On the basic principles of lobbying: lawyer Iryna Shapovalova

There are no high-paying professions with a great future, but there are professionals with a great future – and this is about lobbying.

Today, Ukrainian citizens feel the need for trust in a transparent system of government more than ever. The adoption of the Law of Ukraine “On Lobbying” is a democratic decision to restore the trust of Ukrainians, given that transparency in providing access to information about lobbyists’ activities is a targeted influence on government representatives (legislators, officials) to make decisions that are in the best interests of the customer and should be balanced for our country.

Transparency and openness in government decision-making allows citizens to see that their interests come first, and this is the main goal of introducing the institution of lobbying in Ukraine at the legislative level.

Thus, transparency and openness are fundamental principles that help to balance the complexity and contradictions of public administration, ensuring its compliance with the interests of citizens, thus transparency in professional activities is not just a desirable quality, but also a necessary tool to ensure the preservation of the public vocation of public administration in the face of its internal complexity and diversity.

The complexity of public administration is caused by the specifics of professional activities, the branched structure of the apparatus and conflicts of interest, which leads to contradictions in managerial influences. Transparency and openness are the key means to preserve the public vocation and content of public administration, ensuring its reliability and efficiency. This step is also part of Ukraine’s European integration aspirations and the implementation of EU recommendations.

On transparency and openness in lobbying activities

Simultaneously with the entry into force of the Law of Ukraine “On Lobbying”, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption put into commercial operation a key tool for its implementation, the Transparency Register, or the Register, an open public platform that collects, processes and publishes data on lobbying entities and their reports.

In the public part of the Register, any citizen of Ukraine can search for and view information about lobbying entities and their reports, verify the accuracy of extracts generated by the Register, get acquainted with lobbying statistics and dashboards, and view information materials.

The logic of transparency for lobbyists is that any activity that involves influencing decision-making in government agencies must now be recorded in a public register.

It is worth noting that the Registry became the first information and communication system to pass security authorization under the new standards established by the Ukrainian legislation with the assistance of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine.

Regarding lobbyist’s good behavior

It is necessary to understand that integrity is, first of all, a positive moral quality determined by the consciousness and will of a person, which is a generalized stable characteristic of a person, his or her lifestyle, actions, a quality that characterizes the readiness and ability of a person to consciously and consistently focus on the principles of goodness and justice in his or her activities and behavior.

Integrity is living by high moral and ethical principles, including honesty, integrity, fairness and keeping promises. It is consistent adherence to moral standards, even when no one is watching, and it is not about one good deed, but about a constant principle of action.

Based on the assessment of the basic rules and objectives of virtuous behavior, it can be assumed that the grounds for trust or doubt must be objective, real, significant (substantial), effective enough to doubt compliance with the criteria of integrity or professional ethics, or must contain properties (signs) that may adversely affect public trust. Such grounds may be any factors, phenomena, events of objective reality that contain features (properties) that characterize or distinguish a person as a person who meets or does not meet certain “standard” criteria of integrity and professional ethics, which a lobbyist, for example, must meet.

To summarize, I would like to note that our environment always shapes our views and impressions of us. Are you dealing with a dishonest person? Be prepared to sacrifice your own reputation. Tolerating or implicitly tolerating corruption is unacceptable in any form, it is an axiom. Do not justify those who act dishonestly, dishonestly, do not keep their word and avoid associations with them. Integrity is not about the absence of passions, but about managing them.

Deputy Chairman of the UNBA Lobbying Committee, attorney at law

Iryna Shapovalova