Oecd Public Governance Reviews The Regulation Of Lobbying In Quebec Canada Strengthening A Culture Of Transparency And Integrity

This report provides an analysis of the framework in place to strengthen the transparency and integrity of lobbying in Quebec, Canada. The report also assesses the reform project proposed by the Commissioner of Lobbying in 2019, by benchmarking it against the OECD Recommendation on Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying, as well as good practices in OECD countries. The report highlights how to address governance concerns related to lobbying, and identifies concrete and tailored solutions to further strengthen a culture of transparency and integrity in the policy-making process.

Lobbying and influence activities are legitimate acts of democratic participation and enable different groups to provide input and expertise to the policymaking process. This report looks at Chile’s existing framework to ensure equity, integrity and transparency in public decision-making processes, and assesses its resilience to the risks of undue influence by special interest groups.

This report provides concrete recommendations for strengthening the legislative and institutional framework for elected and appointed officials in Malta. It reviews the institutional and procedural set-up of the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life and analyses the omissions, inconsistencies and overlaps in the Standards in Public Life Act.

This report analyses the progress made in implementing the recommendations of the Charbonneau Commission and benchmarks these measures against good practices in OECD countries.

This report analyses the legislative and institutional framework in France relating to the transparency and integrity of foreign influence activities. It identifies concrete policy measures adapted to the French context to make foreign influence activities more transparent, and to discourage foreign interference attempts that are made notably through opaque lobbying and influence activities. It also ensures that the risk of foreign interference is better taken into account when public officials move between the public and private sectors.

This report analyses the underlining factors of an effective Code of Conduct in the overall framework of the Palestinian Authority's public governance reform to build open and transparent institutions.

This report takes stock of progress made in implementing the 2010 Recommendation on Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying – the only international instrument addressing major risks in the public decision-making process related to lobbying.

This report reviews the experiences of Australia, Canada, Hungary, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States with government regulations designed to increase scrutiny for lobbying and lobbyists.

Lobbying can improve policy making by providing valuable insights and data, but it can also result in unfair advantages for vested interests if the process is opaque and standards are lax. Lobbying is resource intensive. The financial services sector in the United States spent USD 3.4 billion lobbying the federal government between 1998 and 2008, principally promoting the deregulation of the financial sector. Legions of lobbyists provide "guns for hire" worldwide. In 2008, there were over 5,000 registered lobbyists in Canada at the national level, while the European Commission in Brussels had over 2,000 registered as of August 2009. This report reviews the experiences of Australia, Canada, Hungary, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States with government regulations designed to increase scrutiny for lobbying and lobbyists. Current approaches, models, trends and state-of-the-art solutions are examined to support a deeper understanding of the potential and limitations of existing norms. The report also presents building blocks for developing a framework for lobbying that meets public expectations for transparency, accountability and integrity.--Publisher's description.