PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS : COMMISSION EXTENDS DEADLINE TO 12 WEEKS, CREATES ALERT SERVICE.

From 1 January, the European Commission gives citizens, businesses and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at least 12 weeks to comment on plans for new policies and legislation, compared to eight weeks previously. The Commission has also introduced an alert service for upcoming initiatives: organisations that sign up to the Transparency Register can subscribe to this alert service to get early information on the road maps for new initiatives in their fields of interest about one year before their adoption.

Expert groups are the EU executive's most widely used consultation forum. Back in February 2011, several MEPs criticised the EU executive's expert groups for their unbalanced composition favouring big business and their lack of transparency. With these two new initiatives, the Commission hopes that participation in its consultations, especially from those groups which up until now have been underrepresented, will increase.a"By keeping our consultations open longer we will strengthen the voice of the citizens, businesses and...