Citizens as individuals or as groups of citizens have the right to live in a favorable living environment, the freedom of expression and the right to information, the right to peaceful assembly and association, and the right to petition. The Charter provides for freedom of expression and the right to seek and distribute information, stating that censorship is unacceptable. The state organs and the organs of territorial self-government are obliged to provide information about their activities in a relevant manner (Art.17). The right to information, on the one hand, is established in general terms (Art.19) and on the other, directly in relation to the environment - guaranteeing the right to prompt and supply information on the environment (Art.35 para. 2.)
Conditions related to the provision of information are laid down in the Law on Environmental Protection.
At the same time, the Charter establishes the right of citizens to peaceful assembly (Art. 19) and the right of association in clubs, societies and other associations, to establish political parties and political movements (Art.20). It also provides the right to petition, i.e. the right to appeal to the state organs and organs of territorial self-government in the interest of the public or other common interest. Interference with the independence of the courts by petition is, however, not permitted - nor may petitions incite violation of the fundamental rights and liberties guaranteed by the Charter (Art.18). The right to petition is relatively broad and contains in detail the procedure for submitting written petitions to state organs, the form of collecting signatures for such petitions and the 30-day time limit within which an official answer must be made in response to a petition. In addition to determining procedure in the area of petitions, Czech law also contains regulations for the submission of complaints and determines the official obligation to answer. These rules are contained in the Government decree of the Official Charter, relating to procedures for workers' complaints, announcements and suggestions. These regulations lay down a general obligation of all state organs to accept complaints and respond to these within specified time limits (10-and 30-day limits). Requests, proposals and complaints related to matters of public or other common social interest are to be submitted and responded to in accordance with the act on the right of petition; the government decree governs procedures in cases of written submissions, especially complaints of a private character.
According to the Czech Constitution and the Constitutional Court, a state decision or self-government organ may be the subject of a petition for review or abolition by ordinary citizens or legal persons is possible. There have been no legal cases immediately interpreting the basic Constitutional Rights related to environment. However, citizens and citizen groups often use these rights indirectly, basing their actions on them. The right to petition is used most often as a tool of public pressure and also to obtain information - a petition successfully stopped the construction of the Krivoklat Power Plant.
The right to share in the management of public affairs directly or through freely elected representatives is also grounded in the Charter.
There is no constitutional right to national referendum, whether initiated by the people themselves or by a state official. The new Constitution only contains one article related to referendum (Art.2 paragraph 2), but this is not concerned with referendum at a national level. Local referendum is possible under the Act on Municipalities and according to the Local Elections and Referendum Act. A local referendum can be initiated by citizens, provided the proposal is supported by a specified percentage of the public eligible to vote within the municipality.
The public and NGOs have only limited possibilities for public participation to make a direct impact on the decisionmaking process of parliament and the central government. No parliamentary rule or procedure requires public participation in the discussion of draft laws. It does occur on occasion, however, and there have been some successes - NGOs were asked to comment to state authorities on the draft of the Nuclear Safety Act - but such participation in legislation is non-legal, non-formal and not regular.
NGOs are not represented in parliament or ministerial structures. Earlier, NGOs and the MoE had a regular forum for discussion (so called Green Parliament), but now there is no regular basis for dialogue. NGOs have attempted to make an impact on the law making process through lobbying (DUHA and Green Circle) and sometimes they can offer independent (non-governmental) experts to parliamentary committees or clubs of political parties.
Most laws in the Czech Republic are initially drafted at the ministerial level and subjected to an intra-governmental comment process, during which time some extra-governmental expert opinions may also be brought. During this process, the public and NGOs may participate only at the behest of the various governmental authorities, usually through expert bodies.
At local or regional level, there is sometimes close cooperation between magistrates or elected officials of municipalities and NGOs.
Public participation in parliamentary and governmental practice is usually based on fundamental civic rights, but there are no concrete legal provisions requiring it.
The status of foundations is not clear in the Czech Republic. A new law is under preparation regulating non-profit status. The best form for NGOs from the point of standing is the status of "civic associations," because then they can be party in EIA, land use and construction proceedings, although the courts usually act very slowly and the question of time is often very critical in environmental cases. The formal, independent courts are now more under the influence of other state bodies, while judges are a privileged group of state bureaucracy, conservative in approach and not very open to environmental issues. Despite these obstacles, some court cases have begun recently. There is one action related to access to information regarding the construction of Temel’n Power Plant, and another action is against the construction of a nuclear waste storage facility in Dukovany. These actions have been taken to court by anti-nuclear NGOs and the association of municipalities in the Temelin region.
