REPRESENTATION: public register could pose confidentiality problems for practitioners


The European Commission came under heavy fire last week for failing to differentiate between lawyers and lobbyists in its bid to regulate people working to influence EU institutions' decisions.



The plenary meeting of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) - which speaks for the legal profession at a European level - was told that the commission takes a broad view of what lobbying entails, including work done by law firms.



The transparency initiative will next spring see the commission open a voluntary public register for all interest representatives. They will be invited to declare whom they represent, what their objectives are, and their funding. If participation levels prove unsatisfactory, it could become compulsory. A code of conduct for lobbyists is also planned.



Georges-Albert Dal, who heads the CCBE's ethics committee, told the meeting in Edinburgh that the commission has not listened to its concerns over the confidentiality problems the register posed law firms and the fact that lawyers are already subject to their own codes of conduct - although in practice this is unlikely to cause a great problem for lawyers as the codes are likely to be more stringent in any case.



The CCBE has been invited to attend a meeting at the commission next week for organisations representing professional lobbyists. President Colin Tyre QC, a Scottish advocate, said he was 'alarmed' that the commission saw the CCBE as similar to such groups, rather than invite it to separate meetings held with the likes of non-governmental organisations, which will also have to register.



In a strong attack on the commission, CCBE first vice-president Péter Köves, who heads Clifford Chance's Hungarian practice, called for a boycott of the meeting, saying Brussels was 'not interested' in distinguishing between lawyers and lobbyists. He also warned that the code of conduct proposal could be a 'Trojan Horse' for the commission to set pan-European codes for other professions in future, including the legal profession.



Helge Aarseth, head of the Norwegian delegation, won support for his suggestion that the CCBE work for a clear definition of lobbying that includes pure lobbying work done by lawyers, but excludes legal work done on behalf of clients, for example in competition proceedings. UK delegation head Hugh Mercer, an English barrister, was among those to back this approach.



It was also said that lawyers lobbying on public interest issues, such as over their money laundering reporting obligations, should not be caught by the initiative.



Neil Rose