Malta urgently needs lobbying regulations, AD insists

Alternattiva Demokratika has underlined the need to regulate lobbying in Malta and to apply an strong element of transparency to the practice.

Despite lobying regulations being long-overdue, there appears to be no indication that an initiative is in the pipeline to put in place any legislation in this regard, AD said.

In light of this, an AD delegation, led by the party’s chairperson Carmel Cacopardo, met on Thursday with Standards Commissioner George Hyzler, urging him to set the ball rolling without any further delay and ensure that lobbying is regulated.

AD noted in a press statement following the meeting that the report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Standards in Public Life, dated 24 March, 2014, had for some inexplicable reason omitted all references to the need to regulate lobbying.

“This reluctance was also evident in the debate on the draft legislation, as government and opposition could not arrive at any agreement as to how to regulate lobbying. As a result of this reluctance it was only in the final minutes of the parliamentary debate that the regulation of lobbying made it to the responsibilities of the Commissioner of Standards in Public Life who is expected to ‘identify those activities which are to be considered as lobbying activities, to issue guidelines for those activities and to make such recommendations as he deems appropriate in respect of the regulation of such activities’, (article 11 (1)(f) of the Standards in Public Life Act),” AD said.

The party highlighted that “applying transparency to lobbying is the basic antidote needed.”

It acknowledged that lobbying, if done properly and above board, should not lead to bad governance. “It is perfectly legitimate for any citizen, group of citizens, corporations or even NGOs to seek to influence decision-taking. It is done continuously and involves the communication of views and information to legislators and administrators by those who have an interest in informing them of the impacts of the decisions under consideration,” AD said.

AD further underscored that it is perfectly legitimate that individuals, acting on their own behalf or else acting on behalf of third parties, should seek to ensure that decision-takers are well informed before taking the required decisions. “However, lobbying should not be the process through which the decision-takers make way for the representatives of corporations to take their place,” it said.

The party reiterated that lobbying requires a considerable dose of transparency and had to be unchained from the shackles of secrecy.

“In other jurisdictions this is done through actively disclosing information on lobbying activities, thereby placing them under the spotlight of public opinion,” it said, “The timely publication of minutes, as well as documents and studies relative to meetings held by holders of political office, is essential. The public has a right to know who is seeking to influence the decision-taking process. This helps ensure that lobbying is not used as a tool to secretly derail or deflect the democratic process leading to political decisions.”

AD added that it is also essential to issue guidelines on and regulate “revolving door” recruitment of former holders of political office in the corporate world and vice-versa.

“It is imperative that the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life sets the ball rolling without any further delay. It is essential that lobbying is regulated in order to avoid the hijacking of the democratic process,” the party stressed.