Who Are the Lobbying Practitioners?

The lobbying activity is named through various phrases depending on the persons who represent interest groups with the purpose of influencing the policies drafting or the decisions making process within public institutions.

Therefore

• The NGO’s, think-tanks, unions or employers name this activity as advocacy;
• The lawyers call it legal representation;
• The professional associations, corporations and lobby agencies call it lobbying.

So, the representation of interests (regardless the name) is exerted by a broad range of organizations types.

The most usual distinction is the one between lobbying and advocacy, considering that by lobbying a private interest is represented, and that by advocacy a public one is. However, The European Commission does not make this distinction, considering that any activity of influencing decisions circumscribes to “interests’ representation”, and its practitioners are “representative of interest groups”.