Scope of the Legislation

Scope of the Lobbying Act

Who Does the Lobbying Act cover?

The Lobbying Act is based on four key principles.

• Free and open access to government is an important matter of public interest.
• Lobbying public office holders is a legitimate activity.
• It is desirable that public office holders and the general public be able to know who is attempting to influence government.
• The system of registration of paid lobbyists should not impede free and open access to government.

The Act only covers people who are paid to lobby. People who are lobbying on a voluntary basis are not required to register.

The Lobbying Act identifies three types of lobbyist:

• Consultant lobbyists, people who are paid to lobby for clients.
• In-house lobbyists (corporations). Those are employees of a business who lobby for their employer as a significant part of their duties (20% or more).
• In-house lobbyists (organizations). Those are employees of not-for-profit organizations in which one or more employees lobby. They work in setting where the collective time devoted to lobbying for all those employees works out to be the same as a significant part of one employee's duties (20% or more).