Stakeholder involvement in impact assessments
4.2.2013
Question for written answer E-001130-13
to the Commission
Rule 117
Silvana Koch-Mehrin (ALDE)
In line with the Commission’s policy of transparency, better regulation and openness towards civil society and stakeholder involvement, impact assessments are an essential tool to ensure effective and efficient policy-making.
The Commission Guidelines on Impact Assessments of 15 January 2009 (especially their Chapter 4, on ‘Gathering information and consulting stakeholders’[1]) underline the importance of exchanges with the public and interested parties for developing public policies.
These guidelines state amongst other things that stakeholders should be consulted in a timely manner and that all stakeholders affected by a policy or involved in its implementation should be heard. It also says that sufficient time should be allowed for participation and that 20 working days’ notice should be given for meetings.
In a stakeholder workshop on the Commission’s proposal on implementing measures for the Fuel Quality Directive which took place on 20 December 2012, many of these guidelines were not sufficiently respected. Participants complained about the short notice period (approximately 2 working weeks) and the unfortunate timing (last working day before the Christmas break, which prevented people from many Member States from attending in person). Also, initially stakeholders were given only until 11 January 2013 to provide written contributions, although the 2009 guidelines suggest a timeframe of eight weeks.
In this context, could the Commission clarify how far the impact assessment guidelines are actually observed by its services?
Also, a number of relevant stakeholders complained that they had not received an invitation to the workshop. What are the criteria for who receives such invitations?
To what extent are the result of stakeholder conferences taken into account in the subsequent policy formulations?
Could the Commission provide a comprehensive overview of impact assessments and stakeholder conferences for 2012, as well as a chronology regarding compliance with the impact assessment guidelines in the above stakeholder consultation procedures?
- [1] http://ec.europa.eu/governance/impact/commission_guidelines/docs/iag_2009_en.pdf
OJ C 361 E, 11/12/2013