III.

Proposal of Procedure to Introduce

Methodology for Public Consultation at

Elaboration of Government Documents

In Prague, June 29, 2007

Ministry of the Interior

Contents

Starting Points for Processing the Methodology......................................1

Proposal of Methodology Implementation...............................................2

Institutional Measures for the Introduction of Methodology...................3

Annex No1: Methodology for Public Consultation....................................4

Introduction............................................................................................5

Glossary of Terms ...................................................................................6

1. IDENTIFICATION OF TARGET GROUPS..............................................8

2. FORMS OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION...................................................9

3. DEADLINES .....................................................................................10

4. MATERIALS FOR PUBLIC CONSULTATION ......................................11

5. EVALUATION PROCESS OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION........................12

6. INSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS FOR PUBLIC CONSULTATION...........13

ANNEX NO.2: Forms of Involving the Public ..........................................14

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Starting Points for Processing the Methodology

The document presented here originated pursuant to the Government Resolution No. 657

from May 31, 2006, in which the Government approved "The Principles of Public

Engagement at Elaboration of Strategic Paper” and set the task of submitting a

methodology for public consultation in the preparation of strategic papers.

Furthermore, the document reflects the Government’s Policy Statement, approved in

January 2007, which declares, inter alia, the objective of involving the public in the

drafting of legal regulations. The document also contributes to the implementation of the

Government Objective No. 107, which sets the task of preparing an amendment of

Government’s Legislative Rules aimed at making transparent the process of adopting new

legal regulations, unifying and making transparent the legislative process, while engaging

the general public in the creation of legal regulations.

The need of drafting general rules of communication between the central state

administration sector and citizenry ensued from the conclusions of the project B.1

entitled “Efficient horizontal communication and support of the drafting of nationwide

strategies“ that was implemented as part of the reform of the central state administration

sector. Independently of the B.1 project, similar conclusions were also reached by the

Government Council for Non-State Non-Profit Organizations that was eventually also

involved in drafting the document from the Government Resolution No. 657/2006.

When shaping this methodology, the main source of inspiration was the experience

amassed by some EU Member States. For instance, in Britain consultations with the

public are institutionally anchored, there is a special department discharging

coordinating, methodological and control functions, while a manual has been compiled

for consultations, and special web pages have been designed for that purpose. For its

part, Slovakia has not built a special institutional mechanism, but involvement of the

general public has been enacted in the Slovak Government’s Rules of Procedure and in

the Free Access to Information Act. Also the European Commission and OECD are known

to be devoting considerable attention to the issue of involving the public in such

processes.

In the Czech Republic, a number of Government Ministries and other central

administration authorities have been engaging the public in the process of drafting

Government documents. As part of activities of a task force, charged to draft the

methodology, a number of good practices have been identified (round-table discussions

held at the Ministry of the Environment, on-line comment procedure and electronic

discussion forums, staged by the former Ministry of Informatics etc.) However, a unified

approach and generally defined rules for the engagement of the public have proved to be

missing.

And it is the proposed methodology that is aimed at meeting the ultimate goal: namely

to unify the procedures taken by the state administration sector in involving the public in

the process of preparing Government documents and in laying down the general

principles for engaging members of the public according to gradual steps, i.e. from the

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identification of the subjects to be involved, via the presentation of the methods of

engaging them to the evaluation of the entire process.

Moreover, the proposed methodology supplements the General Principles for Regulatory

Impact Assessment - RIA, since consultations, as one of the forms of engaging the public,

are a compulsory part of RIA.

Introduction of this methodology into practical use will be instrumental in greater

transparency of the decision-making processes in public administration and greater

accountability of the public administration for its outputs vis-à-vis citizenry and the

Government. By involving the public in the preparation of Government documents, it will

be possible to improve identification of impacts of proposed solutions and to pay closer

attention to the implementation of proposed solutions in practice.

Proposal of Methodology Implementation

With a view to the currently elaborated new (revised) rules of procedure adjusting the

process of drafting legal regulations, and in view of foreign experience with the

involvement of the general public in drafting Government documents, it is hereby

proposed to introduce the methodology in the following manner:

1. Pilot Phase

Based on the Plan of the Government’s Non-legislative Work and the Plan of the

Government’s Legislative Work, three documents will be selected to be drafted in keeping

with the methodology given in the Annex to this material. The ultimate purpose is to

select documents of strategic nature with an impact on the society as a whole.

