Wall Street Journal, Charles  Forelle,  9/5/2008

One sign of the European Union's growing regulatory clout
is that its institutions are now stalked by some 15,000 lobbyists. The
EU Thursday took two steps toward making those lobbyists disclose who
pays their bills.

The European Commission, the Brussels-based body that regulates
antitrust and other issues and proposes EU legislation, said it would
roll out a long-delayed voluntary lobbyist register. A few streets
away, the European Parliament, which has ever-increasing powers to
approve new EU laws, voted for a wider measure that would mandate
disclosure.

But in a sign that progress toward a more transparent EU lobbying
culture is likely to remain slow, Parliament also approved an
amendment that would allow lawyers to avoid the register in certain
situations -- a change that critics called a loophole.

The rules governing lobbyists in Brussels are more lax than in
Washington, where lobbyists generally have to register and report
details of income and expenditures. In Brussels, only Parliament has a
public register, and it lists just the lobbyist's name and employer.
Lobbyists must sign up only if they want a badge to enter the
Parliament building.

Lobbying overhaul has been in the works for years, driven by a desire
in the 27-nation EU to avoid the kinds of scandals that have racked
Washington. One example that EU officials have cited is Jack Abramoff,
the lobbyist who pleaded guilty in early 2006 to trying to bribe
members of Congress.

"There is a strong imbalance to how the commission is listening to
different interest groups" in Europe, said Paul de Clerck, of the
Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation, or Alter-EU.
Mr. de Clerck said that, without public disclosure, lobbyists are able
to hide behind manufactured, neutral-sounding groups to argue their
positions.

European Commission Vice President Siim Kallas said the commission
would launch its voluntary register on June 23 -- likely well before
Parliament decides exactly how it wants a mandatory register to work.
For those who choose to sign up, the commission's register will
include some financial details -- such as the revenue a consulting
group or law firm got from lobbying and what proportion of that is
attributable to its major lobbying clients. Some details remain up in
the air, including how precise lobbyists would need to be with
financial figures.

Combining the commission's and Parliament's registers -- which the two
groups said they want to do -- won't be easy. One wrinkle: In some
instances the commission doesn't require a lobbyist's name, but only
the firm. Parliament names names. Given the need for negotiations, it
is unlikely a mandatory register could be put in place this year.

Members of Parliament working on the overhaul legislation were heavily
lobbied -- by lobbyists. Parliament's report on the legislation said
that 14 outside groups -- from Toyota Motor Corp. to the French
Chamber of Commerce -- had been "consulted."

The amendment on lawyers adds language that would exempt them from the
register when they "provide legal assistance" or "give legal advice,"
says Mr. de Clerck, of Alter-EU. "This is a very dangerous amendment,
because a lawyer will say that everything he or she does is giving
legal advice."

Birgit Beger, a senior legal adviser for the Council of Bars and Law
Societies of Europe, a legal-industry trade group, said the language
was necessary because lawyers' codes of conduct require them to keep
client confidences. Even disclosing that a lawyer works for a
particular client, and how much he is paid, could violate those codes,
she said.