Overview
The Public Consultation Platform, Istitlaa, enables members of the public, the private sector, and government entities to provide feedback on draft laws, regulations, and similar instruments related to economic and development affairs. Feedback may be submitted during the consultation period specified for each project and before the project completes its approval process.
Feedback may support the proposed project, object to some or all of its provisions, propose amendments to its wording, recommend the addition of new provisions, or suggest the removal of certain provisions. Participants should explain the reasons for their views, the expected impacts, and any proposed alternatives.
The Platform allows participants to submit general feedback on a project as a whole. It also allows feedback to be submitted on a specific article, clause, or section where the government entity has published the project provisions in detail on the project page.
These guidelines are intended to help participants submit clear, constructive, and impactful feedback. Effective feedback enables government entities to better understand the needs of the intended groups, assess the potential impacts of proposed projects, and improve the quality of laws, regulations, and similar instruments before they are approved.
Detailed Guidelines
- Read the draft law, regulation, regulatory document, and any accompanying materials carefully. Make sure you understand its objectives, scope of application, provisions, and intended groups before submitting your feedback.
- Where you identify ambiguity in a provision or part of the project, specify the source of the ambiguity, explain its impact, and propose clearer wording where possible.
- Identify the article, clause, paragraph, or text to which your feedback relates. Where a dedicated field is available, submit the feedback in that field rather than including it under the general feedback section.
- Use the general feedback field where your comments relate to the project as a whole, its objective, its scope of application, or a matter that is not linked to a specific article or provision.
- Where you have feedback on more than one issue or provision, submit a separate entry for each issue. This makes it easier for the government entity to review, respond to, and determine the appropriate action for each point.
- Write clearly and concisely. Avoid broad or rhetorical statements that do not clearly explain the issue, the proposed solution, or the expected impact.
- Be as concise as possible without omitting the information and detail required to understand and assess the feedback. Each submission must not exceed the Platform limit of 5,000 characters.
- Explain the reasons for your support or objection and provide relevant data, evidence, examples, or practical experience to support your position.
- Base your reasoning on sound logic, scientific or practical evidence, objective data, and verifiable information.
- Explain how the proposed provision may affect you, your organisation, your sector, or the group you represent, whether positively or negatively. Where possible, describe the nature and scale of that impact.
- Where feasible, propose alternative wording or a practical solution, and explain how the alternative would achieve the project objective more efficiently or with fewer adverse effects.
- Review the feedback already published on the project before submitting your own to avoid duplication. Where you have additional information, evidence, or impacts to add, submit them in a separate feedback entry rather than repeating the published text.
- Use clear, professional, and balanced language. Avoid offensive or inappropriate wording, allegations, personal data, confidential information, or any content that breaches the Istitlaa Platform Participation Rules.
- Participation in a public consultation is not a voting process. Government entities do not make decisions solely on the number of submissions supporting or opposing a proposal. Each submission is assessed on its content, reasoning, evidence, impacts, and proposed alternatives.
- One well-supported submission based on evidence, data, and analysis may have greater impact than a large number of submissions that merely express support or opposition without providing reasons or additional information.
Standardised Feedback
Some participants may use standard templates or identical wording to express support for, or opposition to, a project or proposed provision. They may assume that submitting a large number of identical entries constitutes a vote on the project, or that a greater number of supporting or opposing entries will necessarily lead to the proposal being accepted or rejected.
However, the consultation process is not a voting exercise, and regulatory decisions are not based solely on the number of identical submissions. The relevant government entity considers the substance of each submission, the strength of its reasoning, the quality of the evidence and data provided, and the impacts and alternatives it sets out.
Repeating the same text without providing new reasons, information, or impacts does not add substantive value to the review process. Participants are therefore encouraged not to rely solely on standardised wording, but to explain how the project may affect them, their organisation, their sector, or the group they represent.
Disclaimer
These guidelines provide general guidance to help participants prepare clear and effective feedback on draft laws, regulations, and similar instruments published through the Istitlaa Platform. No part of these guidelines should be regarded as legal advice or legal counsel.