March 12 is a truly important day for the Ukrainian “third sector”: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the Law of Ukraine “On Fair Lobbying” (No. 10337).  The Parliament adopted it as a whole on February 23.

Despite the fact that the document will come into force only 2 months after the start of the Transparency Register (responsible for the NACP), but no later than January 1, 2025, national civil society organizations and society itself need to realize that for its active part (in other words, “systemic passionaries”), life has changed “before” and “after”.

Maksym Latsyba, head of the civil society development program at the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research, told Ukrayinska Pravda what the public sector should prepare for. 

Game changer

As you know, the legislative innovation itself was developed by the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption. It was submitted to the parliament as a government draft law. Later, it turned out that the version proposed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine had changed significantly during the parliamentary consideration.

Specialized experts prepared amendments in advance that would have excluded Ukrainian civic and charitable organizations (CBOs) from the scope of the law. Since the parliamentarians supported this initiative only partially, the version signed by the President carries certain risks for the active part of society.

In addition, experts have prepared a statement that the Law should not be applied to the exercise by citizens of their rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and other laws of Ukraine, as well as to the activities of CSOs. The initiative was supported by more than 260 civil society organizations.

So, what has changed? From now on, the Law on Fair Lobbying regulates communication between individuals and legal entities and state and local authorities in the process of drafting legal acts. The most important thing is that the document provides for registration, reporting, and fines for violating the rules. But there are a few “buts”:

The definitions of lobbying and its methods do not guarantee legal certainty to distinguish between the commercial activities of lobbyists and the participation of citizens in the decision-making process. That is, for example, the participation of a youth organization in a roundtable discussion on the priorities of state financial support for youth projects can also be considered lobbying. This approach will not promote transparent and responsible lobbying;

Excessive concentration of power in the adoption of ethical norms, their interpretation and application creates grounds for arbitrary restrictions on CSOs in shaping public policy. The law requires the CMU to establish ethical rules of conduct for lobbyists (citizens, CSOs, legal entities), but does not require it for civil servants themselves;

The absence of the obligation of the authorities to hold public consultations on all draft legal acts and report on contacts with lobbyists makes the work of the authorities even more closed and encourages corruption;

The entry into force of the Law without the introduction of public consultation procedures and ethical rules for public bodies will not help to overcome political corruption.

Impact we did not expect

The adopted document will harm civil society in Ukraine and its efforts to advocate for policy changes. To a certain extent, it resembles the consequences of one “law on foreign agents”.

The root of these negative consequences is the ignoring of all key amendments from CSO representatives who participated in the working group preparing the draft law for the second reading. 

The current version of the law will allow for the punishment of citizens or civil society organizations (CSOs) for criticizing or pursuing phantom “commercial interests.” By the way, the essence of the latter is not clearly defined. Thus, any contribution to support an organization that advocates for anti-corruption, political or other reforms may be considered as creating “commercial interests”.

In addition, the law allows the authorities to consider any active citizen or CSO as a lobbyist, to hold them accountable for every meeting, phone call, press conference and other “lobbying” activities, as well as to fine them and publicly discredit them in the eyes of Ukrainian society. 

In other words, citizens will not control the government, but the government will control citizens and punish them for their sincere socially significant activity.