Interest groups: what they are and how to interact with them

Local entities can fulfill their obligations regarding the registration of interest groups, through the Register of Interest Groups of Catalonia or through their own register, always with the guarantee of reciprocal recognition of actions, the principle of single registration and interconnection and registry interoperability.

If the local entity decides not to create its own register, it does not have to take any action, since it will be the interest group that wants to act before it, which is obliged to register in the Register of Interest Groups of Catalonia.

However, the local entity should activate a link with the Registry of Interest Groups of Catalonia of the Department of Justice.

If the AOC Transparency Portal is used, the link will be automatically made by the AOC consortium.

If the local entity decides to create its own registry, it must comply with the provisions of articles 46 to 52 of the LTC as well as guarantee the reciprocal recognition of actions with the rest of the registries, the principle of single registration and registry interconnection and interoperability.

Private natural or legal persons and networks, platforms and other sources of organized influence that develop activities carried out with the aim of directly or indirectly influencing the processes of elaboration and application of policies and decision-making, regardless of the channel or medium used, including communications, contributions and voluntary participation in consultations on regulatory proposals, legal acts or other consultations.

The key to the proper interpretation of which people, entities, organizations, platforms, networks or other forms of collective activity should be registered in the Register of Interest Groups will be that their fundamental purpose is to influence the decision-making of the local entity . The most important thing is not the identity of the registrants, but the activities they carry out.

But not all natural or legal persons, entities, organizations, platforms, networks or other forms of collective activity that address a local entity do so with the purpose of influencing its decision-making. Many of these address:

• because they are interested in certain procedures
• to submit proposals for improvement, suggestions or complaints
• to make inquiries regarding a specific action or public service,
• to exercise the right of access to certain public information
• to intervene in citizen participation processes.
• to formulate requests included within the scope of the right of petition.

In cases like these, they are addressed with an intention other than that of influencing the decision-making of the local body. Therefore, the Register includes all people and entities and the activities they carry out that aim to influence, directly or indirectly, the decision-making process, regardless of the subject matter, the place in which they are carried out or the channel or medium used.

Influence is direct when there is some communication activity or direct contact between the interest group and a public servant.

On the contrary, influence is indirect when influence activities are carried out through channels such as the media, public opinion, conferences, social events, or capacity and knowledge reinforcement aimed at public servants or with their participation by express invitation.

To act as an interest group before high-ranking officials, it is necessary to prove registration or application for registration in the Register of Interest Groups.

Therefore, the actions of the local entity should be the following:

1.- Ask the purpose of the interview or meeting requested

2.- If the applicant is included in any of the following cases ( interested in certain procedures, to submit proposals for improvement, suggestions or complaints, to make inquiries regarding a certain action or public service, to exercise the right of access to certain public information, to intervene in citizen participation processes , to make requests included in the scope of the right of petition.), it is not necessary to register in the Registry and they can be given an interview or meeting date.

3.- If the purpose of the interview or meeting is not related to the previous cases or any that can be assimilated to them, the local entity must verify the registration or that the registration application has been made. In the event that the person has not registered or has not made the application, an appointment cannot be made until it is proven.

The Register of Interest Groups of Catalonia is organized and managed by the Administration of the Generalitat, which is responsible for registration acts and other actions provided for by law, without prejudice to the powers of monitoring, auditing, control and sanction that may correspond to the bodies or entities that make up the register.

It is managed as a single register of groups that act before all the bodies, entities and institutions of the Administration of the Generalitat and its public sector, before the statutory bodies and institutions of the Generalitat, the local entities of Catalonia, as well as before the public universities of Catalonia and the entities of its public sector and the professional associations and other public law corporations of Catalonia.

The General Directorate of Law and Legal Entities of the Department of Justice.

Registration in the Registry must be done by submitting an application in accordance with the procedures and requirements established by the Department of Justice.

What is the procedure for submitting a request for registration in the Register of Interest Groups of Catalonia?

To submit a registration application, you must complete the registration/amendment process .

