The Role and Regulation of Foreign Lobbyists in the EU Policy-Making Process

In today’s hyperglobal and networked world, lobbying transcends national and supranational borders. This paper discusses the role that foreign, i.e. third country, lobbyists have in EU policy-making processes and how foreign lobbyists are regulated. It first reviews the (limited) literature on third country lobbyists in the EU, and proceeds to describe how the EU Transparency Register (EUTR) applies to i) lobbyists that are of third country origin or ii) EU lobbyists who have third country clients in the framework of the EUTR. It discusses the US experiences of applying the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), as recent discussion in the EU has called for the introduction of a ”EU FARA”. Finally, the paper offers some preliminary ideas on how the discussion on the role and regulation of third country lobbyists overlaps with discussions on “democratic harassment” and whether a ”EU FARA” could protect the EU policy-making process from unwanted or democracy-weakening influences.