19.9.2014

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 277/11

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Agreement between the European Parliament and the European Commission

on the transparency register for organisations and self-employed individuals engaged in EU policy-making and policy implementation

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION (‘the parties hereto’),

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, in particular Article 11(1) and (2) thereof, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, in particular Article 295 thereof, and the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (hereinafter together referred to as ‘the Treaties’),

Whereas European policy-makers do not operate in isolation from civil society, but maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society;

Whereas the parties hereto have reviewed the Transparency Register (hereinafter ‘the register’) established by the Agreement between the European Parliament and the European Commission of 23 June 2011 on the establishment of a transparency register for organisations and self-employed individuals engaged in EU policy-making and policy implementation (1) pursuant to paragraph 30 of that agreement,

AGREE AS FOLLOWS:

I.   PRINCIPLES OF THE REGISTER

1.   The establishment and operation of the register shall not affect or prejudice the objectives of the European Parliament as expressed in its resolution of 8 May 2008 on the development of the framework for the activities of interest representatives (lobbyists) in the European institutions (2) and in its decision of 11 May 2011 on conclusion of an interinstitutional agreement between the European Parliament and the Commission on a common Transparency Register (3).

2.   The operation of the register shall respect the general principles of Union law, including the principles of proportionality and non-discrimination.

3.   The operation of the register shall respect the rights of Members of the European Parliament to exercise their parliamentary mandate without restriction.

4.   The operation of the register shall not impinge on the competences or prerogatives of the parties hereto or affect their respective organisational powers.

5.   The parties hereto shall strive to treat all operators engaged in similar activities in a similar manner, and to allow for a level playing-field for the registration of organisations and self-employed individuals engaged in EU policy-making and policy implementation.

II.   STRUCTURE OF THE REGISTER

6.   The structure of the register shall be as follows:

(a)	provisions on the scope of the register, activities covered by the register, definitions, incentives and exemptions;

(b)	sections for registration (Annex I);

(c)	information required from registrants, including financial disclosure requirements (Annex II);

(d)	code of conduct (Annex III);

(e)	alert and complaint mechanisms and measures to be applied in the event of non-compliance with the code of conduct, including the procedures for alerts and for the investigation and treatment of complaints (Annex IV);

(f)	implementation guidelines with practical information for registrants.

III.   SCOPE OF THE REGISTER

Activities covered

7.   The scope of the register covers all activities, other than those referred to in paragraphs 10 to 12, carried out with the objective of directly or indirectly influencing the formulation or implementation of policy and the decision-making processes of the EU institutions, irrespective of where they are undertaken and of the channel or medium of communication used, for example via outsourcing, media, contracts with professional intermediaries, think tanks, platforms, forums, campaigns and grassroots initiatives.

For the purpose of this agreement, ‘directly influencing’ means influencing by way of a direct contact or communication with the EU institutions or other action following up on such activities and ‘indirectly influencing’ means influencing through the use of intermediate vectors such as media, public opinion, conferences or social events, targeting the EU institutions.

In particular, those activities include:

—	contacting Members and their assistants, officials or other staff of the EU institutions;

—	preparing, circulating and communicating letters, information material or discussion papers and position papers;

—	organising events, meetings, promotional activities, conferences or social events, invitations to which have been sent to Members and their assistants, officials or other staff of the EU institutions; and

—	voluntary contributions and participation in formal consultations or hearings on envisaged EU legislative or other legal acts and other open consultations.

8.   All organisations and self-employed individuals, irrespective of their legal status, engaged in activities, whether on-going or under preparation, covered by the register are expected to register.

Any activity covered by the register and which is developed under contract by an intermediary providing legal and other professional advice, shall entail eligibility for registration both for the intermediary and for its client. Such intermediaries shall declare all clients under such contracts as well as the revenue per client for representation activities as set out in Annex II at point II.C.2.b. This requirement does not exempt clients from registering and including in their own cost estimates the cost of any activities subcontracted to an intermediary.

Activities not covered

9.   An organisation shall only be eligible to register if it carries out activities, covered by the register, which have resulted in direct or indirect communication with EU institutions. An organisation deemed non-eligible may be removed from the register.

10.   Activities concerning the provision of legal and other professional advice are not covered by the register in so far as:

—

they consist of advisory work and contacts with public bodies in order to better inform clients about a general legal situation or about their specific legal position, or to advise them whether a particular legal or administrative step is appropriate or admissible under the existing legal and regulatory environment;

—	they consist of advice given to clients to help them ensure that their activities comply with the relevant law;

—	they consist of analyses and studies prepared for clients on the potential impact of any legislative or regulatory changes with regard to their legal position or field of activity;

—	they consist of representation in the context of a conciliation or mediation procedure aimed at preventing a dispute from being brought before a judicial or administrative body; or

—	they relate to the exercise of the fundamental right of a client to a fair trial, including the right of defence in administrative proceedings, such as activities carried out by lawyers or by any other professionals involved therein.

