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 may express their opinion at every stage of legislative work and after its completion:

• The first concept - action plans and inception impact assessment. The Commission provides initial ideas and an outline of planned strategies and regulations. The stakeholders have 4 weeks to comment.
• Main public consultations - before submitting the draft to the European Parliament and the EU Council, the Commission prepares a questionnaire to be filled in. The stakeholders have 12 weeks to comment.
• Legislative proposals submitted for consideration by the Parliament and the Council - the opinions submitted are forwarded by the Commission to the Parliament and the Council. The stakeholders have 8 weeks to comment.
• Draft delegated and implementing acts - the EC also consults on the introduction of updates or implementation rules for legal acts adopted by the Parliament and the Council (technical regulations and updates). The stakeholders have 4 weeks to comment.

 Evaluations and fitness checks of applicable regulations - the European Commission conducts evaluations and checks of the functioning of regulations in various areas, as a result of which it publishes action plans and preliminary impact assessments, similarly to the first concept. The public partners have 4 weeks to comment.

• Administrative burdens in the existing regulations - the European Commission encourages to propose changes in the EU law in order to simplify the regulations and reduce the resulting administrative barriers. Stakeholders can submit comments on an ongoing basis. See also information about the Platform Fit for Future below.

How it's working? Click here to watch the video.

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.

The Commission tries to publish as much information as possible in all EU languages. Public consultation questionnaires for new initiatives listed in the Commission's Annual Work Program are usually available in 23 languages. The remaining questionnaires are available in at least English, French and German. Comments and opinions can be submitted in any EU language.

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 analyzed 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 Minstry of Economic and Development and Technology representative).

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.