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The Spanish government presented a bill this week that aims to increase transparency in interactions involving public officials and lobbyists, including creating a register of interest groups, the Associated Press reported.
The proposed law would require officials involved in any policymaking to report their meetings with representatives of companies or groups that hope to influence governmental decisions.
Lobbyists, meanwhile, would be required to be listed on a new computerized registry of interest groups before meeting with any members of the government. This requirement would not apply to political parties or labor unions.
The bill would also require high-ranking officials to wait at least two years after leaving government positions before engaging in lobbying activities related to matters they had worked on.
The Spanish parliament is currently working on similar legislation that targets lawmakers in the lower house.
The new bill would have to go through public hearings before being approved by parliament.
Elsewhere in Europe, France and Germany approved similar laws to establish mandatory lobbyist registries in 2018 and January of this year, respectively.
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