Launching her Annual Report 2016, the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, has also published practical advice for EU officials on interacting with interest representatives.

The Dos and Don’ts list will help ensure that public officials do not inadvertently breach ethical norms. The list should also help the interest representatives by clarifying what is appropriate thereby making sure that the interactions are positive and open for everyone involved.

“It is not always obvious to public officials as to what constitutes acceptable lobbying. What interactions make a genuine public interest contribution to effective policy-making and what might be the exercise of undue influence? This checklist will help ordinary civil servants to navigate these occasionally tricky waters,” said Ms O’Reilly.

This is about giving public officials the tools to ensure that lobbying is carr