If a company and its advisers are involved as a party in a specific legal or administrative case or procedure, any activity relating directly thereto which does not seek as such to change the existing legal framework is not covered by the register. This subparagraph applies to all business sectors in the European Union.

However, the following activities concerning the provision of legal and other professional advice are covered by the register where they are intended to influence the EU institutions, their Members and their assistants or their officials or other staff:

—	the provision of support, via representation or mediation, or of advocacy material, including argumentation and drafting; and

—	the provision of tactical or strategic advice, including the raising of issues the scope of which and the timing of communication of which are intended to influence the EU institutions, their Members and their assistants or their officials or other staff.

11.   Activities of the social partners as participants in the social dialogue (trade unions, employers' associations, etc.) are not covered by the register where those social partners perform the role assigned to them in the Treaties. This paragraph applies mutatis mutandis to any entity specifically designated in the Treaties to play an institutional role;

12.   Activities in response to direct and individual requests from EU institutions or Members of the European Parliament, such as ad hoc or regular requests for factual information, data or expertise, are not covered by the register.

Specific provisions

13.   The register does not apply to churches and religious communities. However, the representative offices or legal entities, offices and networks created to represent churches and religious communities in their dealings with the EU institutions, as well as their associations, are expected to register.

14.   The register does not apply to political parties. However, any organisations created or supported by them which are engaged in activities covered by the register are expected to register.

15.   The register does not apply to Member States' government services, third countries' governments, international intergovernmental organisations and their diplomatic missions.

16.   Regional public authorities and their representative offices are not expected to register, but can register if they wish to do so. Any association or network created to represent regions collectively is expected to register.

17.   All sub-national public authorities other than those referred to in paragraph 16, such as local and municipal authorities or cities, or their representation offices, associations or networks, are expected to register.

18.   Networks, platforms or other forms of collective activity, which have no legal status or legal personality but which constitute de facto a source of organised influence and which are engaged in activities covered by the register, are expected to register. Members of such forms of collective activity shall designate a representative to act as their contact person responsible for liaising with the ‘Joint Transparency Register Secretariat’ (JTRS).

19.   The activities to be taken into account for assessing eligibility to register are those aimed (directly or indirectly) at all EU institutions, agencies and bodies, and their Members and their assistants, officials and other staff. Such activities do not include activities directed at Member States, in particular those directed at their permanent representations to the European Union.

20.   European networks, federations, associations or platforms are encouraged to produce common, transparent guidelines for their members identifying the activities covered by the register. They are expected to make those guidelines public.

IV.   RULES APPLICABLE TO REGISTRANTS

21.   By registering, the organisations and individuals concerned:

—	agree that the information which they provide for inclusion in the register shall be in the public domain;

—	agree to act in compliance with the code of conduct set out in Annex III and, where relevant, to provide the text of any professional code of conduct by which they are bound (4);

—	guarantee that the information provided for inclusion in the register is correct and agree to cooperate with administrative requests for complementary information and updates;

—	accept that any alert or complaint concerning them will be handled on the basis of the rules in the code of conduct set out in Annex III;

—	agree to be subject to any measures to be applied in the event of non-compliance with the code of conduct set out in Annex III and acknowledge that the measures provided for in Annex IV may be applied to them in the event of non-compliance with the code;

—	note that the parties hereto may, upon request and subject to the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5), have to disclose correspondence and other documents concerning the activities of registrants.

V.   IMPLEMENTATION

22.   The Secretaries-General of the European Parliament and the European Commission shall be responsible for supervision of the system and for all key operational aspects, and shall by common accord take the measures necessary to implement this agreement.

23.   Although the system is operated jointly, the parties hereto remain free to use the register independently for their own specific purposes.

24.   In order to implement the system, the services of the European Parliament and the European Commission maintain a joint operational structure, designated as the JTRS. The JTRS is made up of a group of officials from the European Parliament and the European Commission pursuant to an arrangement agreed by the competent services. The JTRS operates under the coordination of a Head of Unit in the Secretariat-General of the European Commission. The tasks of the JTRS include producing implementation guidelines, within the limits of this agreement, to facilitate a consistent interpretation of the rules by registrants, and monitoring the quality of the content of the register. The JTRS shall use the administrative resources available to perform quality checks of the content of the register, on the understanding, however, that registrants are ultimately responsible for the information they have provided.