The body responsible for the Register must guarantee that information relating to interest groups is disseminated in reusable formats through the Transparency Portal and that the administrations and institutions that make up the Register can disseminate information that specifically affects them through their own portals.

The aim of creating a register of interest groups is to provide public knowledge of the natural or legal persons, entities, organizations, networks, platforms and other sources of organized influence, who act before each of the administrations or institutions that make up the Register, of the influence or intermediation activities that they carry out before them and the ethical rules to which they must adjust their actions.

As provided for in article 49 of the LTC, the register must include:

A list, ordered by categories, of people and organizations that act with the aim of influencing the development and application of public policies and the headquarters of their organization.

The information that these people and organizations must provide in relation to the activities they carry out.

A common code of conduct

The control and inspection system

Registration in the Registry gives rights such as the following:

a) Appear before public officials, authorities and employees, elected members or deputies as an interest group registered in the Register.

b) Be part of the mailing lists to receive automatic alerts about procedures, events and public consultations regarding the activities or initiatives of the Administration relating to matters of interest to the declarant that have been stated in the responsible declarations or in subsequent modifications.

c) Record their contribution in public consultations as interest groups registered in the Register.

d) Exercise the other rights that may be recognized by the fact of being registered in the Registry.

Yes, because what predetermines registration is not the domicile of the interest group, but the area in which the influence is exercised: the local authority and its public sector entities.

No, currently the registration is unique, since access to the registers must be facilitated from the Registry of Interest Groups of Catalonia, in an interconnected manner that facilitates integration and in accordance with the principle of reciprocal recognition of the respective registrations and actions, so that no more than one registration is required for each interest group.

The Administration of the Generalitat must promote that the information relating to interest groups that is already recorded or in the possession of public institutions is updated, ex officio or at the request of the interested person, in the Register of Interest Groups of Catalonia.

Political parties and churches are not registered. Nor do those who carry out activities included in the objective scope of the Register on behalf of others have to register, since the person who has to register in the Register is the person on whose behalf they work. However, unions and professional and business organisations and professional associations and other public law corporations to which the fundamental norms and other laws attribute public functions and/or institutional representation carried out on their own account and in the interest of third parties to whom, by law, they have been entrusted with the function of representing their interests must register. In this case, however, they only have to declare the activities other than the public functions, of institutional and corporate representation inherent to agents of social, economic and professional dialogue.

Any activity carried out in front of a high-ranking official with the intention of influencing the drafting of laws, regulations with the rank of law, general provisions, or the drafting or application of public policies and/or decision-making, including contacts, contributions and voluntary participation in official consultations on legislative proposals, regulations, legal acts or other consultations.

In particular, the following activities must be declared to the Register:

- Oral and written contacts, meetings and hearings.

- Preparation, dissemination and communication of letters, writings, reports, information material or debate and position papers.

- Organization of events, meetings, promotional activities, conferences, seminars or social events to which public servants are invited.

- Provision of tactical or strategic advice, including those whose scope and schedule are aimed at influencing public servants.

- Voluntary contributions and participation in consultations or hearings on regulatory projects and in the development and application of public policies.

- Private activities carried out with the intention of influencing carried out by public law corporations, unions and professional associations other than the public and institutional functions of representing and defending corporate, professional and economic interests.

- The provision of legal or professional advice directly linked to defending interests affected by administrative or judicial procedures.

- Those intended to inform a client about a general legal situation to ensure that the action complies with the legal system.

- Representation activities carried out within the framework of conciliation or mediation carried out within the framework of the Law.

- Those linked to the exercise of the fundamental right to a fair trial, including the right of defense within the framework of the administrative procedure.

- Advice for informational purposes for the exercise of rights or initiatives established by the legal system.

- The activities carried out by chambers, professional associations, academies and sports federations within the framework of the public functions attributed to them by the legal system.

- Those made by workers' unions and professional associations in defense and promotion of their own economic and social interests.

- Those made by political parties and churches.

