Who is expected to register?

All organisations and self employed individuals, irrespective of their legal status, engaged in activities falling within the scope of the register are in principle expected to register. (For activities excluded from the register see Part IV “Scope of the Register “ of the interinstitutional agreement - articles 8 & 9).

Exceptions or precisions to this principle concerning:

• Churches and religious communities
• Political parties
• Local, regional and municipal authorities

are described in the “specific provisions” part of the inter institutional agreement: paragraph 11 to 13 as follows:

11. Churches are not concerned by the register. However, their representation offices or legal bodies, offices and networks created to represent them towards the European institutions, as well as their associations, are expected to register.

12. Political parties are not concerned by the register. However, any organisations which they create or support, engaged in activities falling under the scope of the register, are expected to register.

13. Local, regional and municipal authorities are not concerned by the register. However, their representation offices or legal bodies, offices and networks created to represent them towards the European institutions, as well as their associations, are expected to register.

NB: Article 13 has been precised by the following public statement made by VP Sefcovic: "Services forming an integral part of their administration, staffed by local, regional or municipal officials and engaged in activities corresponding to their institutional or constitutional attributions, will thus not be expected to register". Indeed autonomous structures, with a private legal status, which would include subnational public authorities but which would be also shared with private interests, created in order to pursue activities falling within the scope of the Register would be expected to register”.

EU Member States governments, third country governments, international intergovernmental organizations as well as their diplomatic missions are not expected to register.

Networks, platforms or other forms of collective activity without a legal status or legal personality but which constitute de facto a source of organised influence, and engaged in activities falling within the scope of the register are expected to register. In such case its members should identify one of their number as its responsible contact person for their relations with the administration of the register.