Andorra Social Democrats Seek Sanctions Regime in Transparency Law Reform

The Partit Socialdemòcrata (PS) has presented a bill to amend Andorra's transparency law, arguing that the legislation approved in 2021 is not being fully observed and that formal compliance has not translated into genuine accountability. The parliamentary group wants lobbies regulated through a public register, the Raonador del Ciutadà to take over evaluation of the law, and a sanctions regime to apply when its obligations are breached.

The proposal was presented by the group's president, Susanna Vela, and consellera general Laia Moliné, who said the aim is to move from formal transparency to effective transparency and to let citizens scrutinise how public authorities act.

Vela cited the 2025 report of the Transparency and Public Information Access Unit, which found that 38% of the law's indicators are only partially met and 8% are entirely unmet—together amounting to 46% not being followed satisfactorily. She also criticised gaps in the publication of union agreements, subsidies, contract modifications and the agendas of political leaders, and questioned an evaluation system that relies on a unit inside the government itself and excludes other administrations and parapublic entities. According to Vela, merely running an information portal or publishing documents is not enough; the public must be able to see how public money is spent and whether commitments are honoured.

One of the main innovations is the creation of a sanctions regime, which did not previously exist. It provides for fines ranging from 500 to 24,000 euros depending on the seriousness of the infraction, applicable both to public service staff—up to 12,000 euros—and to senior officials, with a maximum of 24,000 euros. The text establishes categories of minor, serious and very serious breaches of transparency obligations. Moliné argued that legal consequences are necessary for the law to be enforced, warning that without sanctions a law ends up largely ineffectual.

Moliné also detailed that the reform would require publishing more information on public contract awards, including the number of bidders, scores, technical reports and later contract modifications. It would expand data on rejected subsidies, remuneration and institutional communication spending, and require documents to be presented in accessible, reusable formats. Guarantees of access to information and the powers of the National Commission for Access to and Evaluation of Documentation would be strengthened.

Public officials would also be required to file annual declarations of professional and business interests and an asset declaration two years after leaving office, in addition to those already made at the start and end of a mandate. Vela defended making such information public, subject to data protection rules, despite reservations previously expressed by the governing majority groups.

The reform would additionally create a register of interest groups or lobbies to make their relations with political representatives transparent. Vela said the public should know who elected officials meet, who they stop meeting and what proposals are put to them. The PS also proposes assigning the Raonador del Ciutadà the task of evaluating the law using objective indicators and an annual report to the Consell General, and requiring administrations to explain how they assessed contributions received in public participation processes.

The text revives several amendments the group put forward during passage of the original law that were rejected. On resources, Moliné acknowledged that the Administration's human and technical capacity would need strengthening, placing that responsibility mainly with the government, and said a PS government would fund the measures. Vela recognised that the legislative calendar may make it hard to process the proposal, but argued that the shortcomings detected over nearly five years of the law's operation justify reopening the debate, and expressed a wish for other parliamentary groups to help improve the text.