The fine freeze aims to assist unregistered lobbyists with registering lobbying activity

VICTORIA – Registrar of Lobbyists Michael Harvey announced today a new six-month program that will temporarily pause fines to unregistered lobbyists for certain violations of the Lobbyists Transparency Act (LTA). The initiative, in effect from April 1 to September 30, 2026, is connected to an educational campaign to help unregistered organizations, non-profits, and consultant lobbyists understand their legal obligations under the LTA and to onboard them with the registration process, without risk of a fine.

The fine freeze will apply to unregistered organizations, non-profits, and consultant lobbyists who have not previously received a fine from the Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists (ORL), whose designated filers have not registered with the Lobbyists Registry since May 4, 2020, and who are forthcoming with ORL staff about their lobbying activity. 

The fine freeze does not apply to violations related to the prohibition on lobbying of former public office holders, or the prohibition of lobbying related to a contract for providing paid advice to the government of British Columbia or a Provincial entity. 

“Lobbying is an important part of the democratic process,” said Registrar Harvey. “It is one way in which public officers hear about what society needs and wants from their government and public. But for lobbying to properly play its role in a democracy it has to be transparent. That means registering in our online Registry. As we kick off a refreshed effort to get the word out about the Lobbying Transparency Act, we want to make it easy for anyone who is just now discovering their legal obligations to come forward.”

More information: 

Questions about the fine freeze, or assistance with registering lobbying activity: info@bcorl.ca  

• Criteria for the fine freeze: 

  https://www.lobbyistsregistrar.bc.ca/resources/fine-freeze/

• At a glance: 

  https://www.lobbyistsregistrar.bc.ca/handlers/DocumentHandler.ashx?DocumentID=561

• Influencing BC (web version): 

  https://www.lobbyistsregistrar.bc.ca/handlers/DocumentHandler.ashx?DocumentID=563

Bluesky: orlbc.bsky.social  

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/company/office-of-the-registrar-of-lobbyists-for-british-columbia