December 12, 2012 Vitaliy Bigdai, ICPS

1. In what ways do public consultations in
Ukraine differ from European
standards?
Vitaliy Bigdai
ICPS
December 12, 2012

2. Contents
Requirements for holding consultations
Document quality
Stages of consultation
Identifying who should participate
Analysis and the use of proposals
Conclusions

3. Requirements for holding consultations
The European Union has developed the principles and
standards for consultations with stakeholders and interest
groups:
– White Book on European government and
– Communication of the EC on the general principles and basic
standards for consultation.
Ukraine has instituted a regulatory base for holding
consultations with stakeholders that is based on EU
standards. But the requirements and the procedures are
either only paid lip service or are ignored altogether.

4. Document quality
EU standards require that consultations start only after a document has
been prepared that clearly and understandably presents:
– What exactly is the purpose of the proposed initiatives, reforms or regulations;
– Arguments in support of it, information about existing legislation and the
reasons it needs to be changed;
– Who is likely to feel the impact of the policy;
– Who will be involved in the consultation process;
– What kinds of issues will be raised and what is the timeframe for responses.
In Ukraine, such public documents either do not meet EU standards or they
do not properly meet the requirements for such a document, such as:
having a clear list of stakeholders, who stands to lose or gain, an evaluation
of the impact.

5. Stages of consultation
The EU approach is based on holding consultations at that
stage of the process when holding consultations can
actually influence the making of policy.
– At the public hearings, Green Papers are presented, draft concepts,
strategies, analytical justifications, and documents that are in the
process of being drafted.
– At this stage, interested parties can still influence the formulation
of the main goals, approaches and indicators for such a state policy
to be carried out.
In Ukraine, more often than not, final drafts of policies are
brought out for “discussion.”

6. Identifying who should participate
EU standards state that the subjects of such consultations are
target groups.
– The agency holding the consultations identifies all the necessary target
groups prior to the consultations and actively disseminates the document
being discussed among them, along with some questions, then collects their
comments and propositions.
– For instance, target groups for consultations regarding a revision of VAT
rates are: transnational companies, major corporations, SMEs, national
associations, all-European associations, NGOs, tax specialists, voters,
scholars, and others.
– The society knows who is involved in these consultations and how they are
acting.
In Ukraine, such consultations generally involve a vaguely defined
“public.”

7. Analysis and the use of proposals
EU standards require that the results of the consultations be
analyzed and described.
– An analysis of the results of the public discussion is published, along with a
list of participants and their propositions.
– Summaries of responses are analyzed as received from various target
groups, explanations are provided as to which propositions were ultimately
used, which ones were rejected and why, and what decisions were made as
a result of the consultations.
– The results of the consultations are the basis for clarifying and reworking
the document that was presented for public discussion.
In Ukraine, proposals are collected but are impossible to analyze
by target group. Proposals are often rejected without a proper
explanation.

8. Conclusions
The fundamental differences lie in the
approaches to:
– Document quality for the consultations;
– Stages of consultation;
– Identifying who should participate;
– Analysis and the use of proposals.