Summary

The nature of influence peddling has been described in the convention against corruption of the Council of Europe. The legal definition valid in Estonia is given in §298¹ (1) of the Penal Code (PC). The author believes that it is rather difficult to define the necessary elements of the crime of influence peddling since there are no supportive rules on which basis to assess what is permitted and what is not. Recently, Estonia has taken decisive steps to align the necessary elements of influence peddling with the convention against corruption of the Council of Europe. Several recommendations of GRECO have been taken into account and currently the necessary elements contained in §298¹ should be in alignment with them. Naturally, this does not mean that the entire development process has ended. It is necessary to adopt rules of lobbying within which acts are deemed to be permissible influence and which, if exceeded constitute an offence. It should be easy to verify how decisions are taken, what influences them and, ultimately, how resources, i.e., the taxpayers’ money is used. Hence, the rules of lobbying represent ultimately a question of lawfulness. Lack of these rules calls into question whether someone can be held liable since it remains unclear for stakeholders and their representatives how they should act so that they are not held accountable. Judicial practice should also assess how to define the terms contained in §298¹ of the current PC.