How can lobbying be regulated to ensure fairness, transparency and public participation

Why does lobbying regulation matter for democracy? How does it affect civil society and our ability to participate in decision-making?

At the 2025 Open Government Partnership Global Summit in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, ECNL with APRI will bring together experts from the government, academia, civil society with professional lobbyists to take a closer look at:

• the theory and key elements of lobby regulations;
• the practice: how rules impact the right to public participation and strengthen transparency in decision-making; and
• the future: how OGP can support that lobby laws are implemented in a rights-based way and reinforce democratic principles.

 Speakers include: 

• Irene Matias, APRI
• Paul Shotton, PhD, Co-Founder of Advocacy Academy
• Gregorz Makowski, Warsaw School of Economy
• Bruno Brandao, Transparency International 

The session will be facilitated by ECNL's Ivana Rosenzweigova. FInd us on October 7, 2025, from 5:15 PM - 6:30 PM at Venue 4 Zabalgana and stay tuned for a briefing paper from ECNL on the topic!