​In this special report, we assess whether the Commission’s

public consultations are effective at reaching out to citizens

and making use of their contributions. We examined the

design of the Commission’s framework; the way that the

Commission prepared and conducted a selection of public

consultations; and how it informed and made use of the

consultation work. We analysed key documents, reviewed a

sample of the Commission’s public consultations and

carried out a perception survey to find out how satisfied

participants in public consultations actually were.

We found that both the performance of our sample of the

Commission’s public consultations and the participants’

perception thereof were satisfactory overall. We concluded

that the Commission’s framework for public consultations is

of a high standard, but that outreach activities need

improvement.

ECA special report pursuant to Article 287(4), second

subparagraph, TFEU

Special report no 14/2019: ‘Have your say!’: Commission’s public consultations engage citizens, but fall short of outreach activities