Pilot phase will continue until the end of 2008.

Three Government authorities have been won over for the pilot phases, namely the

Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Finance, and the Czech Statistical Office. Within

the framework of the pilot phase, the methodology will be tested on the following

documents:

- National Plan for the Fight against Terrorism,

- Draft subject-matter of the Bill on unified supervision of the financial market,

- Bill on the consensus of the population, houses and flats in 2011.

In addition to the selected pilot projects, the methodology may also be used as part of

regulatory impact assessment (RIA) and also during the public comment procedure. This

is newly introduced into the legislative process by an amendment to the Government’s

Legislative Rules.

Experience gained by other authorities, which are already involved in the drafting of

Government documents, will also be utilized during the pilot phase. Quite valuable is, for

instance, experience with the application of Act No. 127/2005 Coll., on electronic

communications and on a change to some related laws (Electronic Communications Act),

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as amended by later regulations, which adjusts the institute of public consultations in the

sector of electronic communications. This is aimed at obtaining as much information and

good practices in involving the general public as possible.

The selected method of “learning by doing“ will make it possible to fine-tune the

methodology on the strength of real requirements and needs. A report containing an

evaluation of the pilot projects will be submitted to the Government after pilot testing.

Acting on the basis of this report, the Government will then decide about further course

of procedures.

2. Full-scale implementation of the methodology into practice

After an evaluation and adjustment of the methodology, it should be introduced into

practice. The issue concerning the binding nature of the methodology should be resolved

during the pilot phase. The question is whether the methodology will be incorporated into

the rules of procedure adjusting the proceedings of central administration bodies in

drafting Government documents in the Czech Republic or whether it will be perceived as

a recommending document. Should it become a binding document, it will be necessary to

harmonize its application with the Government’s Rules of Procedure and the

Government’s Legislative Rules.

Institutional Measures for the Introduction of Methodology

For a successful introduction of the methodology into practice it is vital to ensure an

institutional capacity for the coordination of the entire process, checking its quality and

providing methodological guidance. Within the framework of the pilot phase, this

particular role should be discharged by the Department of Regulatory Reform and Quality

of Public Administration at the Ministry of the Interior. This Department will closely

cooperate with the authorities involved in the pilot projects, providing them with

methodological assistance. It will also evaluate the pilot phase, including its

institutionally provisions.

After the pilot phase, officials of central administration authorities should be trained in

the application of this methodology. During the pilot phase it will be decided from which

departments trainees are to be selected.

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Annex No. 1: Methodology for Public Consultation

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Introduction

This methodology is designed for employees of central administration authorities who are

responsible for drafting documents submitted to the Government for approval. The

methodology may also serve as guidelines for territorial self-governing units.

The subject of the methodology is to offer a description of the process aimed at involving

the public in terms of forms, identification of target groups, time requirements and

evaluation of the entire process.

The methodology defines minimum standards for public engagement in the preparation of

Government documents. It provides employees of central administration authorities with

an overview of the possibilities of engaging the public and procedures for their use.

Selection and scope of the public engagement process depend on the relevant authority

and on the actual nature of the document concerned in whose preparation the public is to

participate. On the other hand, the methodology gives the public information on what its

members may ask from the state administration sector in connection with the given

methodology.

The methodology was prepared in an effort to harmonize procedures of the state

administration sector in involving the public in the process of drafting Government

documents.

The purpose of the methodology is to ensure active participation by the general public in

outlining social developments in area that are known to have direct impact on the quality

of life and on upgrading the quality of the process of drafting Government documents.

The ultimate aim of engaging the public should be acquisition of the broadest possible

range of views on the problem under scrutiny.

Even though the submitted methodology does not have the nature of a legal regulation

and therefore is not binding in the legal sense, maximum compliance with the procedures

contained therein is recommended.

