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Two men on the way to the Reichstag (symbol photo)
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The federal cabinet has adopted a code of conduct for lobbyists.
In the future, they should, among other things, disclose their concerns and their clients and work on the basis of »openness, transparency, honesty and integrity«.
The regulation for professional interest representatives has yet to be passed by the Bundestag.
The Code of Conduct is provided for in the Lobbying Register Act, which the Bundestag passed in March, and will come into force together with it on January 1, 2022.
This is intended to make it clearer who has influenced political decisions and legislation.
The law obliges lobbyists who want to assert the interests of certain groups in the Bundestag or the federal government to provide information about their employers or clients in a new register.
The number of employees and the financial expenses for lobbying must also be stated.
Meetings in ministries should be recorded down to the sub-department head level.
The register is kept digitally at the Bundestag.
Anyone who does not follow the rules can expect a fine of up to 50,000 euros.
The code lists the rules of conduct for interest representatives in detail.
For example, you may not agree on success fees where the amount of remuneration depends on the success of your work.
They are also prohibited from influencing their interlocutors through financial or other advantages.
Around one in four in Germany sees growing corruption in the country, according to Transparency International.
In a survey conducted by the anti-corruption organization between October and December, 26.4 percent of the participants believed that the level of bribery in Germany had increased over the past year.
That comes from the Global Corruption Barometer 2021 published on Tuesday.
Hartmut Bäumer, the chairman of Transparency International, demanded that the next Bundestag should create the office of an independent lobby officer who checks information in the lobby register and in the case of secondary activities by MPs.
Other non-governmental organizations and sections of the opposition had long insisted on the introduction of a mandatory lobby register.
The coalition presented a first draft in the autumn after it became known in the summer that the CDU MP Philipp Amthor was campaigning for political support for Augustus Intelligence, although he was also on the company's supervisory board and held shares.
as / dpa
