Lawyers, finance experts and attorneys have united to form the National Association of Lobbyists of Ukraine (NALU) to promote investments and protect business interests, said Oleksiy Shevchuk, a lawyer, chairman of the board of NALU, chairman of the Information Policy Committee of the National Association of Lawyers of Ukraine (NALU).
“Lobbyist is a new profession in Ukraine, now created by NALU. It means that a great profession is now open to everyone, it means that now a lot of businesses have support. A lobbyist performs business and investment support functions. Today it means that large companies that are going to enter the reconstruction of Ukraine have guides, have support and have managers who will develop these companies and accompany investments,” he said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
Shevchuk said that NALU now includes 20 people, while the transparency register of lobbyists – the only official State register of lobbyists – includes more than 30 people, and the holder of the transparency register is the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC). At the same time, the NALU can unite only individual lobbyists.
“The NAPC checks the representatives of the lobbying profession to ensure that they meet the requirements of decency and good business integrity and that they do not violate lobbying laws. Lobbyists who are members of NALA meet the standards of quality and requirements of the lobbying profession. This means that these representatives can and should be chosen to accompany major investment projects. This means that today we are moving towards the creation of a civilized society,” he said.
Shevchuk also noted that “recently, law enforcement agencies have been abusing a lot when some investment projects were presented by a state body, when people’s deputies received bills that business needs.”
“Today no one will no longer say that this is a violation of law or abuse of influence. Lobbyists are official managers who represent business,” he said.
According to Shevchuk, Ukrainian lobbyists can be registered in the United States as individual members of the profession and will be able to have a corresponding contract with a European or U.S. organization.
“If today there will be an order either from some lobbyist from the US or from some separate organization – for example, it can be an investment bank, a fund, or a small business that needs to be promoted – a lobbying contract must be concluded and this contract must be registered in the appropriate registry in the US. On their own, no lobbyist has the right to act in the U.S., every lobbyist from Ukraine must interact with a U.S. company. It is the same as with lawyers: a lawyer from America cannot work independently in Ukraine, a lawyer from Ukraine cannot work independently in the U.S.,” he explained.
For her part, NALU executive director Vitalia Globa noted that among the key areas of the association’s activities are the development of lobbyism as an important component of a democratic society, the creation of a system of self-regulation and professional standards for lobbyists, as well as the protection of the rights of association members.
“Any lobbyist in our country can become a member of our association of lobbyists by submitting a free-form application with certain documents, which are specified on the official website of our organization,” she said.
In turn, NALU board member, managing partner of the Leshchenko and Partners law firm Oleksandr Leshchenko said that experts are preparing a large report on the status, system and procedure of lobbying in Ukraine. It will be presented in the European Parliament, as well as in the United States, where a round table with international participation with lobbyists from the US is planned.
“Lobbyism is an activity that in the civilized world is legally regulated. Unfortunately, in most cases, including among elites, journalists, there is a negative attitude to the activities of lobbyists. This opinion is erroneous, because, since 1946, in the United States for the first time an act regulating the activities of lobbyists has been in force. Today Ukraine has created such a legislative act at the legislative level and now there is a process of establishing legal regulation of lobbyist activity”, – he said.
As the vice-president of NALU, head of the representation of the Ukrainian Bar in the UK Oleksandr Chernykh noted, what is now happening very often around draft laws in Ukraine cannot be called professional activity not by the level of preparation, not by the level of analysis.
“Absolutely wrong thing in Ukraine, when public activists spend millions on youtubes and social networks, actually putting pressure on state bodies to make decisions, while they do not report. If we look at the tax and public reporting, it is really millions of dollars, which then disappear on some FOPs, for some incomprehensible services. And it is not clear where these millions of dollars come from, who is the customer and what the end result of this actual lobbying activity is. I very sincerely welcome the adoption of this law, because now we can talk about legitimate legal lobbying activities,” he said.
For his part, NALU representative in Brussels, President of European Facilitation Platform Oleksandr Kamenets emphasized the need to research the lobbying field in Ukraine.
“This is a necessary condition for both in Ukraine and abroad, in Europe and in the world to understand who is now on this market, on this field in Ukraine,” he said.
Chernykh, Kamenets, Leshchenko, lobbyists, UKRAINE, Глоба, НАЛУ, ШЕВЧУК
