98% of participants in the Lobbyists Register submitted their first reports

Last autumn, the Lobbyists Register, overseen by the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), began operating in Ukraine. Based on the results of the year, Ukrainian lobbyists had to submit their first reports on their activities. All participants registered in the Register last year were required to submit their reports to the NACP by January 31, 2026. Even if a participant was inactive, they still had to submit a report confirming the absence of active lobbying activity.

Some participants missed the reporting deadline: 96% of companies and only 87% of individual lobbyists submitted their reports on time. However, the situation was corrected in February, and all companies have now submitted their reports. In particular, All-Ukrainian Privatization Agency, SIK-Group Ukraine, and Ukrainian Company "Consulting and Lobbying" submitted their reports at the beginning of February. Currently, only two individual lobbyists remain without submitted reports.

Both foreign representative offices registered in the system have also reported on their activities.

At the early stages of the Register’s operation, participants faced certain document management difficulties. Opendatabot contacted companies that reported this year to learn how the first reporting process went.

The Aurora retail chain was one of the first participants in the Transparency Register. The company commented that the report submission process was clear and convenient, and the system’s interface was logically structured. At the same time, some questions arose regarding the classification of certain types of meetings and formats of interaction. However, this is natural, as the mechanism is new and the practice of its application is still developing.

«For Aurora, submitting reports is not only about complying with legal requirements, but also an opportunity to once again confirm our openness and responsible approach to doing business. Integrity for our company is not just a declaration, but a principled position. That is why we see the legislative regulation of lobbying and the launch of the Register as an important step toward establishing civilized and transparent rules of interaction between business and the state», 

— says Inna Boichuk, Director of Corporate Affairs at the Aurora multimarket chain.

The European Business Association also generally evaluates the launch of the system positively, but points out certain technical limitations.

«The report submission procedure is clear, however for organizations with a large number of lobbying topics and meetings, the process becomes more complicated. Currently, all data must be entered manually, as the system does not allow uploading information from internal databases or Excel files», 

— explains Viktoriia Kulykova, Head of the Committees Department at the European Business Association.

A similar experience is described by the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs (SUP). They note that the reporting form is clear and the system itself worked stably. At the same time, SUP points out several shortcomings: in the public part of the register, managers are not always displayed as lobbyists, although they are visible when generating an official extract. This may create confusion during checks. Businesses also expect clearer explanations from the NACP regarding which requests or communications with government authorities should be considered lobbying activities.

It is worth noting that 161 lobbyists are currently registered in the Transparency Register.