The Commission recently extended the period of public consultation from 8 to 12 weeks. This should provide more opportunities for under-represented groups to have a say in EU plans for new policies and legislation at an early stage.

The Commission has also introduced an alert service for upcoming initiatives: Organisations that sign up for the Tranparency Register, can subscribe to this alert service to get early information on the roadmaps for new initiatives in their fields of interest about one year before there adoption.