The Ministry of the Interior is responsible for the wording of the methodology. That

institution will also evaluate its efficiency. Seen in this light, all comments and

suggestions will be welcomed at this address:

Ministry of the Interior

Department of Regulatory Reform and Quality of Public Administration

nám. Hrdinů 3

140 21 Prague 4

tel.: 974 816 263

fax: 974 816 807

e-mail: orr@mvcr.cz

The current version of the methodology (in Czech and English) is available in electronic

form at this address www.mvcr.cz/konzultace

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Glossary of Terms

Public = expert and laic public – e.g. professional organizations, academia, non-state

non-profit organizations, international organizations and individuals. Public may also be

divided into “organized” – professional bodies, trade unions, hobby and special-interest

groups etc. - and “non-organized“ public – individual citizens.

Consulted subject = an individual or an organization who is to be directly or indirectly

affected by the prepared document or who has some interest in the sphere to be covered

by the submitted document.

Author of the document = Ministry and another central state administration authority

submitting a Government document. Even though the document’s author and submitting

authority may differ (document elaboration may be entrusted to an external agency), its

submitting authority invariably bears responsibility for the document’s final wording and

for the compliance with all formal matters. That also is why the methodology does not

differentiate the role of author and submitting authority.

Material submitted with the task of involving the public = document submitted to

the Government, i.e. a concept, strategy, policy, legislative proposal etc. An exception is

a document on which the Government decides in an emergency, state of threat to the

state or a state of war, for urgent reasons concerning defence or implementation of

international treaties by which the Czech Republic is bound, and in cases when the

document’s subject-matter serves to avert immediate consequences or cushion the

impact of an unpredictable event that could seriously jeopardize the population’s health,

security, property or the environment, and document in the regime “classified“,

“confidential“, “secret“ and “top secret“. Excluded from the process of involving the public

are such documents that are included in the agenda of Government meetings in the

section “Just for your information“, namely tax laws, law on the state budget, and

documents adjusting the amount of regulated prices. The last mentioned documents can

be reached by the public solely through remote access. At the same time, it is vital to

prevent leaks of classified information to unauthorized persons during the process of

engaging the public.

Requirements for public engagement = early information of the public stating that it

will be engaged in the process; requirements in terms of time and financial costs of the

process; requirements for human resources.

Process of public engagement = includes identification of subjects to be consulted and

selection of their representatives, provision of information, collection and analysis of

replies.

Types of public engagement = formal and informal; active participation, for instance

in a working group, in consultations, the comment procedure, public discussions. Each

type of method involving the public calls for a different kind of approach and is varied in

its demands in terms of time and financial costs.

Formal public engagement = concerns the highest number of subjects that should

express themselves on the actual form of a proposed document. Records of this process

are kept and then evaluated. A typical example is a public meeting or comment

procedure.

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Informal public engagement = concerns a limited number of subjects. Its aim is to

collect a spectrum of opinions on the manner of solving the given problem. It is

performed, for instance, through phone calls, surveys or e-mail enquiries.

Phases/Period of consultations = early and ongoing.

Early consultations = these are focused on the intended legislative or non-legislative

solution of a given problem. Their goal is to chart out the actual direction of the further

task elaboration. A document that serves the opening debate on its overall substance and

enables the author to decide on further procedures is elaborated for the purpose of early

consultations.

Ongoing consultations = are held during document preparation when the actual mode

of problem solving has already been decided. The number of consultations during the

drafting of document is unlimited. It depends on the nature of the document.

Questions = form an inseparable part of the document intended for consultations. They

facilitate constructive expressions of opinion on the part of the general public.

Formulation and focus of questions are left to the author’s discretion. Questions may

relate, for instance, to the substance of the problem, to stipulated goals, alternative

solutions, impact of the proposed solution. Questions are posed either directly in the text,

e.g. behind individual chapters, or in the form of a separate document. The number of

questions is not limited. Members of the public need not respond to all the questions.

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1. IDENTIFICATION OF TARGET GROUPS

1.1 The main precondition for the selection of consulted subjects is respect for the

principle of partnership, i.e. involvement of all the relevant consulted subjects.

1.2 The process of selecting consulted subjects should be transparent and justified.

1.3 When selecting consulted subjects, author of the document shall ensure that the

widest possible sample of consulted subjects is collected, securing their most

balanced representation. Group of consulted subjects should be seen as a non-

homogeneous whole consisting of different subgroups representing partial interests.

That is why all the interests identified in advance should be represented in a well-

balanced fashion.

