Open public consultations
One of the main elements of the Better Regulation Agenda is to make the EU policy-making process more open through regular stakeholder consultation. The goal is to “consult as early and as widely as possible” in order to include all interested parties in new initiatives. Public consultations by the European Commission are organized during several steps of the EU policy-making process. These consultations can differ in their approach and format. Generally, open consultations can be structured to collect general or specific feedback.
Have your say – general feedback
On the website ‘Have your Say’, the Commission publishes roadmaps, Commission proposals for EU legislative acts, draft delegated acts and draft implementing acts. When these documents are published, stakeholders and citizens have the opportunity to provide feedback for a certain amount of time on these initiatives through the ‘Have your Say’ website. Stakeholders are able to provide feedback in an open format. This means they can formulate and highlight topics or issues regarding the initiative they want to bring to the attention of the Commission in their feedback response.
When the European Commission intends to initiate a new EU action, for example, an evaluation of an existing EU act or preparing a proposal for a new EU act, the Commission makes these intentions known to the public via the publication of a Roadmap. Roadmaps are published on the website “Have your say” and is open to public consultation for a period of four weeks. During this consultation period, stakeholders and citizens can provide feedback very early on in the EU policymaking process.
Roadmaps
When the European Commission intends to initiate a new EU action, for example, an evaluation of an existing EU act or preparing a proposal for a new EU act, the Commission makes these intentions known to the public via the publication of a Roadmap. Roadmaps are published on the website ”Have your say” and is open to public consultation for a period of four weeks. During this consultation period, stakeholders and citizens can provide feedback very early on in the EU policymaking process.
Roadmaps that announce evaluations or impact assessments also contain a consultation strategy. This strategy outlines how and when stakeholders and/or the public are consulted by the Commission during the evaluation or impact assessment.
Commission consultation website – specific feedback
On this consultation website, the Commission requests feedback from stakeholders and experts in the context of a specific evaluation or impact assessment. For example, such a consultation can be about:
- potential impacts of potential new EU legislation in the context of an Impact Assessment;
- experiences with existing EU legislation in the context of an Evaluation or Fitness Check.
These consultations are often structured around specific topics or aspects of (new) EU legislation. Unlike the “Have your say” website, the consultations website usually provides more structured feedback opportunities through for example questionnaires.
| Category | Type of feedback | Time | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadmaps, inception impact assessments, evaluation roadmaps | Open feedback on finalized document | 4 weeks | “Have your say” |
| Impact assessment | Structured feedback on aspects of impact during the drafting of the document | 12 weeks | Consultation website |
| Commission proposal and impact assessment | Open feedback on published proposals and finalised IAs | 12 weeks | “Have your say” |
| Evaluations and Fitness checks | Structured feedback on aspects of the evaluation | 12 weeks | Consultations website |
| Draft regulations, directives, implementing and delegated acts | Open feedback on draft-acts | 4 weeks | “Have your say” |
| Other opportunities: green papers, white papers and other non-legislative documents | Structured feedback on other documents than mentioned above | 12 weeks | Consultations website |