What is the EU Transparency Register?

The EU Transparency Register is the joint public database of organisations that lobby the EU institutions - companies, trade associations, NGOs, think tanks, law firms and consultancies. It currently lists about 17,798 registrants. Registration is required for many kinds of access: meeting Commissioners, speaking at Parliament events, or getting a long-term Parliament access badge. The register is run jointly by the Parliament, Council and Commission: official site.

What a register entry shows

• Who the organisation is: legal form, headquarters, website, the interests it represents, and its stated goals.
• What it spends: an annual estimate of EU lobbying costs (self-declared, in bands).
• Who works on it: number of lobbyists (full-time equivalents), and any EU-level memberships.

Its known limits

• Figures are self-declared and audited only on complaint or spot checks.
• When an MEP declares a lobby meeting, linking the counterpart's register entry is not enforced - free-text names defeat the link. That is why only ~48.6% of eligible counterpart entries on this site carry a declared Register link; the gap is a transparency signal in itself.

Explore the register through the meetings

This site joins the register to actual declared MEP meetings: see the most active lobby organisations, or the picture industry by industry.