EU Ombudsman demands a full lobby ban for Commission’s Regulatory Scrutiny Board

The Regulatory Scrutiny Board (RSB) is a key component of the Commission's so-called 'better regulation' agenda. Among other tasks, the RSB plays a crucial role in scrutinising impact assessments on all proposed EU legislation (before the draft laws are made public and sent to EU law-makers) and has the power to reject those that don't meet its expectations. The Ombudsman says that the RSB “has a significant influence on the course and outcomes of the Commission’s decision making regarding legislative proposals”. (para 4) And this influence only looks set to grow under the second von der Leyen Commission, with the RSB likely to play a role in applying the proposed “SME and competitiveness check”, and the expected appointment of a Commission Vice President for Simplification, as outlined by Mario Draghi in his recent report.

Lobby ban

The RSB’s own rules already require that it does not have contact with lobbyists on specific files, although Corporate Europe Observatory’s complaint raised several examples of written or possible in-person contact with lobbyists on the Corporate Sustainability and Due Diligence file.

But now the Ombudsman says that RSB board members should not conduct broader outreach with lobbyists, saying: “Interest representatives try to build and cultivate relationships with civil servants and public representatives whose actions may impact future legislation in which they have an interest. Thus, even if individual files are not discussed, interest representatives may seek to influence the RSB, so as to advance the interests they represent.” (para 27) The Ombudsman concludes that “RSB members should avoid holding meetings with individual interest representatives”. (suggestion 1)

It remains to be seen if the advice of the Ombudsman will be adopted by the RSB. In June 2024, for example, RSB members met with BusinessEurope and with Confédération des Petites et Moyennes Entreprises on the “competitiveness check” and the “SME test” respectively. These are just the kind of lobby meetings which the Ombudsman says should not go ahead, and that the risk of such meetings “should not be underestimated.” (para 27)

Diversity of expertise

In addition to the suggestion on lobbying, the Ombudsman investigated Corporate Europe Observatory’s concern about the lack of breadth in the Board’s expertise. While the guidelines require the RSB to hold expertise in social and environmental policies, as well as economics, Corporate Europe Observatory argued that the former two are largely absent from present and previous iterations of the Board. This is very problematic considering that impact assessments and other ‘better regulation’ approaches already tend to undervalue the social and environmental benefits of regulation. Today the Ombudsman concludes that “the Commission should ensure that, in the future, the composition of the RSB clearly corresponds to the diversity of the expertise required”. (suggestion 2)

In response to the Ombudsman’s findings, Vicky Cann, researcher campaigner at Corporate Europe Observatory said: 

“We welcome the Ombudsman’s findings today. With the RSB set to get an even bigger role under the second von der Leyen Commission, it’s vital that there is a firewall with corporate lobbyists and much more expertise from the social and environmental fields. More broadly, it is long overdue to conduct a wider review of the whole ‘better regulation’ agenda of which the RSB is part. Tackling the climate and toxics crises is hardly possible in an era when deregulation and competitiveness dominate the Brussels agenda”.

For media inquiries, please contact

Vicky Cann, Corporate Europe Observatory researcher and campaigner 

vicky@corporateeurope.org - 0044 7960 988096

Marcella Via, Corporate Europe Observatory press officer 

media@corporateeurope.org - 0039 348 4201435