Public Consultation
Proposal, participants, submissions and response
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
3 bundles · 3 layers · 5 findings · 12 questions
Proposal and scope What is being consulted on, by whom and within which limits.
Consultation notice
The published notice, proposal documents and the questions put to the public.
Consulting body and proposal
The body that consults and the proposal it puts forward, with its legal basis.
- Which public body runs the consultation, and under which legal or policy basis?
- Which proposal and supporting documents were published for comment?
Consultation window
The opening and closing dates and how they were announced.
- When did the consultation open and close, and was the period extended?
- Through which channels was the consultation announced to the affected public?
Participation Who took part and what they said.
Submissions
Responses received, their channel and how they are recorded.
Submission record
Each response with its date, channel and the respondent category it declares.
- How many submissions arrived, through which channels, and before the deadline?
- Did the respondent agree to publication of the submission and of their name?
- Were coordinated or duplicate campaign responses identified and handled openly?
Reach and accessibility
Whether affected groups could take part.
- Which affected groups were invited or reached, and which were not?
- Were documents and channels accessible in the languages and formats people needed?
Response How the input was considered and reported back.
Consultation response
The published summary of input and the body's answer to it.
Response document
A summary of the main points and the body's stated reaction to each.
- Was a response published, and when relative to the close of consultation?
- Which changes to the proposal does the response attribute to the input received?
- Which significant points were rejected, and with what reasons?
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- World Models
- Category
- Activities and processes
- Entry kind
- standalone-mm
- Navigation path
- NAV.ACT.CIV
- Domain
- ACT.CIV
- Industry
- Cross-industry
- Tags
- publicconsultationact.civ
What it is Filled
A public consultation is a time-bounded process in which a public body puts a proposal before the public or defined stakeholders, collects their submissions and publishes a response stating how the input was considered. It ends with the response, not with the decision on the proposal; elections, referendums and private market research are outside it.
Why it exists Filled
Proposal, participants, submissions and response
Distinguishing features Filled
- A public consultation gathers views on a proposal; it does not decide, unlike a vote, referendum or approval.
- It is run by a public body with a published notice, a defined window and a duty or practice of responding.
- Distinct from a campaign, its parent, because its purpose is to receive input, not to persuade.
- Distinct from surveys and market research, which sample opinion without a proposal open to formal comment.
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Generate or submit responses in the names of people who did not write or approve them.
- Flood a consultation with automated or duplicate submissions to inflate a position.
- Publish respondents' names or personal details without their consent.
- Drop or misclassify submissions so that a summary misrepresents the input.
- Present a consultation summary as the final decision on the proposal.
Only with a human decision
- Sending a submission on someone's behalf.
- Approving the published response of the consulting body.
- Deciding to exclude submissions as abusive or out of scope.
May
- Find and summarize open consultations and their deadlines for a user.
- Help a person draft their own submission in their own words and send it only with their approval.
- Analyse submissions by theme for the consulting body, keeping counts and categories traceable to the records.
- Compare a published response with the submissions it claims to summarize.
Moral aspects Filled
- Consultation is a channel of democratic participation; fake or mass-generated input distorts it.
- Respondents may reveal political views or personal circumstances and must control their publication.
- Groups without time, language or digital access can be left out unless the process reaches them.
Who is affected
- Members of the public who respond
- Communities affected by the proposal
- Public bodies running consultations
- Organised interest groups
Owners Filled
Steward
The public body that runs the consultation owns its notice, submissions record and response.
Master systems
- Government consultation portals
- Legislative and regulatory dockets
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- WM-ACT-028
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- A consultation is identified by the consulting body and its own reference or docket number.
- Submissions are identified by a reference issued by the consultation portal or body.
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
A public consultation is an institutional process, not a physical object with measurable physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- A notice inviting comment on a named proposal, with a closing date and a way to respond.
- Often confused with a petition, a referendum, an opinion poll or a public hearing.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- A consultation can be opened, extended, closed and answered with a published response.
- Submissions can be received, acknowledged, published with consent and analysed by theme.
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Astroturfing and automated submissions that fake public opinion.
- Exposure of respondents' identities or views without consent.
- Consultation used as a formality after the decision was already taken.
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- Online consultation portals with submission forms and document downloads.
- Regulatory docket systems where comments are filed against a proposal.
- Published response documents and summaries of submissions.
Context of use required Filled
- Required by law for many planning, environmental and regulatory proposals.
- The Aarhus Convention gives the public a right to participate in environmental decisions.
Sources Filled
- Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention), UNECE
- OECD Recommendation of the Council on Open Government, OECD
Open questions
- Planned model: boundary questions, research and every section remain to be written.
Machine files
Provenance
planned (registry candidate) · todo
Built from: models/runtime-index.json, ver-cy/world-models/card-supplements/wm-act-041-public-consultation.json
Planned entry, hidden from the catalogue until researched.