Analysis of the issues of the interest representation declaration system in the Law on Disclosure of Interest Representation of Latvia

Abstract

The Bachelor thesis analyzes the Interest Representation Declaration System, which is the cornerstone of Latvia’s Law on Disclosure of Interest Representation. The Law is created to achieve transparency in the interest representation process and to ensure a mechanism where politicians declare any cases of interest representation that they have been part of. The research is built around the exploration of potential problems that the System might face, such as lack of penalties or the law being too general, thus too open for interpretation. There are conducted interviews with multiple experts from the relevant field to provide their insight into the effectiveness of the law and potential solutions to the challenges. The hypothesis of the thesis is that the current regulation will not be able to fully eradicate the problem of hidden lobbying, and the paper concludes by evaluation of the potential effectiveness and practical solutions to the possible issues.