Mr. Julio Bacio Terracino:

Going back to the issue of the lawyers, we understand the Senator's concern and where he is coming from on this. In some countries what happens is that confidentiality between the lawyer and the client obstructs disclosure, in terms of lobbying. As Mr. Bertók mentioned, in some countries lawyers are exempted from disclosing information. For example, this is the case in Austria. However, we recently conducted a survey among lobbyists and legislators and found that this issue is still a concern. Therefore, although this may be excluded, the lobbyists in that particular country feel there is not a level playing field and there is unfair treatment towards them because lawyers often conduct lobbying practices but are excluded from having to make disclosures, etc. In the survey we conducted recently, more than half of the respondents interviewed considered lawyers as lobbyists. Therefore, the issue is not settled. As Mr. Bertók said, some countries include lawyers, but others do not. Even once it is settled in regulation for example that lawyers are excluded, the issue remains because of the concerns of the other players in lobbying practices.