Bulgaria adopted the Law on Transparency and Integrity in Governance

Bulgaria’s parliament has adopted the Law on Transparency and Integrity in Governance, widely referred to as the lobbying law. The bill was introduced by Georgi Georgiev of GERB-SDS and is linked to the country’s fourth payment under the Recovery and Resilience Plan.

The legislation is also part of the conditions for Bulgaria’s accession to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It introduces the term “interest representation” in an effort to avoid the negative connotations associated with the word “lobbying.”

The aim is to ensure transparency, equal access and clear rules under which all interested individuals and legal entities - acting as interest representatives - can express opinions and influence the drafting of legislation and other acts shaping public policy.

A day earlier, the parliamentary Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs approved the same bill at an extraordinary session. A proposal by Yuliana Mateeva of Velichie to officially name it the “Lobbying Law” was rejected. Instead, lawmakers backed a proposal by Georgiev to rename it the Law on Transparency in Interest Representation.

A similar draft had previously been approved by the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria, with the two versions merged and refined between the first and second readings in parliament.