U.S. firms lead EU lobbying league

* U.S. companies dominate top spending rankings

* Tech rivals Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT - news) , Google (Xetra: A0B7FY - news) among big lobbiers

* Oil giants maintain high spending, Deutsche Bank (Xetra: 514000 - news) grows

* Data deadline was first since registration mandatory

By Alastair Macdonald

BRUSSELS, April 30 (Reuters) - U.S. companies, including

tech rivals Microsoft and Google, were among

leading spenders on corporate lobbying in Brussels last year, a

Reuters review of new data showed (table below).

Companies had until Thursday to update public entries in the

European Union's newly revamped Transparency Register following

a tightening of rules in January that obliges firms to register

if they want to meet EU commissioners and senior staff.

Oil majors Exxon Mobil (Swiss: XOM.SW - news) of the United States and

Anglo-Dutch Shell shared the top spot with Microsoft,

with reported spending in their last financial years of between

4.5 and 4.5 million euros ($5.0-5.6 million).

Those figures were broadly in line with the trio's spending

in previous filings recorded in January by researchers at

anti-corruption group Transparency International -- the

Commission itself does not provide comparative data with

previous years.

However, some of the other big spenders recorded sharp

increases, including Google and Germany's Deutsche Bank, which

doubled their expenditure, U.S. chemicals group Dow, which

recorded four times the level of spending as its previous entry.

None of the companies listed offered comment.

Google, subject of a high-profile antitrust case launched by

the Commission two weeks ago after a five-year investigation,

spent 3.0-3.5 million euros ($3.4-3.9 million), the same as Dow

. Microsoft, which has itself been fined heavily in the

past by EU antitrust authorities, has been prominent among those

pursuing complaints against its American rival Google.

Two German companies were among those which spent 3 million

euros or more last year. Deutsche Bank was the fourth

biggest spender, reporting lobbying activity worth 3.96 million

euros, and engineer Siemens (BSE: SIEMENS4.BO - news) spent 3.23 million.

China's tech leader Huawei Technologies reported

spending of 3.0 million euros in 2014. That was the same as it

had previously reported as spending in its 2012 fiscal year.

DATA QUALITY IMPROVING

Also reporting spending of 3.0 million was paij GmbH, a

German company that sells a mobile payments app and which put

itself on the Register for the first time in March. Officials at

the company could not immediately be reached for comment.

U.S. engineering firm General Electric reported lobby

spending in the EU of 3.25-3.50 million euros for 2013. No 2014

data appeared on its page on the Transparency Register.

Transparency International's Daniel Freund said some changes

in data filed appeared to reflect a recognition among companies

that the Register now set more rigorous reporting requirements.

Over 1,000 organisations registered for the first time after

Jan. 27, when it became a condition for access to officials.

"The data quality seems to be getting better," Freund said,

while noting that the Register only went some way to clarifying

how much effort was going in to lobbying in Brussels and saying

that the Commission appeared to have so far put only limited

staff resources into scrutiny of the accuracy of entries.

Other organisations, including non-governmental pressure

groups, must also declare spending. Environmental lobby

Greenpeace, for example, declared 1.0-1.25 million euros in

2013.

A second element of transparency introduced under European

Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker since he took office in

November is a register of contacts by commissioners and senior

staff with companies, lobby groups and their representatives.

Transparency International research found U.S. firms Google,

Microsoft and General Electric, as well as European planemaker

Airbus, were among the most active in visiting top EU officials

since such meetings first had to made public in December.

Company Nationality 2014 spend Previous

(EUR mln)* spend**

1= ExxonMobil U.S.

4.5 - 5.0 4.75 - 5.0

Microsoft U.S.

4.5 - 5.0 4.25 - 4.75

Shell UK/Netherlands 4.5 - 5.0 4.25 - 4.5

4 Deutsche Bank Germany 3.96 1.99

5= Dow U.S.

3.5 - 4.0 0.8 - 0.9

Google U.S.

3.5 - 4.0 1.25 - 1.5

7 Siemens Germany 3.23 4.36

8= Huawei China 3.0 3.0

paij Germany 3.0 n/a

General Electric U.S.

n/a 3.25 - 3.5

*Source: Transparency Register; **Source: Transparency

International

($1 = 0.8934 euros)

(Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; @macdonaldrtr; Editing by

Elaine Hardcastle)