Germany has adopted the Act Introducing a Lobbying Register for the Representation of Special Interests vis-à vis the German Bundestag and the Federal Government (Lobbying Register Act – Lobbyregistergesetz) of 16 April 2021, which has been amended by the Act Amending the Lobbying Register Act of 15 January 2024 (Federal Law Gazette 2024 I No. 10), which entered into force on 1 March 2024.
The Act shall apply to the representation of special interests vis-à-vis the bodies, panels, Members, parliamentary groups or groupings of the German Bundestag (and to the employees of these) and to the representation of special interests vis-à-vis the Federal Government (and to Parliamentary State Secretaries, State Secretaries, Heads of Directorates-General, Heads of Directorates, and Heads of Division).
Representatives of special interests are obliged to enroll in a public register (Lobbying register), which shall be established and maintained in electronic form by the German Bundestag.
Representatives of special interests are obliged to enroll in the Register as soon as any of the following conditions are met: the representation of special interests is carried out on a regular basis; it is established on a permanent basis; it is carried out commercially for third parties; more than 30 separate contacts have been made in the course of the past three months for the purpose of representing special interests; it is commissioned in exchange for compensation (Section 2.1).
Representatives of special interests shall provide information among which personal identification details, additional general particulars for the natural persons listed, areas of interests and objectives and description of activity, particulars of the identity of clients, particulars of annual financial expenditure, particulars of individual allowances and grants from the German public purse, the European Union, its Member States or from third countries, that are related to the primary object of the company or organization, particulars of gifts and other lifetime donations from third parties, etc. (Section 3).
By enrolling in the Lobbying Register, representatives of special interests shall accept the code of conduct for representatives of special interests in the framework of the Lobbying Register Act.
