parliamentary groups and sole deputies), the Government, including respective offices, executives of the Autonomous Regions, direct and indirect State administration bodies and services, or regional municipal administration.
Regarding sanctions, most parties stipulate that violating the duties in the bill may lead to “total or partial suspension” of an entity from the register and “limitations on the access of individuals who acted on their behalf.”
The IL bill distinguishes itself by advocating that the register should be created under the Entity for Transparency (dependent on the Constitutional Court) instead of the Assembly of the Republic.
The PAN, which also resumes previous initiatives, considers that all lawyer activities may be covered by the law and outlines harsher sanctions for the lack of lobbyist registration and possible breaches of the future law, such as restrictions on applying for subsidies or public tenders.
