A wide range of stakeholders should have a fair and equitable opportunity to contribute to public decision-making, allowing policymakers to decide on the best course of action on any given policy issue.
Public decision-making however may at times only consider the interests of a few, and undue influence can also be exercised without the direct involvement or knowledge of public decision makers or citizens. These challenges increase in today’s environment of information overload, with new mechanisms and channels of influence, such as social media and artificial intelligence tools, and lobbying and influence by foreign actors, including foreign governments and their related entities or individuals.
Lobbying and influence activities that seek to manipulate and deceive decision makers or the broader public, skew democratic processes in favour of narrow interest groups, or intentionally harm the collective interest of societies, can exacerbate economic and social inequalities, bias the outcome of an election, or even lead to deadly policy outcomes.
An ambitious, state-of-the art standard to strengthen transparency and integrity in lobbying and influence
The 2024 OECD Recommendation on Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying and Influence provides concrete guidance for governments on ensuring lobbying and influence activities support public decision-making while safeguarding integrity, transparency and equity in public decision-making processes.
Concretely, the Recommendation:
1. Implementing adequate policies to strengthen the transparency and integrity of lobbying and influence activities affecting government decision-making processes.
2. Ensuring transparency and integrity in the lobbying and influence activities of all lobbying and influence actors.
3. Establishing a public integrity framework for public officials adapted to the risks related to lobbying and influence activities.
4. Enabling effective public scrutiny of lobbying and influence activities by civil society "watchdogs".
5. Fostering accountability of lobbying and influence activities through an adequate oversight function.
Influencing policy-makers is a core part of a democratic system. Lobbyists and advocacy groups bring valuable information to the policy debate. In practice, however, powerful groups can exert influence to further their particular interests, often at the expense of the public interest.
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Read moreGetting influence “right” is a pressing challenge, both for business and government. Businesses are critical actors in the policy-making process. Through their interactions with government, they enable public decision-makers to learn about opportunities and trade-offs, consider the costs and benefits of business, and ultimately facilitate good decision making on a given policy issue.
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See moreYou may want to check these reports:
See our country reports, comparative evidence and analysis of international practices:
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