Chapter 12: Romania

(continued)

MAPPING AND EVALUATION OF OPPORTUNITIES

The tables were filled in according to past practices. The charts have been completed according to the general practice and the information of the reporter. There might have been some cases when public participation was improved, but this does not mean that the institution of public participation was fully implemented or developed. As mentioned in the report, the legal situation does offer possibilities but these have not been used often in practice.

There is presently a basic law which contains a broad public participation provision, but there is no commitment to improve it on the administrative level or the third sector level. According to the law, the scale of the chart, in principle, should be between four and five. However, according to the low levels of general practice, it is only at one.

At the same time though, there are NGOs who are working and trying to improve public participation. Unfortunately these results are very difficult to categorize.

The criteria which might be considered limitations/obstacles in the development of public participation are the same for the both parties in the process:

lack of procedure/mechanisms;
lack of knowledge and training regarding the institutions, the process and its implementation;
lack of expertise;
lack of commitment;
financial reasons.

TABLE 4: International Decisionmaking
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Access to information (right to access to information)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2

TABLE 5: Preparation and Approval of National Laws and Regulations
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Access to information (right to access to information)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3

TABLE 6: Preparation and Approval of National Policies, Strategies, Programs and Plans
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Access to information (right to access to information)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2

TABLE 7: Preparation and Approval of Local Rules and Regulations
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	3	3	3	3	3	2	2
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	3	3	3	3	3	2	2
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Access to information (right to access to information)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3

TABLE 8: Preparation and Approval of Territorial Plans (including Spatial/Local Land-Use Plans)
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Access to information (right to access to information)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3

TABLE 9: Environmental Impact Assessment
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	4	4	4	4	4	3	3
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Access to information (right to access to information)	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

TABLE 10: Siting
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Access to information (right to access to information)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3

TABLE 11: Permitting in Water Issues
	Initiation of DM (problem/ proposal)	Defining the scope, issues and stakeholders (pre-decision scoping)	Defining the scope of DM (impacts and alternatives)	Evaluation of the alternatives	Selection of the alternative (DM about the selected alternative)	Execution of the selected alternative	Post-decision monitoring & enforcement (feedback/ adjustment)
Phases of Decisionmaking LEVELS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Control of decisionmaking (right to decide)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Decisionmaking power is shared (right to joint decisionmaking)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Comments are seriously taken into account (right to be heard)	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Adequate notification (right to be informed)	2-3	2	2	2	2	2	2
Access to information (right to access to information)	3	3	3	3	3	3	3

REC * PUBLICATIONS * DOORS TO DEMOCRACY - CEE * ROMANIA