Law Society: concerns remain over EU lobbying

1 April 2008

The European Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee voted this morning on a report on lobbying in the EU institutions.  The report calls on lobbyists to be registered with the EU institutions and for them to declare their interests, clients and financial information about sources of income or funding. 

Certain activities carried out by lawyers could also be covered by the report, in particular when "their purpose is to influence policy rather than case law". 

Law Society Chief Executive Des Hudson commented:

"Lawyers need certainty as to when their activities will be considered lobbying.  I am not sure the current text comes close to achieving this, but we are pleased that it does not state that giving legal advice should be considered lobbying.  

"Clearly participation in the political process should be transparent but we cannot ignore that a lawyer's first duty is to his or her own professional rules.  These take precedence over any voluntary EU code. 

"I would be grateful if this could be given greater acknowledgement by the institutions.  Otherwise I fear that lawyers will simply be driven away for registering, which is in nobody's interest."