25.   The parties hereto shall organise appropriate training and internal communication projects to raise awareness of the register and of the alert and complaints procedures among their Members and staff.

26.   The parties hereto shall take appropriate measures externally to raise awareness of the register and promote its use.

27.   A series of basic statistics, extracted from the database of the register, shall be published regularly on the Europa Transparency Register website and shall be accessible via a user-friendly search engine. The public content of that database shall be available in electronic, machine-readable formats.

28.   An annual report on the operation of the register shall be submitted by the Secretaries-General of the European Parliament and the European Commission respectively to the relevant Vice-President of the European Parliament and to the relevant Vice-President of the European Commission. The annual report shall provide factual information about the register, its content and its evolution, and shall be published each year for the preceding calendar year.

VI.   MEASURES APPLICABLE FOR COMPLIANT REGISTRANTS

29.   Access passes to the European Parliament's premises will only be issued to individuals representing, or working for, organisations falling within the scope of the register where those organisations or individuals have registered. However, registration shall not confer an automatic entitlement to such an access pass. The issue and control of passes affording long-term access to the European Parliament's premises shall remain an internal procedure of the Parliament under its own responsibility.

30.   The parties hereto shall offer incentives, in the framework of their administrative authority, in order to encourage registration within the framework created by this agreement.

Incentives offered by the European Parliament to registrants may include:

—	further facilitation of access to its premises, its Members and their assistants, its officials and other staff;

—	authorisation to organise or co-host events on its premises;

—	facilitated transmission of information, including specific mailing lists;

—	participation as speakers in committee hearings;

—	patronage by the European Parliament.

Incentives offered by the European Commission to registrants may include:

—	measures with regard to the transmission of information to registrants when launching public consultations;

—	measures with regard to expert groups and other advisory bodies;

—	specific mailing lists;

—	patronage by the European Commission.

Specific incentives available to registrants shall be communicated to them by the parties hereto.

VII.   MEASURES IN THE EVENT OF NON-COMPLIANCE WITH THE CODE OF CONDUCT

31.   Any person may lodge alerts and complaints, using the standard contact form, available on the website of the register, concerning possible non-compliance with the code of conduct set out in Annex III. Alerts and complaints shall be handled in accordance with the procedures laid down in Annex IV.

32.   An alert mechanism is a tool to complement the quality checks performed by the JTRS in accordance with paragraph 24. Any person may lodge an alert with regard to factual mistakes concerning the information provided by the registrants. Alerts may also be lodged with regard to non-eligible registrations.

33.   Any person may lodge a formal complaint where non-compliance by a registrant with the code of conduct, other than factual mistakes, is suspected. Complaints shall be substantiated by material facts with regard to the suspected non-compliance with the code.

The JTRS shall investigate the suspected non-compliance with due regard for the principles of proportionality and good administration. Intentional non-compliance with the code of conduct by registrants or by their representatives shall lead to the application of the measures laid down in Annex IV.

34.   Where repeated non-cooperation, repeated inappropriate behaviour, or serious non-compliance with the code of conduct, has been identified by the JTRS under the procedures referred to in paragraphs 31 to 33, the registrant concerned shall be removed from the register for a time period of either one year or two years and the measure will be publicly mentioned in the register, as laid down in Annex IV.

VIII.   INVOLVEMENT OF OTHER INSTITUTIONS AND BODIES

35.   The European Council and the Council are invited to join the register. Other EU institutions, bodies and agencies are encouraged to use the framework created by this agreement themselves as a reference instrument for their own interaction with organisations and self-employed individuals engaged in EU policy-making and policy implementation.

IX.   FINAL PROVISIONS

36.   This agreement shall replace the agreement between the European Parliament and the European Commission of 23 June 2011 whose effects shall cease to apply on the date of application of this agreement.

37.   The register shall be subject to a review in 2017.

38.   This agreement shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. It shall apply from 1 January 2015.

Entities already registered at the date of application of this agreement shall amend their registration to satisfy the new requirements resulting from this agreement within a period of three months following that date.

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(1)  OJ L 191, 22.7.2011, p. 29.

(2)  OJ C 271 E, 12.11.2009, p. 48.

(3)  OJ C 377 E, 7.12.2012, p. 176.

(4)  The professional code of conduct by which a registrant is bound may impose obligations which are more stringent than the requirements of the code of conduct set out in Annex III.

(5)  Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43).

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