In a 2015 report by Transparency International, Cyprus was
ranked last among 19 EU countries when it came to the existence of
legislation to monitor and regulate lobbying.
The Council of Europe considers lobbying as the concerted effort to
influence policymaking and decision-making by an individual or
organization to obtain a concrete result from government and
elected representatives.
As a result, Parliament is discussing a new bill to regulate the
lobbying industry in Cyprus to prevent any conflict of interest or
corruption.
The new bill will require all lobbying groups to be registered and
records kept by the independent Authority against Corruption.
Individuals and organizations will have to submit details of their
lobbying group and fields of interest and anyone found lobbying
without being officially registered could face a fine of up to EUR
20,000 and/or up two years in prison.
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