1.4 To determine subjects to be consulted, selection is made out of the following groups:

non-state non-profit organizations,

entrepreneurs and their associations,

academic community,

state administration and local self-government,

other subjects,

laic public.

1.5 Even though the author of the document initially proceeded from certain previously

available data on the existing special-interest subjects (large employers unions,

trade unions, major hobby and special-interest groups), it is desirable to assess

whether the document will not also affect what are usually less formal or completely

unorganized groups of inhabitants, such as for instance:

children and youth,

senior citizens,

handicapped people,

ethnic, religious, sexual and other minorities,

low-income groups,

small-scale businessmen,

charity and voluntary organizations,

refugees and asylum seekers.

1.6 Sources for the selection of consulted subjects include, for instance, the Database of

Consulting Organizations (DataKO1), lists of civic associations and organizations

available on the web pages of the Ministry of the Interior2 or databases of non-profit

organizations listed in the Public Administration Portal.3

1 http://www.mvcr.cz/datako 2 http://www.mvcr.cz/rady/sdruzeni/index.html 3 http://www.evidencenno.portal.gov.cz/EvidenceNNOV10001/DesignPages/SeznamNNO.aspx

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2. FORMS OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION

2.1 The process of public engagement assumes different forms, ranging from active

participation in document preparation, via consultations with the specialist public to

discussions with broad public. The actual scope of engaging the public is left to the

discretion of the author of the document who, however, has to see to it to secure the

highest possible efficiency of the entire process.

2.2 Public engagement has its formal and informal aspects. Much depends on the

character of the prepared document and the time and financial horizon of its

preparation. Primarily informal consultations should be used in the early days of the

process of drafting the document in a bid to amass a broad spectrum of views on the

given problem and possible modes of its solution.

2.3 Before addressing a subject to be consulted, the author of the document shall always

estimate anticipated financial costs associated with the involvement of the public4

and earmark adequate funds for those purposes.

2.4 Author shall ensure that all the interested subjects have the same opportunity to get

involved. A case in point is cooperation with handicapped citizens in which case it is

necessary, for instance, to secure free access to meetings or provide sign language

interpreting.

2.5 Consulted subjects are briefed well in advance about the actual manner of their

involvement and told how demanding their participation will really be.

2.6 In a bid to inform the public about the start of its involvement in the process, the

author selects one of the following forms or their combination:

consultation5,

comment procedure,

working group,

public meetings,

official notice board – authority information board,

information material / leaflet,

addressed letter,

questionnaires, surveys,

the media.

2.7 For the application of the individual forms of involvement of the public the author shall use annex to the methodology.

4 For instance if you plan to organize a public meeting. 5 Consultation in the field of electronic communication is governed by Act No. 127/2005 Coll., on electronic communications and on change to some related laws (Electronic Communications Act), as amended by later regulations.

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3. DEADLINES

3.1 The actual length of the process of involving the public/public engagement depends

on the nature of the document and on the phase of its discussion.

3.2 Public engagement is a continuous process that needs to be started early, ideally

before the elaboration of the document itself.

3.3 The author shall inform the subject to be consulted in time that the latter is to be

involved in the process.

3.4 In case of ongoing consultations, there is a minimum deadline of 20 working days for

response.

3.5 The holding of a public deliberation is announced 21 working days in advance.

3.6 The deadline for comment procedure is guided by provisions of the Government’s

Rules of Procedure and the Government’s Legislative Rules. For materials of non-

legislative nature the deadline is 10 working days, in case of documents of legislative

character 15 working days (subject matter of a law, government decree, and public

notice) or 20 working days (law).

3.7 Author of the document shall lay down in advance the time-schedule for document

elaboration to be able to meet the deadlines given in Items 3.4 to 3.6.

3.8 If author of the document shortens the deadlines, laid down in Items 3.4 and 3. 5.,

for instance due to urgent need to solve a given problem he shall state this fact

complete with justification in the document submitted to the Government. In case of

shortened deadline pursuant to Item 3.6. author of the document shall proceed

according to the provisions of the Government’s Rules of Procedure and the

Government’s Legislative Rules. At the same time, he shall consider the use of other

forms of involving the public in the process, e.g. informal consultations. However, he

shall always see to it to make consultations as efficient as possible.

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4. MATERIALS FOR PUBLIC CONSULTATION

4.1 Material designed to engage the public in the process shall be formulated clearly and

comprehensibly.

