Switzerland and the EU sustain very close relations. With no other third country has the Union concluded more agreements (more than 120). Thus Switzerland and the EU are intertwined in many policy areas. Examples: Internal market (free trade agreement, free movement of persons agreement), internal security (Schengen/Dublin), transport (overland transport and civil aviation agreements), cooperation in tax matters (taxation of savings and fight against fraud agreements). There are nevertheless several economic challenges of being the outsider.

Norway is closely integrated with the EU through the EEA Agreement and has also signed further agreements with the Union such as Schengen.

The EBO Worldwide Network was created in 2001 between representatives of EU business associations in non-EU countries and specific interest groups from the European Commission. They are mostly privately funded representations of EU businesse in Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Chile, China, Australia, Hong Kong, Macedonia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, United States of America, Vietnam.

Public Affairs is an organisation's efforts to monitor and manage its business environment. To actively manage its environment, the organisation must identify all of the stakeholder groups that can have an impact on the organisation in some way; establish positive relationships with each of these groups; and work continuously to extend and deepen those relationships through direct and indirect efforts.

Austria: Officials are not obliged to report which lobbyists they consulted, or the topic of their discussions. In addition, regarding the legislative footprint, the transparency of the formulation of a law is not very clear. In Austria, Federal ministry working papers are posted online before they can be discussed in parliament. On the parliament website, there are bills and comments submitted in writing to the parliament during the review period as well as the final legal text.

DEFINITIONS

TI recommends to all three EU institutions to record and disclose all input received from lobbyists/interest representatives for draft policies, laws and amendments. In detail, TI suggests the following disclosure guidelines:

The European Commission:

The European Commission should expand and improve its existing initiative as laid out in its recent Decision of 25 November 2014 on the publication of information on meetings held between Members of the Commission and organisations or self-employed individuals.

The following are (or should be) exceptions to lobbying. They are not (or shouldn't be) considered lobbying activities:

1. Venezuela: President Nicolas Maduro has accused the US of meddling in the country's growing economic troubles and plotting to remove him. The countries have expelled each other's diplomatic staff repeatedly, and have not exchanged ambassadors in almost six years. In March, US sanctioned Venezuelan officials it accused of human rights violations and corruption following mass protests in the country last year. Mr Maduro harshly criticised the sanctions and hailed the officials as heroes against imperialism.