The Finnish Transparency Register in www.avoimuuusrekisteri.fi has been opened. All lobbying and lobbying consultancy needs to be registered. Ahjo has registered in the register and we urge all our clients to register if actively and longterm lobbying the Parliament or the ministries.
The Transparency Register increases the transparency of public administration in several ways:
- It makes informal, network-based and PR-related communications, which are not necessarily documented, more public.
- It makes it easier to submit requests for information on the public authorities’ PR activities because, based on the information in the Transparency Register, it is easier to target information requests at the correct documents.
- It makes the activities of political decision-makers and their assistants more public, which in turn makes it easier for the citizens to follow the dialogue around political decision-making.
Any long-term and systematic lobbying or lobbying consultancy that targets Parliament or the ministries is to be disclosed to the Transparency Register. Lobbying and lobbying consultancy refer to communications that aim to influence a matter or decision-making by promoting a certain interest or objective.
The Finnish Transparency Register is governed by the Transparency Register Act, which was adopted in Finland in spring 2023.
The online service of the Transparency Register can be found at the address https://www.avoimuusrekisteri.