EU Proposals

Consultation

Informal consultation with those likely to be affected by a proposal will inform your range of options and their costs and benefits, at all stages of the policy development process. However, you also need to consult formally at certain stages and there are many advantages of doing this. The Consultation section shows you how to carry out a good consultation exercise.

Formal consultation on European proposals – negotiating options

You should aim to start the process of public consultation as soon as a proposal is communicated to the European Parliament and Council in the Official Journal, using your partial RIA to help inform the consultation, and then updating it based on the results obtained. Although your informal contacts will have given you a great deal of information, you may find that open consultation of this kind will highlight unexpected or previously unconsidered consequences.

You will normally be able to complete your consultation in the 12-week UK minimum period, but if the speed of negotiations on the proposal means this is not possible, you should highlight this in your consultation document.

You should also consider using different methods of consultation, for example public meetings, or production of a leaflet, to ensure that you are reaching the widest possible audience. In this case, use the results of your informal contacts to supplement the information gained during open consultation as necessary.

Whilst striving for maximum openness and transparency in the process, there may be occasions where a judgement needs to be made about the level or nature of information published in the RIA due either to commercial sensitivity, or the desire to retain the confidentiality of a negotiating position. In such cases seek advice from your DRIU, who will contact the Cabinet Office RIU, the European Secretariat or UKRep, as appropriate.

Formal consultation on European proposals – implementing options

Once a Directive has been agreed you need to refocus your RIA in order to set out the options for implementation. You should aim to consult formally on these options at this stage, attaching your RIA to the consultation document.

Formal consultation on draft implementing legislation

When you have drafted your implementing regulations (and gained Cabinet clearance) you will need to consult on them, following the steps outlined in consultation section.

For further guidance on drafting see the Transposition Guide or contact Cabinet Office Legal Advisers.