Improve traceability of regulatory draft and approval processes (ES0047)

What is the problem/need that is desired to resolve with the commitment? Among the proposals of the citizenry and civil society for the 4th Open Government Plan are several that underscore the need to improve citizens' knowledge of the process to prepare regulations and the implementation of the so‐ called normative footprint. As a first step, it is also important to highlight the study carried out within the framework of the previous open government plan. It consisted in the diagnosis of the participation in the process of drafting regulations, piloted from the Ministry of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Heritage. Several recommendations and aspects of improvement emerged from it, such as: - The different presentation on the websites of the different ministries of the procedures to draft regulations. - The published information does not allow to know the traceability of the regulations, the state of processing or the way in which participation has influenced the regulation. - In consultation and public information phases, the browsing is not intuitive and there are several channels to make contributions, which makes it difficult to know the statistical data of interest about participation.

Objectives of the commitment - To facilitate the homogeneity of information published about the regulatory preparation process. - To guarantee traceability that allows knowing the contributions received and how they influenced the text. - To incentivise participation in the regulatory preparation process. - To improve document management, text editing in structured formats, digital processing of the end‐to‐end process and facilitate global monitoring with the most relevant milestones in the rule life cycle.

Brief description of the commitment The design and experimental implementation of a system that improves the traceability of the process to draft the regulations and participation of the citizenry in the preliminary consultation processes, public information, processing and regulatory approval.

How does the commitment contribute to solve the problem or cover the need? Through a participatory and digitalisation strategy of the processes, the citizenry is guaranteed better knowledge and cognitive accessibility of the legislative process. At the same time, it encourages their participation during the cycle, improving the quality of the regulations and resulting in a better democracy. The process will be implemented experimentally in pilot projects in order to later be extended to other environments of the AGE. 70

Why is the commitment relevant with respect to the values of Open Government? It promotes, strengthens and improves the quality of participation in the public management, allowing the citizenry to participate in making public decisions with the objective of achieving better results and better democratic quality. It delves deeper into the transparency, through active transparency, open data and accountability of the Public Administrations through carrying out actions aimed at its improvement and the evaluation of the results. It raises awareness among society and civil servants on values of transparency and participation, contributing to the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda in order to advance towards a just, peaceful and inclusive society.

Additional information Activities of the commitment Start date End date 1. Creation of an innovation laboratory. 15/11/2020 31/12/2021 2. Design of the project 15/11/2020 31/12/2021 3. Implementation of pilot projects 15/11/2020 30/06/2024 4. Technological developments by modules 15/11/2020 30/06/2024 5. Training for civil servants (modular) 01/01/2021 30/06/2024 6. Preparation of reports on regular monitoring and accountability 01/06/2021 30/06/2024 7. Preparation of a report on the evaluation of results. 01/01/2024 15/06/2024

Action Plan Review

Commitment 4: Regulatory footprint

Commitment cluster 3 and 4: improved citizen participation

Lead agencies: Ministry of Land Policy and Public Administration, Ministry of the Presidency, Courts and Democratic Memory

For a complete description of this commitment, see: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/spain-action-plan-2020-2024/

Context and objectives

Citizen knowledge and participation in public decision-making is increasingly relevant in OGP action plans, and is a major focus in this section of Spain’s action plan as it was highlighted during the co-creation consultations. [31]

The third action plan (2017–2019) promoted creating an open government online participatory space. However, instead of a participation space, the plan resulted in creating an information tool that was used by civil society-government working groups to support monitoring. Monitoring studies by the Participatory Observatory during the implementation of the 2017-2019 action plan identified areas to address, including ways to explain ministry procedures for drafting regulations and the variety of channels for providing input which currently hinders the creation of participation statistics. [32]

The current action goes a step beyond this previous commitment. It seeks to improve citizen participation across the various stages of public-program design by using electronic tools and social media. To this end, the commitment will include a participation space in the Transparency Portal, various self-assessment and improvement tools, pilot programs, and innovation labs to secure participation in public policy-making. The commitment will also secure traceability in the design of regulations, allowing the public to track citizen input and the influence of private and social stakeholders. This is known as “regulatory footprint.” [33]

Potential for results: Substantial

Overall, the proposed actions have the potential to bring about substantial changes in this public policy area. The participation space included in the Transparency Portal would materialize an IRM recommendation made in several previous assessments. The portal would become a true open government host not only for participatory OGP processes but also for other participatory processes promoted by the General State Administration. Implementing pilot projects in different areas allows refinement of citizen participation mechanisms. Implementing innovation labs can provide the first-ever collaborative space to allow citizens input on issues and design better public policies.

Representation and institutionalization, as described below, is key to secure sustainability and use of these initiatives. Once implemented, the methodology to track citizen input to policymaking will complement the assessments of participatory mechanisms adopted by various agencies.

A researcher who participated in the Observatory activities and is a current member of the Open Government Forum, explained that this commitment is an opportunity to create a single space to concentrate all citizen participation initiatives and to present this space in a user-friendly format with clear language. [34] In their opinion, it is important for the tool to provide responses to citizen input. [35]

Opportunities, challenges, and recommendations during implementation

This commitment has the potential to create a working dynamic with increasing engagement on main issues affecting citizens, such as COVID-19 management. It also offers spaces for integrating similar pilot programs of the General State Administration, including the Social Network of the National Institute for Public Administration (http://social.inap.es). This calls for shared work, collaboration, and monitoring by the members of the Open Government Forum.

Linking this commitment with Commitment 2 could further strengthen the overall outcomes of the action plan. For instance, innovation labs can identify actions within public policies that allow for better citizen participation.

In previous action plan assessments, the IRM identified challenges to citizen participation, including engaging stakeholders beyond the usual suspects. [36] A major challenge is to ensure that greater representation not be the end, but a starting point, and that sound public policies and programs result from participatory processes.

Finally, this commitment will be strengthened as long as participation mechanisms are consistent and formal and not solely isolated events occurring only during the implementation of this action plan.