Country/System
Oversight Body
Legal Basis
Australia
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Canada (Federal)
The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying.
Non-Statutory. Enforcement of sanctions is at the discretion of the cabinet secretary. Statutory. Lobbying Act (2008).
EU Transparency Register
EU Transparency Register Secretariat.
Non-Statutory. Established by a joint agreement between the European Parliament and European Commission.
United States of America (Federal)
Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the U.S. Senate. State agencies established especially for lobbying regulations or are tied to a wider ethics framework.
Statutory. Lobbying Disclosure Act (1995).
Highly Regulated Systems (25 US States)
Usually Statutory.
8.1.3 What was recommended in the submissions received? There is considerable support in the submissions received for independent oversight and supervision of the proposed regulatory system for lobbying. Several submissions identified the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) as being an appropriate regulator for lobbying regulation. One submission considers SIPO as: “…an independent public body to monitor a statutory lobbying register. Such an impartial body could foster a greater degree of trust within the industry and also enhance the reputation of the profession amongst the public” and states “it is ideally placed to enforce such a statutory lobbying register…".118 Another submission advises that “…a single state agency be charged with managing the register, offering guidance to individuals and organisations, monitoring returns, and investigating apparent breaches or anomalies…”. SIPO has been responsible for the management of compliance with the Ethics Acts and “it is experienced in managing and sharing large amounts of sensitive and publicly-available information”, they regard it as best placed to fulfill the role.119 Some of the submissions state that the body given the job of monitoring the register should have powers of investigation where there is a suspected breach of the regulations. There are diverging opinions evident in the submissions as to the extent of the power which should be given the regulator with some contributors to the consultative process recommending that the regulator should have, for example, full jurisdiction for pursuing summary prosecutions and powers to randomly audit registrants. One submission has recommended that the regulator have the power to modify and update the rules in a flexible manner120.
118
Hume Brophy Transparency Ireland 120 Conor McGrath Public Affairs 119
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