In the public consultations conducted by the European Commission (EC) everybody can comment on the scope of new initiatives and existing legislation, their priorities and the added value of EU action in a given field.

Stakeholders  can express their opinion in the so-called call for evidence and public consultations.
At the end of 2021, the European Commission, accepting the demands of stakeholders, simplified the public consultation system.
The system is no longer divided into stages. The call for evidence has been combined with a public consultation. The entire process takes 12 weeks.

• Call for evidence  - stakeholders have the opportunity to submit general comments, opinions and views on the presented document, e.g. a draft legal act.
• Public consultations - partners complete a questionnaire that contains detailed questions and is formal in nature. During consultations, the Commission  looks for evidence and data in a specific case.

The system has been designed in such a way that the Commission  can flexibly select tools depending on its needs:

•  As a rule, a call for evidence is combined with consultations (duration 12 weeks) applies.
• The Commission  may organize a call for evidence earlier (duration 4 weeks) and public consultations at a later stage (duration 12 weeks),
• In some cases it is allowed to organize only a call for comments (duration 4 weeks),
• It is also possible to organize only public consultations (duration 12 weeks).

The call for evidence documents and consultation questionnaires are translated into all EU languages.

 

How it's working? Watch an animation about public consultation in the EU.

Opinions in consultations can be expressed by various organizations as well as individuals.

The Commission runs its own web portal entirely dedicated to consultations. To take part in the consultation, you need to register and log in to the EU login system. You can also submit comments from your social media account.

The Commission publishes the opinions received, provided that they comply with the rules for posting opinions. The submitter can choose whether he wants the review to be published under his name (organization name) or anonymously. The questionnaires completed as part of the main consultations are not published. The EC presents collective information from these surveys in the justification of the project.

Organizations and persons involved in lobbying are invited to register within the EU Transparency Register.

You can submit your proposal on the "Have your say! Simplify!".

To submit a proposal, you must register and log into the EU login system. The Commission publishes the opinions received, provided that they comply with the rules for posting opinions. The submitter can choose whether he wants the review to be published under his name (organization name) or anonymously.

All the proposals submitted so far can be found on the main page “Have your say! Simplify!".

The proposals are analysed by the Fit for Future Platform, which has the right to make recommendations to the Commission in this regard.

The Platform consists of a group of stakeholders and a government group (representatives of the Member States - Poland is represented by the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology).

The Platform prepares an opinion consisting of the opinion of the group of stakeholders and the government group on the possibility of implementing the submitted applications and recommends appropriate actions to the Commission.

The Platform does not take into consideration  proposals relating to:

• draft legal acts during the legislative procedure,
• EU legal acts that entered into force less than two years ago,
• planned or ongoing consultations with stakeholders,
•  the area of the responsibility of the Member States or the implementation of EU law in a particular Member State.