Lobbyists to Face Tighter Regulation

In a 2015 report by Transparency International, Cyprus was ranked last among 19 EU countries when it came to the existence of legislation to monitor and regulate lobbying.

The Council of Europe considers lobbying as the concerted effort to influence policymaking and decision-making by an individual or organization to obtain a concrete result from government and elected representatives.

As a result, Parliament is discussing a new bill to regulate the lobbying industry in Cyprus to prevent any conflict of interest or corruption.

The new bill will require all lobbying groups to be registered and records kept by the independent Authority against Corruption.

Individuals and organizations will have to submit details of their lobbying group and fields of interest and anyone found lobbying without being officially registered could face a fine of up to EUR 20,000 and/or up two years in prison.

 

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