The DTI consults with business, employees, voluntary organisations and individual consumers when making representations on behalf of the UK Government to the European Commission. 

The DTI is committed to ensuring UK organisations have all the information needed to understand the UK Government position it is discussing with the Commission.  Please do ask DTI staff if you cannot find the information on the DTI website.

Businesses from other EU countries are active in getting their voice heard.  UK businesses and voluntary organisations are active too, but can do more to get their messages across.  Key actions include:

• responding to DTI consultations on EU proposals to enable the UK to represent UK concerns effectively to the European Commission
  
• sending your views to the relevant European Trade Association or Non-Governmental Organisation(NGO). The views of a European wide organisation are usually taken as the views of an entire sector and as such are extremely influential. They tend to be based in Brussels and have established links with the Commission. 
  

Bear in mind:

• The Commission wants to know the views of UK citizens, businesses and other organisations, not just the views of governments of Member States
• MEPs value contact from businesses, organisations and individuals based within the region in which they were elected
• Representations containing views spanning several Member States are especially persuasive
• It is important to let the UK Government and European Commission know when you do support a proposal as well as when you have concerns.  Otherwise they will not be able to gauge fully the range of views.
• Remember formal consultation is usually preceded by a long period of policy development, during which the Commission will often test its evolving ideas informally with key stakeholders.  You should be alert to opportunities to influence this process, by keeping in close touch with the DTI, building your own networks, and encouraging your trade association or NGO to engage with the Commission.  
  

Respond to EU consultations

There are several ways to find EU consultations:

Go to the page on the DTI website http://www.dti.gov.uk/ewt
which lists some of the main EU consultations and DTI responses 

• Sign up to a mailing list on the EU website to receive information about forthcoming EU consultations http://europa.eu.int/yourvoice/index_en.htm
• Go to the EU website single access point http://europa.eu.int/yourvoice/consultations/index_en.htm which links to all sites where consultations are listed.
• Link from the list below
  
  
• Competition
• Consumers
• Customs
• Economy
• Employment
• Energy
• Enterprise
• Environment
• IT
• Internal markets
• Regional policy
• Research
• Taxation
• Trade
  

Write to the European Commission

In addition to sending your views to the DTI and a relevant European trade body or non-governmental organisations, you can write directly to the European Commission. When writing to the European Commission:

·        Provide evidence of the costs and other impacts to support your argument

·        Alert the officials to unintended consequences of policy proposals

·        If you have concerns about a proposal, support your argument by demonstrating how the proposals will impact negatively on EU policies, for example, not promote employment, not open up markets, undermine our competitiveness globally, disproportionately affect small businesses, not comply with the equality legal base in the Treaty of the European Union

·        Provide feedback on the assumptions in Impact Assessment which the Commission is obliged to undertake at an early stage

·        You do not have to submit a lengthy report.   A letter written on your organisation’s letterhead briefly summarising your key concerns is more than adequate.  You may also want to refer to other submissions or reports you agree with.  

·        Before writing your response you could contact a sister organisation or network in another EU Member State to see if they have responded and possibly build on their arguments

·        Copy your submission to others – see below

You could consider copying your submission to:

·        The MEP who is writing the EP report on the draft legislation (known as the rapporteur).  She or he will be interested in your views, even if from another member state.  You can find their name at http://www.europarl.eu.int/committees/home_en.htm. 

·        Organisations with an interest in other EU member states

·        Organisations which the Commission regular meets – these are listed in the CONECCS database at http://europa.eu.int/comm/civil_society/coneccs/organe_consultatif/question_cb.cfm?CL=en

·        Lobbyists accredited by the European Parliament http://www2.europarl.eu.int/lobby/lobby.jsp?lng=en

In addition to writing to the relevant Commissioner or DG, it is usually worthwhile to contact the Commission official who is directly responsible for the particular policy (known as a dossier).  They will value talking to people with experience at the sharp-end.   

Join the European Business Test Panel

UK businesses could consider joining the European Test Panel.  The panel is managed by the European Commission and seeks to improve consultation with businesses. Once you have registered you will be contacted by email, asking for your views on:

Specific policy proposals

• Existing legislation and how it might be simplified
• The Commission is committed to taking account of all views submitted.  Each consultation should take no longer than 30 minutes and there are between 6 and 8 consultations per year.

For further information can be found at:

http://europa.eu.int/yourvoice/ebtp/faqs/index_en.htm

http://www.dti.gov.uk/ewt/ebtp/

Register to participate on the panel at:

http://europa.eu.int/yourvoice/ebtp/signup/index_en.htm

Provide feedback on how EU policies work in practice

In addition to responding to EU consultations, the Commission welcomes feedback on how Member States have implemented directives and on how EU policies work in practice. 

Under the Interactive Policy Making initiative, when citizens or businesses seek information and advice from a variety of organisations including Euro Info Centres, Citizens Advice Bureaux, and European Consumer Centres, anonymous case reports are fed back to the Commission.  

http://europa.eu.int/yourvoice/ipm

Collection of opinions from EU citizens

The European Commission also monitors public opinion by undertaking surveys and studies.  Known as Eurobarometer, all its data can be found at:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/index_en.htm

Complaints about EU consultations

The European Commission has a code of practice which aims to reinforce a culture of consultation and dialogue. It sets out general principles and minimum standards which include:

• To consult as widely as possible those affected by the policy, those involved in its implementation and organisations with a direct interest in the policy
• To provide clear and concise information about the consultation and be transparent about the consultation processes for policy development
• To list all consultations on a single point on the Commission website and all consultations to be published in full on the EU website
• To provide 8 weeks for submission of responses and 20 working days notice for meetings
• To acknowledge receipt of all responses to consultations
• To publish the results of consultations on the EU website

A full copy of the code on consultations can be found at

http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2002/com2002_0704en01.pdf

If you wish to make a comment or complaint about a consultation, please write to:

Secretariat General

Commission of the European Communities

Rue de la Loi 200

B – 1049 Brussels

Belgium

Email: sg-info@cec.eu.int

www.europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general

Alternatively you can use the standard complaint form which can be found at http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/sgb/lexcomm/index_en.htm