Register of Civil Society Proposals (RO0052)

Register of civil society proposals
2018-2020 Lead implementing agency/actor Ministry of Transport (MT), Directorate of Communication, Relations with Trade Unions, Employers and Non-Governmental Organizations What is the public problem that the commitment will address? At present, although the provisions of Law no. 52/2003, republished, allow the participation of civil society in the decision-making process in the public administration, the number of proposals received from its representatives is relatively low Commitment description What is the commitment? On the website of the Ministry of Transport, http://www.mt.gov.ro, a section will be published for the proposals received from the civil society regarding draft normative acts initiated by the ministry. The section will be periodically updated with documents received from civil society. How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem? By publishing the Registry, civil society representatives will be able to verify whether the proposals have been received, what is the registration number as well as the arguments of the specialized departments for the non-accepted amendments. Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? The major objective is to encourage civil society to participate in the decision-making process in the public administration by submitting proposals / comments on draft normative acts. Milestone activity with a verifiable deliverable Responsible agency / partner Start Date: End Date: Development of the section Register of Proposals MT 2018 Uploading proposals received from civil society MT 2018 2018 Updating with new proposals received from civil society MT 2018 2020

5. Register of civil society proposals

Commitment Text: "On the website of the Ministry of Transport, http://www.mt.gov.ro, a section will be published for the proposals received from the civil society regarding draft normative acts initiated by the ministry. The section will be periodically updated with documents received from civil society."

Milestones:

1. • Development of the section Register of Proposals
   • Uploading proposals received from civil society
   • Updating with new proposals received from civil society

Start Date: 2018 ...............................................

End Date: 2020

Editorial Note: The commitment text is abridged. The full text can be found in the OGP 2018-2020 national action plan.

Context and Objectives

According to an interviewed representative of the Ministry of Transport (MoT), from the approximately 240 draft normative acts placed yearly by MoT under consultation, only 10 receive sufficient public feedback, while the rest receive none or too little. Moreover, without a public Register of Proposals (RP), it is difficult for MoT to prove it has responded to all the feedback it received, "a situation that unnecessarily lends itself to suspicion and confusion." [53] With this commitment, MoT aims to publish such a registry to allow civil society to verify whether their proposals have been received, under which registration number, as well as see the arguments of the specialized departments for the nonaccepted amendments. The commitment therefore is relevant to the OGP values of access to information and civil participation. The milestones are specific enough to be verifiable.

MoT uses visualization metrics for each draft normative act as well as the number of proposals received as metrics for the impact of this commitment, and early results suggest that the transformations will significantly increase citizen participation. [54] Moreover, this commitment has the potential to serve as best practice for SGG as to how communication between citizens and the administration can be made more transparent and seamlessly integrated into the consultation process.

Next steps

Early indications are that significant progress has already been made, with the register of proposals being completed within the website of the MoT, [55] and now undergoing some user-friendliness improvements to be completed by October 2019. [56] Given the advanced degree of completion of this commitment, the IRM researcher recommends the following recommendations be taken into the fifth national action plan:

• The MoT could compile a report documenting this "best practice." Attention could be given to the impact this commitment has had on improving civic participation in the decision-making process, using the aforementioned metrics. Moreover, the MoT could document the technical form that underpins their user-friendly portal, such that it can be easily replicated by other members of the central and local public administration.
• The MoT could consider collaborating with SGG to add an RP section to their e-consultare.gov.ro platform that centralizes and publishes all comments received during the public consultation process as well as the answers of the public administrations.

[53] Interview with Adrian Olteanu, Ministry of Transports (MoT), 17 September 2019.

[54] Interview with Adrian Olteanu, MoT, 17 September 2019.

[55] Registry of Proposals is available at http://bit.ly/2m6n2Kl.

[56] Interview with Adrian Olteanu, MoT, 17 September 2019.

5. Register of civil society proposals

Completed

During the action plan period, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure (MTI) added a Register of Proposals section on its website. [26] Starting in 2020, citizens can use an online form on the MTI website to give feedback on draft normative acts and MTI began posting the feedback it receives under the corresponding draft normative act. MTI staff receive feedback by email, read it (removing any personal or confidential data or spam), and upload it to the Register, with the answer from the MTI specialists. According to an MTI representative, this process is completed within one working day from the moment the feedback is received. [27]

MTI has connected the Register of Proposals section with the section on draft normative acts. Now, under each draft normative act there is a description of the title, summary, text, annexes and justification, information on the debate sessions including dates and minutes, proposals received, and the corresponding MTI responses. [28]

Nevertheless, the IRM researcher randomly sampled 30 draft normative acts published on the MTI website and found that only one had received two proposals, which does not suggest this measure has significantly increased civic participation. Moreover, the IRM researcher could not find the answers of the MTI specialists to the feedback given, nor a version of the draft normative act with track changes.