Business news from Ukraine

According to the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NACP), as of March 12, 2025, 97% of individuals registered as lobbyists and 100% of companies have already submitted their first reports. In total, there are 161 participants in the Registry, of whom 132 lobbyists registered last year were required to report. More than half of all participants registered within the first month after the Transparency Registry was launched.

Last fall, the Lobbyist Registry, overseen by the NACP, began operations in Ukraine. By the end of the year, Ukrainian lobbyists were required to submit their first report on their activities. Thus, all registered participants added to the Registry last year were required to submit reports to the NACP by January 31, 2026. Even if a participant is inactive, they must still submit a report confirming the absence of active activity.

Some participants missed the reporting deadline: 96% of companies and only 87% of individual lobbyists reported on their activities on time. However, the situation was rectified in February, so all companies have now submitted their reports. Specifically, in early February, the All-Ukrainian Privatization Agency, SIC Group Ukraine, and the Ukrainian company “Consulting and Lobbying” submitted their reports. Currently, only two individual lobbyists remain in arrears.

Both foreign representative offices also reported on their activities.

In the early days of the Registry, participants faced certain challenges with document management. Opendatabot contacted the companies that reported this year to find out how the first reporting process went.

The Aurora network was one of the first participants in the Transparency Register. The company notes that the reporting process was clear and convenient, and the system’s interface was logically structured. At the same time, there were some questions regarding the classification of certain types of meetings and interaction formats. However, this is natural, as the mechanism is new and the practice of its application is still taking shape.

“For Aurora, reporting is not just about complying with the law, but also an opportunity to reaffirm our openness and responsible approach to doing business. Integrity for our company is not a mere declaration, but a fundamental principle. That is why we view the legislative regulation of lobbying and the launch of the Registry as an important step toward establishing civilized and transparent rules for interaction between business and the state,” says Inna Boichuk, Director of Corporate Affairs at the “Aurora” supermarket chain.

The European Business Association also generally views the launch of the system positively, though it notes technical limitations.

“The reporting procedure is straightforward, but for organizations with a large number of lobbying issues and meetings, the process becomes complicated.

Currently, all data must be entered manually, as the system does not allow information to be uploaded from internal databases or Excel files,” explains Viktoria Kulikova, head of the European Business Association’s committees department.

The Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs describes a similar experience. They note that the report form is clear and the system itself has been stable. At the same time, the UEA points out several shortcomings: in the public section of the registry, executives are not always listed as lobbyists—though they do appear when generating an extract—which can create confusion during audits. Businesses are also awaiting clearer guidance from the NACP regarding exactly which types of appeals or communications with government agencies are considered lobbying activities.

Note that 161 lobbyists are currently registered in the Transparency Register.

https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/lobby-2025