1. Western Balkan recommendations on public consultations on draft legislation and public policy documents

2. Aim
Codification of best practices in the field of public consultations to encourage and assist governments to design policies and legislation in an inclusive and efficient manner

3. Two parts: Key/general rules
Specific recommendations for individual stages of policy-making

4. Key rules on effective public participation (12)
Embeddedness into policy making cycle & Early involvement
Proportionality
Careful planning & Sufficient resources & time
Targeted approach & proactiveness
Advance notification & accessibility of information
Responsiveness, transparency and traceability
Continuous quality control

5. Recommendations on policy making stages
Issue identification
Both broad and deep engagement of all stakeholders affected
Targeted and proactive approach with tailor-made invitations
Methods adjusted to the individual characteristics of stakeholders

6. Policy formulation (drafting)
Time for expert deliberation with expert groups and representative associations (business associations, trade unions, umbrella NGOs, think tanks, research institutes, academia, etc.)
Methods: working group, focus groups, deliberative workshops
Need to share all background documents and materials

7. Decision-making Time for final public consultations
Broad e-consultations with live hearings for those not using electronic tools or writing in general
Single e-platform
Reasonable timeline with a minimum deadline of 20 days
Report on the outcome of consultations

8. Implementation phase Evaluation phase
Cooperation with stakeholders that were engaged in policy formulation in on-going monitoring
Comprehensive reforms: possibility of advisory council with external members
Need to enable the public to communicate their experience with new legislation
Evaluation phase
Last step of old policy = first step of new policy
Hence all recommendations that apply for “issue identification”

9. Thank you