I work as the VP of UPM’s public affairs and lead the company's policy influencing team. At the heart of our work are policies and regulation and their impact on the business environment, which is influenced not only by national but also by EU laws and their local interpretations.
Finland is opening up influencing on decision-makers with a new national transparency register, while Germany and the EU already have their own transparency registers. The aim of the Finnish Transparency Register is to make the decision-making in Parliament and the ministries more transparent. This includes lobbying targeted at the Parliament and ministries not only by companies but also by NGOs, environmental organisations, and the trade unions, for example.
The first reporting period, which started in April, ended on June 30th. Now companies, NGO’s, organisations, trade unions, and consultancies are expected to file their first disclosures on lobbying activities by the end of June. The first disclosures on lobbying activities are made by the end of August.
Reporting on these activities is something quite new, but lobbying has been going on for as long as there has been regulation in the world. Instead of lobbying, some talk about advocacy, others about influencing.
In practice, influencing is about increasing understanding. A colleague of mine uses the analogy of an interpreter: He illustrates to decision-makers what the proposed regulation would mean in practice for a business. Within the company, he interprets what the regulatory environment is now like and how it affects our business.
