ALTER-EU has submitted five complaints to the EU lobby register secretariat concerning the entries of:
- AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD)
- Cisco Systems Inc
- Conseil de Coopération Economique (CCE)
- European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT)
- Union Européenne du Commerce du Bétail et des Métiers de la Viande (UECBV)
Each of these organisations - in most cases, representing major corporate interests - declares less than €9999 annual lobby expenditure, despite declaring lobby staff, extensive interests in influencing the decision-making of the European institutions, and declared lobby expenditure in the previous year which was far higher. In four out of the five cases, the registrant appears to enjoy regular access to the top echelons of the Commission. In ALTER-EU's view, each of these declarations under-reports the organisation's true lobby spend, thereby undermining the integrity of the whole register.
* Update: In August 2015, the lobby register secretariat replied to ALTER-EU's complaints. They will take forward the complaints on AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD); Conseil de Coopération Economique (CCE); and European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT). As Cisco and the Union Européenne du Commerce du Bétail et des Métiers de la Viande (UECBV) have updated their entries since our complaint, the secretariat has decided to take no further action. The full reply is available below.
