The Ethics Code

The lobbying activity is an integrant part of Romania democratic process and it is a right granted by Constitution. To help maintaining and improving the public trust, the trust in democratic institution and the representation process of the public politics, the professional lobby and interest groups have the obligation to always act with ethics and moral in their relations with all parties involved.

The groups of interest/ lobbyists have the duty to contribute to the public understanding of the lobby activity. Consequently, the Romanian Lobbying Registry Association adopted the following “Ethics Code of the Lobbying Activities” in order to assure basic orientations and standards for the conduct of the interests representatives.

This Code is destined to the Association members, as well as to the organizations that develop lobby activity and that wish to register in the Romanian Transparency Registry. The interests groups are strongly advised to respect the present code and to always try to practice the highest ethic conduct in their lobbying efforts.

The representatives of the interests group must apply the transparency, honesty, integrity and professionalism principles, according to the rightful expectations of the citizens and other interested parties.

The signatories of this Ethics Code of the Lobbying Activities bind to:

Article 1 – Integrity
(1) To act with honesty and integrity at all times;
(2) To always treat the others, including colleagues, competitors, employees/ officials/ representatives of public institutions in a civilized and respectful manner;
(3) Not to exert an inappropriate and illicit influence, not to offer or give, directly or indirectly, material or financial rewards to the employees/ officials or representatives of public institutions.

Article 2 – Transparency
(1) To maintain the highest professional standards with the public institutions, in the development of their activity;
(2) To be open and transparent, stating the name, organization or company, as well as the interest they represent;
(3) Not to offer or create intentionally a wrongful impression regarding the statute or nature of their request addressed to public institutions.

Article 3 – Accuracy
(1) To take all reasonable measures in order to assure the accuracy of the affirmations or information provided to public institutions;
(2) No to disseminate intentionally or by negligence false or deceiving information, and to correct it immediately if this kind of situation arises.

Article 4 – Confidentiality
(1) Not to obtain information from public institutions in an illicit or dishonest manner, but only by respecting the regulations and/or conventions provided for the obtainment and distribution of public institutions’ documentation;
(2) Not to sell for profit to third parties the documents obtained from public institutions.

Article 5 – Professionalism
(1) To possess an adequate knowledge of the legislative and governmental process, as well as specialized knowledge required to represent the clients or an employer in a competent and professional manner;
(2) To offer enough time, attention and resources in order to satisfy the clients’ or employers’ necessities;
(3) To be loyal towards the clients’ or employers’ interests;
(4) To permanently inform the client or employer regarding the work developed and, as possible, to offer the client the opportunity to choose between various options and strategies.

Article 6 – The conflict of interests
(1) To avoid any professional conflict of interests;
(2) To reveal this kind of conflicts when they appear to those whose interests are affected;
(3) To take the necessary measures in order to solve the conflicts appeared.

Article 7 – Former employees of public institutions
(1) To hire personnel that worked in public institutions only in compliance with the confidentiality requirements of those institutions.

Article 8 –The obligation towards public institutions
(1) To respect the public institutions where they represent and support their interests or their clients’ interests;
(2) Not to act in a way that may undermine the public trust in the democratic governmental and parliamentary process;
(3) Not to act in a disrespectful manner towards public institutions.

Article 9 – Public education
(1) To make efforts in order to assure a better public understanding and judgment regarding the nature, legitimacy and necessity of the lobbying activity in the democratic process. This legitimacy is based on the provisions of article 51 from the Romanian Constitution: “the right of petition” and on the Law 52/2003 regarding the decisional transparency.