Lobbying is the exercising of influence in which an individual (a lobbyist) attempts to influence a decision by decision-makers (lobbied persons), who are active in drafting and adopting legislation, general documents, and public policies. Such an individual exercises said influence in a non-public manner and in the interest of an interest group.
Pursuant to the Integrity and Prevention of Corruption Act (IPCA), “lobbying” is the activity of lobbyists who in the name of interest groups exercise non-public influence on the decision-making of state bodies, the Bank of Slovenia, local community bodies and administrations, and holders of public authority in the discussion and adoption of regulation and other general documents, and on the decision-making of state bodies, the Bank of Slovenia, local community bodies and administrations, and holders of public authority in other matters except those subject to judicial and administrative proceedings, other proceedings carried out according to the regulations governing public procurement, and other proceedings in which the rights and obligations of individuals are decided upon. Any non-public contact of a lobbyist with lobbied persons established with the intention of influencing the content or the procedure of adopting the aforementioned decisions constitutes an act of lobbying (Point 14 of Article 4 of the IPCA).
The IPCA limits the definition of lobbying by limiting decision-makers (lobbied persons) only to state bodies, local community bodies and administrations, the Bank of Slovenia, and holders of public authority, and decisions only to those applying to the adoption of regulation and other general documents as well as other matters except those subject to judicial and administrative proceedings, proceedings carried out according to the regulations governing public procurement, and other proceedings in which the rights and obligations of individuals are decided upon. The IPCA classifies any non-public contact of a lobbyist with lobbied persons as exercising influence.
Such exercising of influence is legitimate, but it must be legally regulated and transparent.
For legal lobbying as stipulated by the IPCA, all of the following conditions must be fulfilled:
a non-public contact between the lobbied person and the lobbyist or the representative of an interest group must take place;
the purpose of exercising influence must apply to decision-making within the public sector (the public sector for the purposes of lobbying being defined as state bodies, the Bank of Slovenia, local community bodies and administrations, and holders of public authority) in matters of public importance, and;
exercising the influence, i.e. lobbying, is performed in the interest of, in the name of, or on the account of an interest group.
Lobbying in accordance with the IPCA is a legitimate activity by means of which interest groups may access formal centres of decision-making power on matters of public importance in a formal and transparent manner.
Lobbying is not permissible in:
judicial proceedings;
administrative proceedings,
proceedings carried out according to the regulations governing public procurement, and;
other proceedings in which the rights and obligations of individuals are decided upon (recruitment-, disciplinary, etc.).
All of the above proceedings are legally regulated proceedings which stipulate specific procedural rights of parties to the proceeding. As a result, exercising influence on the decision-makers and their decisions in these proceedings is not permissible or is prohibited and may even constitute illegal conduct.
The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (the Commission) may impose the following sanctions on lobbyists, lobbied persons, and public-sector bodies that may be subject to lobbying pursuant to the IPCA, as well as on interest groups:
sanctions for violations on part of the lobbyist are defined in Articles 73 and 74 (administrative sanctions), and in Article 77 (minor-offence sanctions) of the IPCA;
sanctions for violations on part of the lobbied person are defined in Article 77 of the IPCA (minor-offence sanctions);
sanctions for violations on part of the public-sector body are defined in Article 78 of the IPCA (minor-offence sanctions),
sanctions for the interest group (minor-offence sanctions) are defined in Article 79 of the IPCA.
In case of a suspicion of a breach of the provisions on lobbying which constitute a minor offence pursuant to the IPCA, the Commission as the minor-offence body acting through an authorised official will initiate a minor-offence proceeding and reach a decision on the offence whereupon it may impose a sanction pursuant to Articles 77 (minor offences by natural persons), 78 (offences by legal persons) and 79 (offences by an interest group) of the IPCA.
A lobbyist entered into the Registry of Lobbyists is obliged to submit a written report on their work to the Commission until 31st January of the current year for the previous year, or no later than 30 days after the expiry of validity of the registration (for the relevant portion of the current year).
For this purpose, the form Report on the lobbyist’s work was prepared for the lobbyist.
A registered lobbyist is obliged to submit a report on their work to the Commission even if they carried out no lobbying activities during the year for which they are obliged to submit a report to the Commission.
Interest groups are obliged to submit a report to the Commission on the lobbying activities of non-registered lobbyists.
An interest group for which a non-registered lobbyist (an employee, or an elected or otherwise legitimate representative) carried out lobbying activities is obliged to submit a written report on the lobbying activities by 31st January of the current year for the previous year, or may alternatively submit a separate report for every contact with a lobbied person. An interest group reports to the Commission using the form Report on the activity of the interest group.
A non-profit interest private-sector group with no employees is not obliged to submit a report on lobbying activities to the Commission. All interest groups engaged in gainful or profitable activity on the market are obliged to report on lobbying activities regardless of the number of employees, including those with no employees.
For help with completing the forms, contact us by phone no. +386 (1) 400 57 10.
IPCA, Article 4 (Definition of terms)
13. “Interest groups” means legal persons governed by private law, and other legally regulated forms of association of natural or legal persons, on behalf and for the account of which a lobbyist performs a lobbying activity; 14. “Lobbying” means the activities carried out by lobbyists who, on behalf of interest groups, exercise non-public influence on decisions made by state, the Bank of Slovenia and local community bodies and holders of public authority in discussing and adopting regulations and other general documents and on decisions made by state bodies, the Bank of Slovenia, the bodies and administrations of local communities, and holders of public authority on matters other than those which are subject to judicial and administrative proceedings, other proceedings carried out according to the regulations governing public procurement, and proceedings in which the rights and obligations of individuals are decided upon. Lobbying means any non-public contact made between a lobbyist and a lobbied party for the purpose of influencing the content or the procedure for adopting the aforementioned decisions; 15. “Lobbyist” means any person who is engaged in lobbying and who is entered in the register of lobbyists or a person who is engaged in lobbying and is an employee of an interest group and lobbies on its behalf or a person who is an elected or otherwise legitimate representative of such an interest group; 16. “Lobbied persons” means holders of public office and public employees in state bodies, the Bank of Slovenia, local community bodies and administrations and holders of public authority who are responsible for decision-making, or who participate in the discussion and adoption of regulations, other general documents and decisions pursuant to point 14 of this Article and with whom lobbyists communicate for lobbying purposes;
IPCA, Chapter VIII. Lobbying
For the purpose of exercising supervision over lobbying and strengthening the transparency of influence on the decision-making in the public sector, the Commission keeps a publicly accessible Register of Contacts with Lobbyists.
From 1st January 2018, the records made by lobbied persons with lobbyists are timely published in the Erar app. Until 2018, as part of Project Transparency, the Commission had published up-to-date lists of reported contacts with lobbyists, which are accessible below.
The obligation to report applies to all contacts with lobbyists, which may take any form of communication between individuals, i.e. in person, in writing, by telephone, by e-mail, or via other means and channels of communication.
