Top officials must disclose lobbyist meetings over past quarter by Thursday

Justice Maris Lauri (Reform).
Justice Maris Lauri (Reform). Source: Ken Mürk/ERR

Top officials from state bodies have to make any meetings they have had with lobbyists over the past quarter public, by Thursday, September 30.

The requirement was put in place in March this year as best practices in lobbyist-public official communications. This must take place either once a quarter or on an ongoing basis.

Minister of Justice Maris Lauri (Reform) says the development has not resulted in an increase in red tape.

She said: "The obligation to make them public has not resulted in any increase in bureaucracy, which is something people feared. We need to commend all ministries and government bodies that have diligently fulfilled this duty.

"The latter group, unfortunately, includes more of those that have not made their meetings public. Generally, information about meetings has been presented in a comprehensible manner by the authorities. More work is needed, however, for the information be easily found on the authorities' websites and that the information be machine readable in all cases. The topic of the meeting should always be clearly detailed, too," she went on, adding that lobbying itself was a natural and normal process and that transparency and improved public trust were the main motivating factors.

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Editor: Andrew Whyte

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