Administrative law procedure is regulated by the Administrative Law Procedure Act, but there are no special provisions for public participation or public access to information. Administrative procedure is closed to the public - decisions are made concerning citizens' rights, legally protected interests or obligations, in cases where the deciding entity is an administrative body (a ministry, district or community office, or similar body) and not a court.
The definition of a party to administrative proceeding is a person whose rights, legally protected interests or obligations are to be the subject of proceedings or who may be directly affected by the decision (unless it can be proved otherwise).
There may, however, be persons or legal entities enjoying a status recognized by a special regulation, in which case, they are explicitly provided for by the Act on Environmental Impact Assessment or according to the Act on the Protection of Nature and the Landscape. These acts provide an excellent opportunity to be involved in the process and give substantial rights to influence a decision. The rights of a party usually include submitting proposals and suggestions to the administrative authorities, submitting proofs and presenting them for scrutiny, inspecting case documentation, receiving all written materials, including the decision, and even appealing against a decision to a higher administrative organ and in some cases, to the court.
Environmental NGOs are using these possibilities more and more, and despite initial opposition by the state authorities against their participation, especially in building and land-use permitting procedure, the MoE has been very positive and now the possibility of NGOs being party to such proceedings is accepted by most official bodies.
The Act relating to the Protection of Nature and the Landscape is more specific and establishes the obligation of the appropriate bodies to keep a comprehensive record of information and to make the information accessible to anyone, on request. It also provides for the possibility of obtaining copies of documents for the price of the material costs, although these regulations are not yet in line with European Union or US regulations in this field.
The way in which the public can apply the principle of participation during the EIA process is closely connected with the phases of the EIA procedure. The EIA Act requires public access to information concerning the EIA documentation and provides for public examination of EIA documentation. Each proposed project submitted to the EIA procedure has to be augmented with special EIA documentation and this documentation must be publicly announced or exhibited in the municipalities concerned with, or affected by, the proposed project. Any person may make excerpts, transcripts or copies of the documentation.
In addition, the public is granted the opportunity to comment on the documentation during the 30 day period following the publication of the document. Any legal or professional person or member of the public can comment in written form. If a public hearing is required, expert opinion should be prepared and presented, in which case, it becomes the subject of public discussion. In addition, there are special provisions relating to "public initiatives" and citizen groups securing participation of the public, NGOs and civic associations in the decisionmaking process. The public can be represented by civic associations which have been established according to the Act on Civic Associations and who have submitted their own comments or by "civic initiative". A "civic initiative" consists of a minimum of 500 persons over the age of 18 who, in writing, promote public comment or opinion, providing it is expressed in accordance with the rule described in the law. In EIA proceedings, this body can also be considered a party, although not a legal person, but individuals cannot be party to the administrative proceeding unless they are affected parties.
In most of the phases of EIA, there are legal provisions about public participation. At the same time, there is no possibility of public participation in the so called scoping phase . Another problem is that the final Environmental Impact Study (EIS) cannot be used as a precedent. The public cannot propose alternatives to the final solution. There are also other constraints in the procedure - the public has the right to acquire information about the starting of E.I.A. procedure, but the announcement regarding this is not widely publicized. It is accessible only on the official board of local authorities and when the citizens/NGOs learn about it, in which case there is not enough time to take all the necessary steps - documentation needs to be studied, written comments formulated, often expert assistance is needed, the collection of a 500 signature petition also takes a long time, and all this should be done within 30 days.
In some aspects, there is a similar situation in the land-use planning process (30 days for written comment). In both procedures, the public has access to drafts of documents.
In the EIA procedure, there is the legal requirement that public comment must be seriously considered. In planning processes, the written comments of citizens or legal persons whose property or other rights are directly affected must be replied to, in writing, by the relevant authority, within 60 days following the approval of a plan.
The right to be a party to an administrative procedure which can result in the issue of a permit represents a very effective way for environmental organizations, specializing in nature conservation activities, to advocate and defend their interests.
The formal conditions under which NGOs may be a party of the administrative procedure can be a problem because these conditions include time limits and definitions of local competency affecting the possibility of participation on the part of NGOs. An environmental NGO which wants to be party to an administrative procedure has the right of access to information on any issue falling into its area of interest. The administrative authority concerned is obliged, on the demand of the NGO, to inform it in advance of all proposed projects which could affect nature or landscape protection interests. There are, however, sometimes problems of interpretation, because, in practice, the state authorities try to explain this right in as narrow and complicated way as possible. For example, even ministries have different interpretation: The MoE and the Ministry of Economy have a different understanding of how this right should be interpreted. But as state bodies use this law more and more, the practices will become clearer.