4.2 Material shall always contain an annex with a list of abbreviations used in the text

with explanations.

4.3 Author of the document shall avoid using professional jargon. Technical terms shall

be used only in cases where their use is necessary with a view to the nature of the

document and they shall always be duly explained.

4.4 A document6 containing the following items shall be drawn up for the purpose of

early consultations:

reasons, goals and benefits of the prepared document,

instruments for solution,

envisaged impacts, complete with requirements for funds and human resources,

time-schedule for the elaborated document,

communication strategy (whom to consult, how, when, where, why could problems

arise).

4.5. Material destined for ongoing consultations shall always be accessible on web pages

designed for that particular purpose and shall contain the following particulars:

draft document,

brief summary of the document’s main points covering 1 - 2 pages7,

description of the performance of consultations with the public,

deadlines for response,

contact persons,

list of questions to which consulted subjects are expected to respond.

4.6 Author shall always check whether the questions to which members of the public are

expected to respond are clearly formulated and correctly target-oriented.

4.7 Material designed for the comment procedure shall be published in a manner

facilitating remote access. Its particulars are set out in the Government’s Rules of

Procedure and in the Government’s Legislative Rules.

6 When elaborating this document, procedures are governed pursuant to the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) Guidelines. 7 This summary will make it easier for the consulted subject to decide whether to express its view on the document concerned or not. Such a summary may be replaced by presenting / explanatory report.

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5. EVALUATION PROCESS OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION

5.1 Author of the document shall always set a date for the end of consultations with the

public.

5.2 Author of the document shall always brief the public in advance that some of the

comments and questions will not be answered. This concerns especially those that

failed to respond to the matters relating to the given material or topic or those

containing vulgar expressions.

5.3 When evaluating the comments received, author of the document shall devote

special attention to those comments that:

single out additional impacts of the document,

offer new approaches to the problem under scrutiny.

5.4 After consultations, acting on the strength of the comments and stimuli received,

author of the document shall:

compile a comprehensive report on the performance of consultations, featuring an

overview of consulted subjects and a method of handling comments8,

publish final version of the document on websites designed for that particular

purpose, including a comprehensive report on the outcome of the consultations.

5.5 The actual deadline for the evaluation of consultations shall be fixed by author of the

document.

5.6 The results of public consultations are part and parcel of the document submitted to

the Government. If a subject has been left out of consultations, author of the

document shall justify that omissison in the document.

8 If, during consultations, a serious problem has been identified or additional impact detected, without having been taken into account in the document, author of the document should justify his decision.

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6. INSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS FOR PUBLIC CONSULTATION

6.1 The Ministry of the Interior monitors and evaluates the process of public engagement

in terms of its efficiency, techniques of involvement, its intensity and impact on the

final shape of the document.

6.2 Once a year, the Ministry of the Interior submits to the Government a report on the

process of public engagement, publishing it on the web pages selected for that

particular purpose.

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Annex No. 2: Forms of Public Engagement

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Consultations

These are held in various phases of document preparation. In the early stage of

document preparation, consultations are held to discuss the actual substance of the

legislative or non-legislative solution concerned, to give the author a specific task or to

respond to an emerging problem. Early consultations help author of the document in

defining the problem in hand and suitable instruments for solution. This type of

consultations ranks among informal methods of involving the public, and that is why

these are often called informal consultations. As a rule, they assume the form of advice.

As part of informal consultations it is preferable to address a smaller group of subjects

because an expert opinion or position is expected to result from such consultations.

Records from informal consultations usually come in the shape of a simple statement

claiming that the document has been consulted with specialists in the given branch. A

document given in Item 4.4 is elaborated for the purpose of early consultations.

Consultations during document preparation serve the purpose of ongoing verification

whether the document’s s substance as outlined at the beginning of the process has been

correctly elaborated. These consultations are formal and involve the task of addressing

the biggest possible number of subjects. A more detailed record is made on formal

consultations, reviewing who was engaged in the process and how, what were the most

frequently received comments and suggestions, and how did author of the document

respond to them.

The Internet is usually used for formal consultations.

