There are 3 distinct professional bodies in the United Kingdom:

PRCA

The Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) promotes all aspects of public relations and internal communications work, helping teams and individuals maximise the value they deliver to clients and organisations.

PRCA exists to raise standards in PR and communications, providing members with industry data, facilitating the sharing of communications best practice and creating networking opportunities.

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is the professional body for public relations practitioners in the UK. With 9,500 members involved in all aspects of public relations, it is the largest body of its kind in Europe. The CIPR advances the public relations profession in the UK by making its members accountable through a code of conduct, developing best practice, representing its members and raising standards through professional development. The CIPR, through the PR Academy, provides the CIPR Public Affairs Diploma, a professional qualification specific to lobbying.

The Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) is the professional body that represents UK PR consultancies, in-house communications teams, PR freelancers and individual PR practitioners. The PRCA promotes all aspects of public relations, public affairs and communications work, helping teams and individuals maximise the value they deliver to clients and organisations.

Definitions

The Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC) supports the general aim of ensuring that lobbying is made as open and transparent as possible. The APPC supports in principle, the introduction of a statutory register, although it is of the view that openness and transparency concerning who is lobbying whom and about what issues could be more easily achieved by other means. This information already exists within the official diaries of Ministers, Civil Servants and Members of Parliament.

The Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement establishes a political and economic association between the two parties. The parties commit to co-operate and converge economic policy, legislation, and regulation across a broad range of areas, including equal rights for workers, steps towards visa-free movement of people, the exchange of information and staff in the area of justice, the modernisation of Ukraine's energy infrastructure, and access to the European Investment Bank and a variety of others.

ASPA is the representative body for the public affairs sector in Scotland. It was established in 1998 by public affairs and policy practitioners in Scotland to represent those working both in-house and consultancy. ASPA members comprise a wide range of organisations and abide by a code of conduct, which aims to reflect best practice and professional ethics.

DEFINITIONS OF LOBBYING

UNITED KINGDOM PUBLIC AFFAIRS COUNCIL (UKPAC)

Lobbying means, in a professional capacity, attempting to influence, or advising those who wish to influence, the UK Government, Parliament, the devolved legislatures or administrations, regional or local government or other public bodies on any matter within their competence.

ELECTORAL REFORM SOCIETY

The Contact Group functions as a facilitator and sounding board for DG Trade. Its task is to contribute to transparency in both directions, and to help with the circulation of information to the wider group of their constituencies. For this, it reviews compliance of the civil society dialogue process with the objectives of the Civil Society Dialogue and makes suggestions in this regard. It also proposes topics for discussion, and advises on organisational matters.

The recently enacted Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 (“The Act”) is designed to give the public more confidence in the way third parties interact with the political system.

Part 1 of the Act provides for, amongst other things, a Statutory Register of Consultant Lobbyists on which those who undertake the business of consultant lobbying will be required to register and to disclose the names of their clients and declare whether or not they subscribe to a relevant code of conduct.

Sanctions have emerged as a favoured foreign policy tool of many international actors, including the European Union (EU), for coercing states to change problematic behaviour. Sometimes the lack of plausible alternatives makes sanctions an attractive option for policymakers. But sanctions are a policy instrument in themselves, with numerous advantages and disadvantages that must be considered before resorting to their use. The EU has used sanctions 33 times to-date to address a variety of issues.