The Lobbying Act (遊說法) is poorly designed and it does not deter people from engaging in corruption, a Ministry of the Interior official said on Monday, citing the record of zero fines being issued for breaches of the act since its establishment in 2007.
“Only law-abiding people comply with the act, not those with ill intentions,” said the official, who declined to be named.
The official made the remarks after four legislators and a former legislator were on Monday charged by Taipei prosecutors for taking bribes from former Pacific Distribution Investment Co chairman Lee Heng-lung (李恆隆).
Lee paid secret visits to the legislators without registering with the authorities as required by the act, the official said, adding that most other interest groups act in the same manner.
In the 13 years since the passage of the law, only 427 cases of lobbying government officials have been registered, the official said.
Of those 427, about 75 percent, or 320, took place at the Legislative Yuan, followed by the Ministry of the Interior (25), the Executive Yuan (11), the Presidential Office (10) and the Ministry of National Defense (5), the official said.
The number of cases that were rejected following their registration was 24, the official added.
When members of the public or private companies contact lawmakers to express a desire to amend the law it constitutes lobbying, but legislators usually treat such cases as “complaints,” the official said.
The act states that within seven days of lobbying taking place, the lobbied official is required to report the information and any materials received. Offenders are subject to a fine of between NT$100,000 and NT$500,000.
Although one fine had been handed out, the lobbied official filed an administrative appeal with the Executive Yuan, which overturned the fine, the official said.
The Ministry of the Interior is to invite experts to meetings to discuss how the act can be improved, the official said.
Control Yuan member Shih Chin-fang (施錦芳) said that the registration system under the act has no substantial effect and that she and fellow Control Yuan member Wang Yu-ling (王幼玲) would investigate why the act was passed with such flaws.
The system whereby officials are required to declare information about their private property would also be investigated, Shih said.
Businesses worry about their lobbying being exposed, especially those owned by family members of legislators, so it is natural that they skip the registration process and lobby lawmakers in secret, a legislator said on condition of anonymity.
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