What changed

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

P10_TA(2025)0306

on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing harmonisedHarmonised requirements in the internal market on transparency of interest representation carried out on behalf of third countries and amending Directive (EU)interest 2019/1937representation

(COM(2023)0637 – C100464/2023 – 2023/0463(COD))

Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

PE770.287

Amendments adopted by the European Parliament on 27 November 2025 on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing harmonised requirements in the internal market on transparency of interest representation carried out on behalf of third countries and amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937 (COM(2023)0637 – C9-0464/2023 – 2023/0463(COD))

(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2023)0637),

– having regard to Article 294(2) and Article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C90464/2023),

– having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to the reasoned opinions submitted, within the framework of Protocol No 2 on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, by the Irish Houses of the Oireachtas and the Hungarian Parliament, asserting that the draft legislative act does not comply with the principle of subsidiarity,

– having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 24 April 2024,

– having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 17 April 2024,

– having regard to Rules 60, 42 and 58 of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the opinion of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (A10-0208/2025),

1. Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;

2. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it replaces, substantially amends or intends to substantially amend its proposal;

3. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

Recital 1: (1) Interest representation in the Union is a growing and increasingly cross-border activity. When carried out with the necessary level of transparency, such activities allow sharing of experiences and views about problems and solutions concerning matters affected by a policy, law or public decision-making process. This exchange may constitute a crucial resource for public decision-makers, enabling them to understand the options and trade-offs of different approaches.

Recital 11 c (new): (11c) The measures set out in this Directive are proportionate and limited to what is necessary to ensure transparency of interest representation activities carried out on behalf of third countries. They do not impose, therefore, requirements on entities merely because they receive funding from abroad. In view of the need to focus on increased transparency when entities carry out interest representation activities on behalf of third countries in the internal market, this Directive sets out obligations to ensure that the data made publicly available is presented in a factual and neutral way and that competent national authorities act in such a way that no adverse consequence, such as stigmatisation, arises from the fact that an entity has registered in accordance with the rules provided for by this Directive. The provisions of this Directive fully comply with fundamental rights and respect the principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Charter’), including the freedom of expression and information, the freedom of assembly and association, the freedom of scientific research, including academic freedom, the right to the protection of personal data, the right to an effective remedy and the freedom to conduct a business. By achieving a common level of transparency in relation to interest representation carried out on behalf of a third country, the measures set out in this Directive strengthens the democratic rights of citiz…

✦ Formal Fixes an apostrophe placement in the possessive form of "Member States".

Recital 12: (12) Covert interest representation activities carried out on behalf of third countries are capable of affecting the development, formulation or implementation of the Union’s and its Member States'States’ internal and external policies, including regarding its economic and security interests. This affects democracy more generally, which is a common value of the Union, the securing of which is of fundamental importance to the Union and its Member States. Providing for a harmonised level of transparency across the Union regarding such activities should contribute to enhancing public trust in the Union’s and Member States’ decision-making processes.

Recital 13: deleted

Recital 19: (19) In accordance with the principle of academic freedom and freedom of scientific research, enshrined in Article 13 of the Charter, interest representation should not cover research pursued by researchers in a subject of their choice, the dissemination of the findings of that research, or teaching and education activities that are conducted in accordance with the principle of academic freedom and institutional autonomy. Carrying out such activities should, therefore, not give rise to registration requirements under this Directive.

✦ Formal Corrects the citation of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 by adding a missing digit and a footnote reference.

Recital 20: (20) Activities carried out by officials of third country governments that are connected with the exercise of official authority, including activities related to the exercise of diplomatic relations between States or international organisations, such as those related to the functions referred to in Article 3 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, should be excluded from the scope of this Directive. This Directive should also not cover activities carried out by lawyers consisting of the provision of legal advice or the representation in legal, conciliation or mediation proceedings of third country entities and safeguarding their fundamental rights, such as the right to be heard, the right to a fair trial, and the right of defence. Professional advice other than legal advice should also be outside the scope of this Directive, such as procuring a professional or expert study to serve as evidence in support of arguments in court; getting technical or scientific advice on complying with technical legislation or using mediation services of a professional as mediators who are not necessarily certified lawyers. Ancillary activities such as catering, the provision of a venue, the printing of brochures or policy papers, or the provision of online intermediary services within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065,2022/20653, such as online platforms services, should not be covered by this Directive.