Internet

The author of the document publishes all the information on the material under

preparation on web pages designed for that particular purpose, giving the following data

in particular:

� timetable for document elaboration,

� list of consulted subjects,

� eventual composition of working group – a universal e-mail address9 shall be

given as contact data,

� date of public meetings,

� brief summary of the main points of the document covering 1 - 2 pages (stating

what is the gist of the document, what are its goals, and what will be its impacts),

� rules for submitting comments and suggestions,

� deadline for sending in comments,

� related legislation of the Czech Republic and the EU,

� comment sheet - complete with information where to send eventual comments (e-

mail, fax, postal address),

� document’s ongoing working versions including questions members of the public

9 For instance, posta@...cz

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are expected to answer,

� contact data for eventual enquiries (e-mail),

� visibly designated topical version of the document10,

� comprehensive report on the performance of consultations, featuring an overview

of consulted subjects, method of handling comments,

� final version of the document.

Documents for consultation are published, for instance, in the formats: .pdf, .doc or .xls,

eventually in tables and charts.

Author of the document should combine the method of publishing the document on the

Internet with some other modes of involving the public - e.g. paying heed to citizens

without regular access to the Internet.

Electronic Discussion / Discussion Forums

Internet discussion / forum / may also be held on the document. Its conclusions may be

taken into consideration, and such debates may be publicly advertised. This will open up

space for the expression of views of the broadest possible laic unorganized public.

Debate is always held on a single specific topic or material.

Contributions sent in to the debate are automatically displayed on the web pages, being

simultaneously sent to the e-mail box of the moderator of the given discussion. Entries

that do not reflect the given topic or that contain vulgar expressions may be removed by

the moderator of the debate. It is also at the moderator’s discretion whether to answer

entries directly by e-mail.

Comment Procedure

This is guided by the Government’s s Rules of Procedure and the Government’s

Legislative Rules.

Working Group

Working Group should be set up at the beginning of the process and engaged already in

the process of identifying subjects to be consulted. This involves primarily the

establishment of a team that will meet regularly and discharge the tasks given below.

Working group should be made up of the following:

� officials representing author of the document,

� representatives of consulted subjects (depending on the document’s character),

� representatives of state administration and local self-government.

The number of members of a working group is not limited. In terms of efficiency of its

work, optimum number is between 8 to 12 members.

10 Including data on the date of publication of this version.

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The aim of working group includes:

� to analyze the problem in hand,

� to find possible alternative solutions to the problem,

� to recommend implementation of corrective measures,

� to discuss the individual phases of the process,

� to check and handle public comments and suggestions.

Basic rules for the establishment and management of a working group:

� the goal of working group - complete with the scope of its work, rights and

responsibilities - is clearly stipulated,

� relationship between working group and author of the document and the scope of

author’s obligations in terms of rules for accepting recommendations of the

working group are clearly given beforehand,

� membership of the working group corresponds to its overall goal,

� adequate sources needed to finance and support the activities of the working

group are clearly delineated (administrative support, financial means etc.),

� members of the working group have the same access to information as the author

of the document (on request information shall be provided to everyone).

Public Meeting

Public meeting is a meeting attended by the author of the document with a greater

number of consulted subjects. Its purpose is to provide basic information on clearly

defined problem, public feedback and collection of comments and suggestions. This

particular form may be utilized in different phases of the process. Public hearings, public

debates and seminars are regarded as public meetings.

Key steps to organize a public meeting:

� select a suitable topic for public meeting corresponding to the scope of the entire document or its selected thematic fields,

� clearly determine the purpose of public meeting (when stipulating its goal it is necessary realistically to assess what can be achieved in the limited time available),

� set - well in advance - suitable time and date (usually on a working day after working hours, Fridays and days before holidays are not particularly suitable),

� fix a suitable venue for meeting,

� prepare an invitation and agenda of public meeting facilitating sufficient time for discussion,

� secure a suitable and experienced moderator11 of the discussion (independent and unbiased) who will be able to conduct the debate in an efficient and non-confrontational fashion,

11 This involves the so-called facilitator, i.e. an expert authorized to moderate discussion / panel / dialogue. His or her role lies in leading the debate, hence he is she is responsible for the course of the process but not the content.