The Building Act contains several points of crucial importance concerning public participation. This act identifies several types of planning documents, the most significant being the local land-use plans. These local plans determine the functions and land-use of the area (usually the city, town or village), provide the basic principles of its organization, define procedures for use and conditions for development. The law requires the observation of specific public consultation procedures during the preparation of local land-use plans. While in the planning process there is still some role for the public, in the land use decisionmaking and building decision proceedings, but there is no public participation or access to information requirement, except for parties. NGOs can also be a party to proceedings.
The permitting and licensing process has almost no elements of public participation, and access to relevant information in this field is nearly impossible. If the licensing process goes through the administrative procedure, there is sometimes a chance for the public to be a party in this procedure (through the participation of NGOs). Civic Associations can participate in administrative proceedings, as described above, through EIA and nature conservation. If there is a decision about, for instance, a construction permit, a civic association can be a party. But this is, in fact, an exemption, because the administrative proceeding is not open to the public. Participation is not at the discretion of authorities, but at the discretion of civic associations, according to the law. If denied by the administrative authority, citizen groups can go to the administrative court.
In the case of the legal regulation of waste management and the protection of water purity regulations, the provision of information is very brief and inconsistent. In the case of waste, local authority programs for waste management are accessible to the public with the proviso that specific individual data is not provided, since this would threaten commercial secrets. This right is established only by the ministerial Decree on Waste Management Programs. In the case of regulations on water protection, water management documentation can be inspected only with a previously obtained "certificate of authorized interest" (under current conditions it is, of course, possible to look at any document kept by an administrative organ). Public participation is not included.
Concerning air protection, the right of information is extensively defined according to the provisions relating to the state of the atmosphere and smog situations The information must be prompt and full, and all state organs for the protection of the atmosphere - from the Ministry to the local community offices - are obliged to make this information available. However, other public participation provisions are not included.
With respect to the energy law and nuclear energy law, there are absolutely no provisions for public participation. It is extraordinarily difficult for citizens and NGOs to influence the decisionmaking process in this field. The only remaining possibility is to use non-formal tools and political influence.
Access to the administrative court is limited by several rules. An appeal may be taken only when procedural rights have been violated, but not in cases where the authority did not correctly assess facts in the matter. Action must be initiated within two months of a final administrative decision. The court does not accept any new facts and evidence - it merely reviews the legality of the administrative decision.
Sometimes citizen groups/NGOs attempt to appeal to the administrative court, especially when the decisions of administration are environmentally harmful or dangerous. Usually however, the courts act very slowly and the question of time is often very critical.
The Civil Code establishes a cause of action based on 'nuisance' (Art.127). Claims of nuisance are related to noise, dust, smoke, gases, steam odors, liquid etc.and how they interfere with the rights of others. The Penal Code includes a provision added in 1990 which makes certain acts a crime, such as damaging or potentially damaging the environment.
The most frequently used legal public participation tools are provisions of administrative law and especially procedure, in combination with some provisions of nature conservation and EIA law. Activities or actions based upon Constitutional rights (petitions, demonstrations and meetings, associations etc) are often used.
The most important legal instrument in the Czech environmental legal framework for public participation which is missing is the Office of the Ombudsman. The right to hold a referendum is limited - there is no such right or right of initiative provided at national level, only local referendum is available. There is no proper Access to Information Law, and. public participation in administrative proceedings is not broad enough.
Unique to the Czech Republic is the fact that citizens have the right to form a citizen group, called a "public initiative," consisting of 500 people or more, which can then be party to the administrative proceeding in which an EIA permit is to be issued. Throughout the CEE region, individuals can only be parties to administrative proceedings if they are "affected parties".
Another action was linked with attempts to avoid the EIA procedure in Temel’n. The civic association, South Bohemian Mothers, attempted to force the authorities to discuss within the EIA proceeding, changes in the nuclear project, but they were not successful because the association was not a 'party' in the initial proceedings in the 1980s - municipalities which were parties at that time are reluctant to take any steps.
Another action concerns the construction of a nuclear waste storage facility in Dukovany. These actions were taken to court by anti-nuclear NGOs and an association of municipalities.
Presently, there are several hundreds registered NGOs in the Czech Republic, but not all work continuously - membership is estimated at seven to 10 thousand people, of which there are only several hundred active members.