Recital 21: deleted

Recital 34: (34) In order to provide for harmonised minimum transparency requirements across the internal market, entities carrying out interest representation activities on behalf of a third country sponsor should be required to register in national registers of a Member State where their main place of establishment is situated or where they carry out interest representation activities. These registers should be set up, operated and maintained by the Member States. Subsequent updates to an existing registration should also take place in that national register. Member States may make use of their existing national registers for the purpose of this Directive, provided that the requirements of this Directive are complied with. In order to respect national divisions of competence, Member States should be entitled to set up more than one such registers, which should be interoperable. In such cases, Member States should establish rules indicating in which national register entities carrying out interest representation activities on behalf of third countries should register. Logs of personal data processing activities within the national registers should not be kept longer than necessary to monitor the lawfulness of access to personal data and should therefore be limited to a year.

✦ Formal Adds a footnote reference after "Council" in the citation of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724.

Recital 35: (35) Pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 of the European Parliament and of the Council,Council6, information on the registration obligations and formalities established by this Directive should be available via the Single Digital Gateway which, through the Your Europe web portal, sets up a one-stop shop that provides businesses and citizens with information about rules and procedures in the Single Market, at all levels of government and direct, centralised, and guided access to assistance and problem-solving services as well as to a wide range of fully digitised administrative procedures. In addition, the procedure for registration should be fully online and organised in accordance with the ‘once only’ principle to facilitate the reuse of data.

Recital 36: (36) Where the entity carrying out interest representation activities on behalf of a third country sponsor is established in several Member States, registration should only take place in one Member State.

Recital 53: (53) Supervisory authorities should cooperate both at national and at Union level. Such cooperation should facilitate the swift, secure exchange of information. For the purpose of exercising their supervisory tasks, supervisory authorities in other Member States should be able to request, from the supervisory authority in the Member State of registration, information provided in the registration, including that which is not public, and in specific cases the records kept by the entity, as well as analyses carried out. Supervisory authorities and the Commission should cooperate to ensure the implementation of the Directive. To better understand the size and the distribution of the overall interest representation activities that are carried out on behalf of third countries in the Union. The Commission should be able to request, from supervisory authorities, aggregate data based on the information provided by entities carrying out interest representation on behalf of third country sponsors in their registration. In order to comprehensively monitor the modalities and the features of the interest representation activities carried out in the Union on behalf of third countries such aggregate data may include information that is not publicly available in the registers including personal data to the extent that is necessary to ensure an effective monitoring.

✦ Formal Adds a footnote reference after "Council" in the citation of Regulation (EU) 1024/2012.

Recital 54: (54) The use of digital tools developed within the internal market by the Commission and Member States enhances transparency and trust in cross-border provision of services and limits administrative burdens by allowing coordination, cooperation and communication between the relevant authorities at national level. Administrative cooperation and exchanges of information between the national authorities, as well as the supervisory authorities and the Commission takes place through the Internal Market Information System (‘IMI system’) established by Regulation (EU) 1024/2012 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilCouncil7 for administrative cooperation between Member States’ competent authorities in Single Market related policy areas. The interoperability of the IMI system and the national registers should therefore be ensured in line with the European Interoperability Framework.

Recital 55: (55) For the purposes of assisting the Commission in its task to ensure effective cooperation among competent national authorities, and the complete and effective implementation of this Directive, an advisory group should be established. The advisory group should include a representative from the supervisory authorities of each Member State. The advisory group should advise on the implementation of the Directive, including on the requirement to avoid that adverse consequences arise from the mere fact that an entity is registered pursuant to the requirements laid down in this Directive. It should adopt opinions, recommendations or reports that should be made public by the competent national authorities designated by Member States. In order to ensure legal certainty for entities that may fall in the scope of the Directive, the advisory group should, in particular, advise the Commission on possible guidance on the scope of the Directive, and activities whose object or effect of which is to circumvent obligations in this Directive. Cooperation should be ensured as appropriate with the EU network against corruption.

Recital 59: (59) In order to deter non-compliance with the requirements of this Directive and to sanction the same, Member States should ensure that any infringements of the obligations laid down in this Directive are accompanied by effective, proportionate and dissuasive administrative sanctions, including temporary suspension of registration in the national register. Without prejudice to rules applicable to criminal activities and their detection, investigation, prosecution, supervision and sanctioning as established under national or Union law, such as those related to corruption, sanctions should not be criminal in nature. Sanctions should take into account the nature, recurrence and duration of the infringement in view of the public interest at stake, the scope and kind of activities carried out, and the economic capacity of the entity carrying out interest representation activities. Sanctions should in each individual case be effective, proportionate and dissuasive, with due respect for fundamental rights including freedom of expression, association, academic freedom and freedom of scientific research, safeguards and access to effective remedies, including the right to be heard. They should follow a prior early warning issued by a supervisory authority, except when such infringement amounts to a violation of the prohibition of circumvention.

