Last week, a government commission decided to restrict lobbying on government commissions, according to the newspaper Le Temps.

Currently, members of government commissions, which guide voting by elected officials, can take any sum of money from industry. Critics argue this means commission-member votes can be bought.

Council of States member Beat Rieder wants to ban all payments to commission members over CHF 5,000. Last week, a commission looking at the matter said it supports Rieder’s proposal.

Some payments would be exempt. If a commission member works in a particular sector and receives payments in a professional capacity, then the payments would be exempt.

The Political Institutions Commission voted 15 to 6 in favour of the proposal to restrict lobbyist payments. The commission would also like to see less interest group bias in the selection of commission members.

Several elected members pointed out the challenges of enforcing any new rules.

The matter will now be looked at by a Council of States commission looking at political institutional issues.

More on this:
Le Temps article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now

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