Transparency register

Goals and results

The task of the parliamentary steering group and the working group operating under its authority is to draw up a proposal for an act on a statutory transparency register (lobbyist register) to be established in Finland. The act will impose a registration obligation on organisations and individuals engaged in lobbying activities.

Civil society actors and interest representatives must be widely consulted during the preparation of the act. The legislative proposals to be submitted must be drafted in the form of a government proposal.

Natural persons’ fundamental rights and freedoms, in particular their right to the protection of personal data, must be taken into account in the preparation of the legislation governing the transparency register.

The legislation must not hinder grassroots civic engagement or prevent Members of Parliament from carrying out their duties as representatives.

Starting points

The need for regulation on lobbying has been discussed in Finland for decades. The OECD and the Council of Europe have recommended that Finland introduce a transparency register. Researchers and lobbying organisations have also called for the establishment of a register.

In 2018, the Government carried out a broad international comparison of different models for a lobbyist register as part of its analysis, assessment and research activities (Publications of the Government's analysis, assessment and research activities 57/2018). The study examined the existing regulation on lobbyist registers in different countries and in the EU, and assessed how well they would function in the Finnish political system.

The preparation of the transparency register already began at the end of the previous parliamentary term in spring 2019, when Parliament appointed a parliamentary working group to examine the possibilities of establishing such a register. The working group unanimously proposed that an electronic transparency register based on law should be established in Finland during the next parliamentary term. The register would initially concern the central government and at a later stage local and regional government as well. In its memorandum, the working group, which involved not only parliamentary actors but also public officials, researchers and interest representatives, defined the key themes and issues that should be discussed and decided on during the preparations.

Additional information

• Information about the implementation of the transparency register
• Transparency register guide