✦ Formal Adds a footnote reference after "Law-Making" in the citation of the Interinstitutional Agreement.

Recital 60: (60) In order to amend the thresholds for requesting further information, to modify the list of information to be provided when submitting a request for registration, to modify the list of information to be included in the reports published by Member States, and to set out the technical specifications, the technical measures, the minimum criteria and means, and the technical conditions regarding the central public access portal, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making.Law-Making9. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

Recital 63: (63) In particular, a Union-level system supports competent national authorities in their oversight functions and other stakeholders to exercise their role in the democratic process and increases the overall resilience of democracies in the Union against interference by third countries. There is an added value from addressing the transparency of interest representation activities carried out on behalf of third countries at Union level, as the likely cross-border nature of such activities requires a coordinated approach across multiple levels and sectors. By collaborating and sharing information, Member States are able to obtain a better understanding of the extent of the phenomenon, which helps to avoid that third countries are able to exploit regulatory differences or loopholes.

✦ Formal Adds a footnote reference after "Council" in the citation of Directive 2013/34/EU.

Recital 64: (64) When implementing this Directive, Member States should lay down requirements in a clear and concise manner, ensuring legal certainty and predictable registration procedures, and should seek to minimise the administrative burden on the entities concerned, in particular micro, small and medium-sized enterprises within the meaning of Article 3 of Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council.Council10.

Recital 65: (65) Regulations (EU) 2016/67911 and (EU) 2018/172512 of the European Parliament and of the Council apply to the processing of personal data carried out in the context of this Directive, including the processing of personal data to maintain the national register or registers on entities carrying out interest representation activities on behalf of third country sponsors, to access personal data in such national register or registers and to exchange personal data in the context of administrative cooperation and mutual assistance between Member States under this Directive, including the use of IMI, and the keeping of records in accordance with this Directive’s record-keeping obligations. Any processing of personal data for such purposes should amongst others comply with the principles of data minimisation, data accuracy and storage limitation and fulfil the requirements of data integrity and confidentiality. Member States should establish the measures ensuring lawful and secure processing as regards the processing of personal data contained in their national register or registers, in accordance with applicable legislation on the protection of personal data.

Article 16 – paragraph 3 – point a: (a) the registered entity received an annual amount that exceeds EUR 1 000 000 for a single third country sponsor in the preceding financial year;

✦ Formal Reorders the structure of a subparagraph in Article 16, moving the introductory part after the point label.

Article 16 – paragraph 3 – point b – paragraphsubparagraph 1 – introductorypoint part:b: the actions of the third country sponsor on whose behalf the registered entity is acting are attributable to a third country that has spent, in one of the five preceding financial years, and taking into account all third country sponsors whose actions can be attributed to this third country, an aggregate annual amount that exceeds either of the following:

Article 16 – paragraph 3 a (new): 3a. The supervisory authority referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article may request the following information: / (a) copies of the contracts with the third country sponsor that are necessary to understand the nature and purpose of the interest representation activity, including, where applicable, the records of the means and extent of any remuneration; / (b) a list of all third country sponsors on whose behalf they have carried out interest representation activities in the preceding financial year; / (c) a list of the aggregated annual amount received in respect of the activities that fall within the scope of Article 3(1) in the preceding financial year per third country.

Article 19 – paragraph 3 a (new): 3a. The Commission may convene the advisory group at the request of a Member State regarding possible serious non-compliance with this Directive.

✦ Formal Adds a footnote reference after "Area" in Article 19.

Article 19 – paragraph 4: 4. Representatives of the European Parliament shall be invited to attend meetings of the advisory group as observers. Representatives of the European Free Trade Association States that are contracting parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area,Area17, may be invited to attend meetings of the advisory group as observers. The advisory group may invite civil society organisations to attend the meetings at least once a year as part of an open and structured dialogue on the implementation of this Directive.

Article 22 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1: Member States shall lay down rules on administrative fines applicable to infringements of national provisions adopted pursuant to Article 6, Article 8, Article 10, Article 11, Article 14, Article 16 and Article 20 of this Directive by entities referred to in Article 3(1) or where appropriate, their legal representative.