- Activities that respond to a direct and individual request from a public servant, such as ad hoc or periodic requests for objective information, data or technical knowledge or other similar information.

A single person can constitute an interest group.

Registration may be denied when all the necessary documentation for registration is not presented and when the applicant does not carry out activities included within the scope of the Register.

An example is the case of active participation activities in public policies carried out without the intention of influencing; or the case of the person, network or coalition that is not part of the scope of the Register, such as public legal entities, or political parties and churches that, despite being private, are excluded from the Register of interest groups.

Registration in the register of interest groups entails the following obligations:

• Accept that the information provided will be made public
• Ensure that this information is complete, correct and reliable
• Comply with the code of conduct (for those registered in this Registry)
• Accept the application of the control and inspection regime and the corresponding measures in the event of non-compliance with the code of conduct or that established in Law 19/2014, of December 29, on transparency, access to public information and good governance.
• Periodically update the information declared to the Registry.

They must report on the activities they carry out, their area of interest and their funding, through a responsible declaration.

Declarants who act on behalf of third parties must also report on the clients, people or organizations for whom they work and the financial amounts they receive, if applicable, and the expenses related to their activity as an interest group.

When any modification occurs. For example, modifications to general and basic information must be communicated to the Registry within three months of the modification; specific information, within the calendar year in which the modification occurred.

The common code of conduct is the set of rules that constitute a minimum ethical standard that interest groups and networks, platforms and other sources of organized influence undertake to comply with in the practice of activities included in the objective scope of the Register in which they are registered. The code is common to all subjects registered in the same register.

Article 51 of the law contains a list of what the code of conduct must include, at a minimum:

• The name and details of the declarant who signs it.
• The entity or organization that the declarant represents or works for, and the interests, objectives or purposes pursued by their clients.
• The declarant's commitment not to obtain or attempt to obtain information or influence decision-making dishonestly.
• The declarant's commitment to provide updated and non-misleading information at the time of registration in the Register and to keep it updated subsequently.
• The commitment not to incite, by any means, authorities, public officials, deputies or civil servants to violate the law or the rules of behavior established by the code of conduct.
• The commitment to accept and comply with the measures adopted in the event of non-compliance with the obligations established by this law or by the code of conduct.

The common code of conduct is configured as a code of adherence, and the Law provides for its minimum content. Groups can therefore add more rigorous commitments to conduct. In this case, they must declare them in the Register so that it can be publicized.

Registration in the Register of Interest Groups will be temporarily suspended and, in the event of a serious breach, may result in cancellation of the registration.

Both the suspension and cancellation of registration in the Register entail the denial of access to the offices and the publication of the sanction in the register. This “denial of access to the offices” should be understood as a refusal to address the proposals or initiatives that may be raised within the processes of elaboration or application of policies, such as negotiation, until the suspension is lifted; it should not be understood as a denial of physical access of their representatives to municipal facilities (registry, offices, etc.).

Any person may file a complaint with the body responsible for the Registry. They must state their personal and contact details, the interest group affected and the facts reported, the alleged breach(es) and the reasons, the information or documentation on which the complaint is based, without mere value judgments being admitted. If applicable, the damages suffered as a result of the reported facts must also be stated.

The people responsible for the register will be the ones who will carry out the processing of the complaints, who in any case must guarantee that the affected person is heard.

Any citizen can access the information contained in the Register since all the information contained therein is public, except for personal data which is governed by current regulations on the protection of personal data.

No, access to information is free.

The following are reasons for cancellation of registration:

a) Express resignation due to cessation of activities as an interest group.

b) Death or subsequent incapacity of the individual.

c) Extinction of legal personality.

d) Dissolution of forms of organized collective activity.

e) Sudden failure to comply with the requirements on the basis of which the status of interest group is acquired.

f) Administrative sanction of cancellation of registration, final through administrative channels.

g) Final judicial conviction of the interest group or the people who direct its activity or act in the name or legal or voluntary representation of the interest group.