Openness is a central goal in Finnish legislative drafting. Consultation is an established part of the ministries' legislative drafting process. The goal is to promote the possibilities of the most important stakeholders to take part in the preparatory drafting or to hear their views at the beginning of the drafting through requests for comments, hearings or discussion meetings. Stakeholders mean in this context experts, organisations, businesses and also the citizens.

Through consultation with stakeholders, the drafters and decision-makers can gather expert and empirical views as well as opinions on the impacts of the proposed regulation on different target groups. A well planned and implemented consultation process promotes effective drafting and decision-making. It also makes it easier to enforce the regulations, because the stakeholders have been informed about the regulations and their objectives during the consultation. The stakeholders are heard also in the Parliament in the Committee debate.

Provisions on consultation and participation are included in the Constitution, the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Language Act.

In consultation with the stakeholders both traditional hearing methods, such as written comments, and modern information and communication technology can be used. The choice of the method depends on the situation and the target group. It is recommended that several different methods for consultation are used during the drafting process to ensure as extensive consultation as possible.

Preparatory body

For a legislative project, the Government or the ministries may appoint a temporary preparatory body, which consists of stakeholders, experts in the field and political decision-makers. The preparatory bodies can be committees, commissions, advisory boards or working groups. The advantage of a broad-based preparatory body is that the different views and interests will be present throughout the whole drafting process.

Requests for comments

The most common consultation method is a written request for comments, by which the ministry asks the stakeholders to comment the matter at hand, e.g. a working group report, a background report or a draft Bill. The request for comment should be sent as extensively as possible to all parties concerned and whose expertise is needed in the drafting.

Hearings

The stakeholders can be heard in discussion meetings. In these meetings the drafters can present the content of the legislative proposal and the stakeholders have the opportunity to express their opinions and discuss the proposal.

On-line discussions

The Finnish state administration discussion forum at www.otakantaa.fi provides an opportunity for all citizens to comment on planned or on-going projects, legislative reforms or other current issues being drafted within the public administration.

Consultation in legislative drafting: Guidelines