There are different types of NGOs and their involvement in public participation varies. The first generation of NGOs, established before 1989, are not as publicly active but usually have several thousand members, interested mainly in traditional nature conservation. The newly established (after 1989), relatively small NGOs, might be much smaller in number, but are very radical, active organizations consisting of young, active people, most often students. These organizations usually have good relations with the media and are very strongly involved in public participation issues, their field of activity is broader. They organize spectacular events, sometimes even controversial ones, including occupations and demonstrations. Examples include Movement DUHA, Children of the Earth, South Bohemian Mothers, and Greenpeace.
The third type of NGOs are the small, local organizations established specifically to solve a local or regional problem, representing people from the local community or small regions. Very often they grow out of a local initiative, and are created as a result of a petition. These groups are also active in public participation, but they usually work only in one dimension, on one issue, for example, they organize protests and petitions in order to be a party in proceedings and fight against a plan to build a waste disposal facility, cement factory, highway, etc.
The Czech regulations concerning the establishment and operation of non-political associations adopted in 1990, and also several environmental laws, created an atmosphere favorable to the activities and development of citizens groups, especially in the first years of the transition to democracy. Citizens were initially very active in public participation in the late 80s and early 90s, but are now active only if some economic activity or development plan directly endangers their life conditions, while environmental NGOs and activists are now mostly in open opposition against the government, strongly criticizing the Minister of the Environment and and even the prime minister. Conflict rather than dialogue and cooperation are now more characteristic in the relationship of NGOs and central government authorities.
Parliament and the government have their own rules related to the preparation or enaction of laws - neither of these regimes includes mandatory public participation. Some of the NGOs have, however, developed a sophisticated system of lobbying in parliament. One of the success stories of this kind of lobbying was the enaction of the act on ozone-destroying substances when NGO proposals, in particular that of Children of the Earth, were preferred over the governmental ones. In this case, non-formal tools were used in order to influence the legislative process.
The Green Circle has, together with the Rainbow Movement, created a position of permanent NGO officer for parliamentary lobbying. The officer develops contacts with MPs, follows the work of parliament and government law-drafting activities, spreads the information to interested NGOs, and arranges meetings between seriously interested NGOs and MPs. This system seems to quite efficient so far. This position was created without the cooperation of the parliament and unfortunately, there has been no support for this project. The NGO lobbyist has no formal rights - activity is based on non-formal contacts with the MPs.
At central government level, contact with officials is on an ad hoc basis. This includes several meetings with the environmental minister and his officials in the Green Circle and with other state officials who from time to time take part in the expert discussions during meetings organized by the Society for Sustainable Living.
There are no forums like the former Green Parliament in existence. The Green Parliament, created shortly after the changes in 1989 by the Czech MoE, was an advisory NGO body with the aim of providing independent review of the work done by the ministry. Although there were certain deficiencies in the work of the Green Parliament, it provided an important platform for discussion of proposed ministerial laws, policies and actions.
At the regional or local level, the situation is quite different, though it can change from region to region. The municipal administrations in the Czech Republic have already begun to feel the importance and necessity of dialogue with their electoral constituency, therefore attempts to implement public participation beyond legal requirements can be found more at this level. The meetings of the local councils are open to the public and some municipalities produce their own internal newsletter which usually provide information about environmental issues. Citizens, however, generally do not pay much interest to this type of public participation. Most of the municipal councils have created their own commissions which often allow participation of nominated public figures. These commissions, however, cannot be regarded as adequate means for public participation since their work and capacity can be quite limited. Examples of real public participation can be found more in direct communication of municipalities with the greater public.
There is a much closer link and cooperation between municipalities and NGOs than with other levels of governance. The East Bohemian branch of the Society for Sustainable Living for example, invites to its meetings heads of regional self-governments - and they regularly come. Such regular "round table" type of discussions are not usual and not possible on state and regional level. Also there are successful attempts by several NGOs to work with the broader public and facilitate public participation. An interesting attempt of this type was promotion of citizens' input into the preparation of local land-use plan for Brno City. NGOs initiated a one month public participation program in cooperation with the municipality which consisted of extensive interactive series of exhibitions during which citizens could obtain detailed information about the various components of the proposed land-use plans and could immediately provide feedback or submit complaints. Similar non-formal interactive exhibition on urban development have been applied also in Plzen. It is expected that this type of public participation because of its precedent value will be further repeated in other communities.
Relations with business are not very extensive. The business sector is generally not interested in public participation beyond the legal requirements and the trade unions also devote little attention to workplace environment conditions or to employment problems the enterprises might face, such as non-compliance with legal standards. The environmental businesses have their own lobbying organizations, the Czech Environmental Management Center in Prague. There are differences between the views of civic organizations and the business lobbying centers in environmental cases.
