From 2009, the Colombian Constitution was amended: Article 144 of the Constitution now stipulates that, on the basis of a specific law, lobbies must be involved in the public decision-making process in a transparent and equal manner.

But years after the constitutional amendment, no law about lobbying has been passed in Colombia.

Denmark does not regulate lobbying activities.

Estonia has not adopted an Act regulating lobbying activity. Nevertheless, in the session of March 2021, the Government approved the good practice of communication with lobbyists for officials, which applies to members of the management of the ministry, the Secretary of State, and heads of other government authorities and their deputies. 

According to it, lobbying is defined as the direct or indirect structured and organised communication of lobbyists with officials (civil servants, policy-makers, or their representatives) to influence policy decisions and protect their interests and lobbyist (including advocate) is either a natural or legal person who, through lobbying, is engaged in standing for interests, whether those of the private sector, the public sector, or any group of society, with or without remuneration.The Good practice provides for a set of principles which the officials shall follows: they shall follow the principles of equal treatment and transparency; they must not accept or ask for any gifts or other benefits from the lobbyist with whom they are in contact; in order to avoid the revolving door effect, if an official has worked as a lobbyist or in the interests of persons represented by a lobbyist immediately before assuming office, they must refrain from actions or decisions regarding the lobbyist or the persons represented by the lobbyist for a year and the official refrains from being employed by a lobbyist or the persons they represent in respect of whom they made direct decisions during their last year in office and refrain from lobbying with regard to their former authority for at least one year after leaving office; they must not enter into a contractual relationship with a lobbyist; they inform the public at least quarterly on the authority’s website of any meeting with stakeholders and lobbyists that takes place in the course of their professional activity (publishing the topic of the meeting; the name and organisation of the lobbyist or the persons they represent; the name of the official; and the date of the meeting).

The European Union has recognised and regulated lobbying activities since the establishment of the Register of Interest Representatives in the European Parliament in 1996. On 20 May 2021, a new interinstitutional agreement on a mandatory transparency register has been agreed between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission establishing a framework and operating principles for a coordinated approach as regards transparent and ethical interest representation. The Agreement shall cover activities carried out by interest representatives with the objective of influencing the formulation or implementation of policy or legislation, or the decision-making processes of the signatory institutions or other Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies (art. 3), where “interest representatives” means any natural or legal person, or formal or informal group, association or network, that engages in covered activities (art. 2, lett. a). 

The Agreement includes, as key features, an online Transparency Register, a code of conduct and a complaints mechanism. 

A significant element is represented by the principle of conditionality, according to which certain conditions on the interactions between interest groups and EU Institutions are placed, foreseeing that certain activities of interest representatives are conditional on them having registered in the Transparency register and through measures which further encourage registration and strengthen transparency. 

The functioning of the Register is managed by a Secretariat (art. 8). 

By submitting an application for registration, the applicants shall be eligible to be entered in the register if they carry out covered activities and observe the code of conduct set out in Annex I. Moreover, when submitting an application for registration, applicants shall provide the information listed in Annex II and shall agree to that information being made available in the public domain. Among the information to be entered in the Register: general information; links to Union Institutions; and financial information.

Finland has adopted the Transparency Register Act 23.3.2023/430 (entered into force on 1 January 2024). According to the Act, organisations engaged in lobbying activities must register in the Finnish transparency register; lobbying and lobbying consultancy targeted at Parliament and the ministries shall be reported to the Register. The Register is maintained by the National Audit Office of Finland (NAOF), which acts as the registrar of the transparency register and oversees compliance with the disclosure obligation.