U.S. Telecom, Internet Companies Among Those Boosting Lobbying Spending in Brussels
Large tech-sector U.S. and other companies are increasingly joining the EU lobby register as they build a stronger lobbying presence in Brussels and spend more on EU issues, according to interviews with experts and public disclosures. Getting a full picture of what businesses, associations, public interest groups, law firms and others spend on trying to influence EU institutions is difficult, said Olivier Hoedeman of research and campaign group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO). Because the register is voluntary, the definition of what constitutes "lobbying" isn't uniformly interpreted, and there are no reporting deadlines, he said.
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Information on who's lobbying and how much they're spending appears on the EU "transparency register" (http://bit.ly/1tQEmQz). Recently, CEO, Friends of the Earth Europe and LobbyControl launched LobbyFacts.eu, which digests and analyzes data from the register. It doesn't currently allow comparisons of changes in lobbying spending over time, but its next version will, Hoedeman said. Nevertheless, CEO compared data from the register over several years for us on several U.S. and European companies and organizations. Among other things, it showed that Google's spending over the past two to three years has risen from 600,000-700,000 euros ($760,000-$886,000) to 1.25 million-1.50 million euros as of its last update of the register (March 29). Facebook's lobbying spending, which was 150,000-200,000 euros around 2011, was last reported at 400,000-450,000 euros. All of the data must be treated with caution because it's often over- or under-reported, Hoedeman warned.
Lobbying spending by other U.S. corporations since 2011 or so included: (1) Microsoft, which consistently reported spending 4.5 million-4.75 million euros; (2) Amazon, which reported spending 450,000-500,000 euros in 2013 but appears not to have been registered before then; (3) AT&T, which reported 300,000-350,000 euros annually over the past three years; and (4) eBay, which reported a decrease in spending from 550,000-600,000 euros in recent years to 50,000-100,000 euros in 2013.
The GSM Association reported consistent lobbying costs of 900,000-1 million euros per year. DigitalEurope, which represents the high-tech sector, including consumer electronics, went from spending 200,000-250,000 euros several years ago to 800,000-900,000 euros in 2012 and 2013. The register also showed that according to the latest annual updated reports, most of which were filed in 2013 and this year, BSA/The Software Alliance and the Computer & Communications Industry Association spent 300,000-350,000 euros. The European Competitive Telecommunications Association reported spending 650,000 euros last year, while European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association lobbying costs were 900,000 euros. CableEurope reported spending 1 million euros. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) declared lobbying expenses of 900,000-1 million euros last year.
Several civil society groups active in the digital sphere also reported. La Quadrature du Net, in the latest annual update last November, estimated its lobbying costs at 50,000-100,000 euros. The European Consumers' Organisation, with register data updated a year ago, estimated lobbying costs of 1.57 million euros. European Digital Rights estimated lobbying expenses at less than 50,000 euros but said it isn't actually involved in lobbying activities because it doesn't have any direct or indirect financial gain from them.
Priority lobbying issues by the various corporations, associations and civil society groups included data protection and privacy, the EU digital agenda, spectrum, Internet governance, protection of minors, e-commerce and intellectual property rights. Recently, media and tech companies reported their Q3 congressional lobbying spending (see 1410210058).
For most organizations in Brussels, lobbying costs include staff, logistics, publication costs and so on, said Jacques Lovell, who is with the EBU but spoke personally as a former EU affairs consultant. Companies and trade associations with the highest spending showing on LobbyFacts tend to have had major pieces of legislation going through the European Parliament and Commission, resulting in more costs for consultants, events and meetings, he said.
Many organizations and companies that declare their lobbying activities add in legal fees for lawyers who help out on technical issues, but that raises the question of how to define lobbying, Lovell said. Law firms might say they're offering legal advice, which may or may not be lobbying, he said. That makes the register figures "very much rule of thumb," which is why there's pressure for mandatory reporting, Lovell said. The registers are presented as an instrument to help citizens see who's lobbying and for what, but they're more used by Brussels than by the general public, he said.
Under transparency register rules, law firms must disclose all their clients or none, and disclosure is the clients' choice, an industry lawyer said. One law firm active in Brussels has taken the position that the register as currently worded isn't workable, an industry adviser working in the firm said. The European Commission has made it clear that Brussels wants to get away from the perception that deals are being made behind closed doors, but the law firm believes the criteria set out in the transparency register aren't clear enough, the adviser said. She said law firms aren't like lobbying shops because they deal with issues more on an ad hoc basis in response to clients' technical and legal issues.
Some think the EU has had declining relevance, and the past decade has seen a view that people are reluctant to bother with lobbying there, the industry lawyer said. Now, with a new EC and European Parliament, interest in lobbying is likely to pick up, he said.
EC President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker said in mission letters to EC candidates that in the interests of transparency, he expects "all of us to make public, on our respective web pages, all the contacts and meetings we hold with professional organisations or self-employed individuals on any matter relating to EU policy-making and implementation." The European Parliament has been vocal about the need for stronger disclosure rules, said the industry adviser, who predicted a new push to meet those demands.
Meanwhile, a new U.K. law established a publicly available register of consultant lobbyists, Hogan Lovells attorney Julia Marlow said. There's "some uncertainty" about the scope of the requirement to register as a consultant lobbyist, she said. A person or business isn't a consultant lobbyist if any lobbying activity is incidental to their main (non-lobbying) business, she said. The register, which will be updated quarterly, will contain the names of the lobbyists, whether they subscribe to a publicly available code of conduct, and the names of their clients, but there's no requirement to disclose who is being lobbied, she said. The legislation also doesn't require the register to disclose how much registered lobbyists spend on lobbying annually, she said. The U.K. register has no direct relationship with the reforms in Brussels relating to lobbying of EU institutions, Marlow said.