Annex I – point 2 – point b: (b) the third country on whose behalf the third country sponsor is acting;

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Foreign influence in EU decision-making has increasingly become a subject of concern. A 2023 Eurobarometer found that 81% of Europeans worry about foreign actors influencing democratic processes. Numerous cases of demonstrated foreign interference have created the need for clearer rules and higher transparency regarding interest representation activities conducted on behalf of third countries.

While this draft report does not in any way aim to discourage any legitimate representation activities, it introduces more harmonised transparency standards across Member States. Given the fragmented national approaches—where some Member States have established robust transparency registers while others lack any framework—the intention of the report is to create a standard, ensuring legal certainty and a level playing field for all entities engaging in interest representation.

This Directive is not a restriction on interest representation activities but a transparency measure designed to increase accountability, reduce regulatory arbitrage, and enhance trust in public decision-making processes.

The Rapporteur recognises the need for a clear and harmonised framework to enhance transparency in interest representation services carried out on behalf of third countries, while ensuring that obligations remain proportionate and do not impose unnecessary administrative burdens. The draft report introduces a unified definition of such activities, aiming to create legal certainty across the EU. This definition is designed to ensure that only relevant activities—those involving the provision of information, knowledge, or expertise with the aim of influencing policy, legislative, or public decision-making—fall within its scope. The rapporteur emphasizes that this approach prevents overreach and safeguards legitimate professional and diplomatic activities, such as legal representation and media reporting, which remain outside the directive’s scope.

The current regulatory fragmentation, in which some Member States have strict registration requirements, while others have voluntary systems or no specific framework, results in an uneven playing field. The Rapporteur supports the introduction of minimum harmonisation in this context, ensuring that transparency obligations apply uniformly when it comes to interest representation carried out on behalf of third countries, while allowing Member States to maintain existing national registers where they meet the Directive’s requirements. This balanced approach upholds regulatory consistency without forcing Member States with well-established transparency frameworks to lower their standards.

The draft report further introduces a central access point for national transparency registers, facilitating public access to relevant information while avoiding duplicative administrative procedures. Many Member States currently maintain multiple registers at different levels of governance, making access to information complex and fragmented. The Rapporteur considers the interconnection of national registers through an EU-level public access system to be a pragmatic solution that enhances transparency while preserving national autonomy. This measure ensures that transparency mechanisms serve their intended purpose rather than becoming bureaucratic obstacles for both public authorities and regulated entities.

The Rapporteur supports reducing unnecessary administrative burdens, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Compliance costs must remain proportionate to the objectives of transparency, and reporting obligations should be streamlined. The draft report ensures that entities are not required to disclose unrelated funding sources or duplicate reporting obligations already covered under other regulatory frameworks. By applying the "once-only" principle, the directive minimizes administrative complexity, allowing for efficient data reuse while maintaining the integrity of transparency requirements.

Addressing concerns regarding the potential stigmatization of entities engaging in interest representation services on behalf of third countries was of outmost importance for the Rapporteur. Transparency must not lead to undue reputational risks, nor should it be misused to undermine legitimate activities. The rapporteur underlines the importance of ensuring that supervisory authorities have the necessary expertise to assess compliance with this Directive fairly and impartially. The draft report includes safeguards to prevent discriminatory application and to ensure that the requirement to register does not create automatic suspicion regarding the nature of the activities conducted.

In terms of enforcement, the Rapporteur acknowledges the need for effective yet flexible sanctions. The draft report allows Member States to determine appropriate sanctions, ensuring that penalties are proportionate to the severity of non-compliance while remaining dissuasive. The requirement for prior warnings before imposing sanctions ensures that entities have the opportunity to rectify compliance issues before facing penalties. Additionally, national authorities are given the power to request additional information in cases involving substantial foreign financing, allowing for targeted oversight without creating excessive administrative constraints.

The Rapporteur considers this draft report to be a necessary and balanced step toward enhancing transparency in the internal market while preserving the legitimate role of interest representation services. The draft report intends to ensure that transparency obligations do not become a deterrent to lawful engagement, nor do they hinder the exchange of information and expertise that is fundamental to democratic decision-making. By establishing a uniform but flexible framework, the proposal aims to contribute to greater legal certainty, strengthen public trust in decision-making processes, and ensure that interest representation services on behalf of third countries are conducted in a transparent and accountable manner.