Mr. János Bertók:

This is a very important issue. The experience of countries with lobbying legislation shows that lobbying legislation is linked to other transparency measures, consultations and inclusion in policymaking. At the same time, it is important to understand how existing mechanisms such as parliamentary or public hearings and consultation processes work. Social partnerships are in place in many countries. One must understand how these mechanisms are linked to lobbying. Experience shows that when there are existing mechanisms which provide sufficient information, that is, where transparency and the level of information are sufficient, for example, social partnership meetings and public hearings are announced and documents are available, such activity does not fall within the scope of the lobbying legislation.

On the issue of what type of information is provided, it is important to understand in the definition of lobbying that it is contact between lobbyists and public officials with a view to influencing public decisions, policies or administration. If a request is made to a public official, the contact, by its nature, is similar to consultation. In such circumstances, many countries do not consider this lobbying because it relates to the provision of factual information by a public official.