This was no isolated incident. Because several sectors that have considerable impact on the Chilean economy are heavily regulated by the state – including energy, environment, and capital markets – there is a long history of private-public sector collusion. In the absence of regulations on lobbying, public officials had little accountability for the meetings they held with these groups or their outcomes. Since 2004, succeeding governments in Chile have launched legal initiatives to improve transparency, probity and principles of good government, including the Transparency Act, Government Procurement Act, Declaration of Assets and Interest Act, and the Civil Service Reform Act. Recently, President Michelle Bachelet created the Anti-Corruption Council in order to propose initiatives to reduce scandals in public campaign financing. The Lobbying Act of 2014, a reform 10 years in the making, and the commitments of the Chilean government in its Open Government Partnership (OGP) National Action Plan (NAP) to adopt and implement the legislation, must be situated in this wider context ofreforms.
Lobby Law in Chile: Democratizing Access to Public Authorities