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� secure technical and organizational provisions of the selected premises (overhead projector / dataprojector, screen, desk including notepads and pencils, sounding, refreshment, minutes or sound recording, administrative backup, registration of participants, complete with lists of attendees etc.),

� prepare backgrounders (detailed agenda, information material on the given document under discussion etc.) and tell the public where they can be accessed,

� inform the media well in advance,

� ensure collection of comments and suggestions, inform the public how their comments and suggestions will be handled, complete with the way of accessing them. It is suitable to enable citizens to submit their comments and suggestions at least for a period of two weeks after the holding of the given public meeting.

Public Hearings

Form of briefing about the problem without the possibility of direct inputs by the public.

The recommended number of participants in the panel is approximately five. Moderator

only hands over the floor to the individual participants in the panel. An advantage of this

particular form of public meeting is that it is simple and relatively cheap. Its key

disadvantage is the non-existence of any feedback.

Public Discussions

Public discussion is attended by representatives of the author of the document who

explain the pertinent problem to the citizens. At the same time, citizens are free to enter

the process actively by asking questions. On this occasion, the moderator is cast more in

the role of a facilitator who has either been selected by the public (in case a public

discussion has been convened by the public) or an administrative authority (author of the

document).

Seminars

These are suitable for a more detailed analysis of the individual problem areas. After

initial information provided at the plenary session, participants break up into thematically

focused working groups, and at the end of the gathering the conclusions of each working

group are presented to the entire plenary meeting again. When dividing participants into

smaller working groups, it is advisable to keep the relevant number of debaters in each

group to (e.g. 7 - 15 persons). In case of coping with a more complex problem, working

groups may meet regularly for a period of several months. After the work of the

individual groups, their results are presented to the whole plenary session (for instance

presenting the outcome to the participating citizens at the next public meeting).

Seminars may ensure a more open exchange of ideas and may also be focused on a

specific target group. At the regular meetings of working groups, it is vital to secure

feedback to the citizens on the output of the individual working groups. Another

possibility is to organize seminars in the shape of round tables. In this case, experts from

different branches, which are concerned with the elaboration of the given document, are

usually addressed and invited. As a result, they have an opportunity to express their

views on the pertinent document in the individual stages of the process in a smaller

group.

Official Notice Board – Authority’s Information Board12

Official notice board is a suitable information tool for ongoing information on the

individual phases of the process, especially for citizens without access to the Internet.

12 The term kiosk is sometimes used as well.

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When posting up information on an official notice board, it is vital to pay heed to the

topical nature of the provided information, its comprehensibility and simplicity. The text

to be published should be adjusted to the purpose of the official notice board, i.e. by

shortening the text, appropriately structuring it, highlighting important passages in

colour or adding headlines in between chapters etc. Since each authority uses a greater

number of official notice boards, information is recommended to be posted up on all of

them.

Information Material / Leaflet

Information material containing brief outline on each phase of the process (e.g. a digest

of the proposed visions, priorities, goals and measures) is suitable for providing basic

information on the actual purpose and content of public involvement. It is recommended

to provide this brief outline in printed form, for instance at the registry of a public

authority for free use, to be distributed at seminars or conferences. It may be published

in an electronic form on the authority’s web pages or sent by e-mail. As for the media,

they should be told where this particular brief information is available.

Addressed Letter

If we want to address selected subjects to be consulted directly and secure their

participation it is appropriate to use the form of addressed letter. This may be employed

when organizing a public meeting, a working group etc. In an addressed letter the

addressee should be asked to confirm his or her participation. This particular method is

suitable for use when addressing key participants in a given meeting.

Questionnaires, Surveys

This method is suitable if we want to obtain representative answers to a final number of

questions. However, it is crucial to lay major accent on the actual formulation of queries

to make sure they are clear, comprehensible, preventing the possibility of dual

interpretation etc. A questionnaire should first be tested on a small group of respondents.

Even though services of renowned agencies may also be used for surveys and

investigations, it is always necessary to take into consideration enhanced costs of

document elaboration.

Media

Depending on the serious nature of the document under preparation, it is advisable,

already at the start of the process, to issue a press release on the decision to launch work

on the relevant document. It is important to state references where the public may find

more detailed information.

Articles on the given issues should be published primarily in specialized periodicals – in

most cases readers have an opportunity to respond in writing – their comments and

suggestions need not be stimulating only for the author of the document but also for the

subjects already involved in the process.