There are no strong consumer organizations in the Czech Republic however, the consumerist (not green) lobby in the government and parliament recently succeeded in maintaining the obligation to recycle glass bottles written in the Czech law. Green consumerism is still not very developed in the Czech Republic. There is some governmental support for the use of a "green mark" for more environmentally friendly products. Green consumerist campaigns have only recently begun, the first NGOs specializing in this field were set up in 1994.
Private radio stations and local newspapers are a relatively new phenomena, and tend to focus on sensational and controversial subjects that sell, but regionally, coverage aimed at municipalities tends to be much more influential due to the fact that local politicians need the popular support of their community and thus cannot exercise the degree of arrogance of the central government.
NGOs have also built up several different networking systems, both electronic and traditional networking, and they use these networks for dissemination of information, expertise and environmental education. There is a high level of integration both at the horizontal and vertical level in using non-formal tools: many NGOs combine the different non-formal tools in their activities and they also tend to work in different cooperative structures with those who are specializing on the same issues. They form action coalitions when needed, and assist each other. The cooperation between bigger, well-known and experienced organizations (Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, etc.) and smaller local initiatives is usually a very efficient tool. Such cooperation concentrates usually on local problems. There are also many cooperative actions with foreign NGOs for example with Austrian and Slovak NGOs in the case of nuclear power installations, and the Germans in the case of clean water, Elbe river, transboundary pollution problems, etc. There are many NGOs which are involved in direct public participation actions and cases and use a combination of legal and non-formal tools very efficiently. Several NGOs are specialized on providing assistance in the field of public participation to citizens and municipalities, running public advocacy services in legal and non-formal field, disseminating the experience through newsletters and training.
Several NGOs - especially the Rainbow Movement (local group of FoE), Children of the Earth and Greenpeace - are quite successful in obtaining media coverage of their action. When reading the most important national newspapers, one can find at least once a week a substantial press release from these organizations. Effectiveness of NGO media-work as well as direct action (petitions, complaints) is relative according to the level administration to which it is aimed. Direct impact on central governmental decision makers is usually very low - most non-formal public submissions are, due to the generally hostile environment towards environmental NGOs in top governmental posts, treated without appropriate respect. There is a kind of arrogance towards citizens' submission in actions of local administrators affiliated to central governmental agencies who can afford the luxury of being politically irresponsible to their local constituency. An illustration of this situation is provided, for instance, in the recent governmental decision to extend the permit of a controversial cement factory in Tmaò which was achieved without regard to the nation-wide controversy around this issue.
Joint decisionmaking is rare, even in the Czech Republic. Some successful examples can be found though. For example, a kind of joint decisionmaking technique was used during an important public participation experiment in Ostrava in 1992 which included post-project monitoring. A facility for the reprocessing of used mineral oil has been permitted with the condition that an independent citizens' commission be established to control application of permit. Operational difficulties in the running of this non-formal committee provided important lessons directly applicable under EIA system and created favorable conditions for NGO involvement in post-project monitoring. NGOs, although being aware of this opportunity, however have shown little if any interest in this field so far.
Capacity building related directly to public participation at the central or local government level is non-existent, there have been only general environmental management training courses organized. A few NGOs in the Czech Republic specialize in capacity building in public participation, organizing training, seminars, publishing newsletters and brochures combined with advisory services. The Public Environmental Assessment Center, in Plzen, is one of the strongest in the field of public participation, while there are also "public interest" lawyers working for the non-profit sector. This work is not very lucrative and therefore only a few enthusiastic experts devote their time to advising citizens in environmental cases. Two attempts have been made to establish centers for environmental legal support: the Association for Environmental Law and the Environmental Law Service (EPS), a group of law students in Prague. The Society for Sustainable Living has also a project - Legal Support for Environmental Civic Organizations and Initiatives - in cooperation with the Association for Environmental Law. These projects are mostly funded by independent, private, domestic and international foundations.
In the past two years, several brochures and manuals have been published about public participation and legal forms and possibilities in this field along with training seminars, mainly for NGOs and local government officials, including one in November 1991 in Helfstejn in Moravia, another in November 1993 in Krkonose, and one in October 1994 in Dukovany. One of these seminars was co-organized and funded by the REC.
Funding for public participation activities and NGO projects is mostly provided by foreign governmental assistance programs, private and other international foundations such as Environmental Partnership, PHARE Program, REC, etc.
Successful fundraising is one of the most important conditions for civic organizations. In the past few years, the MoE provided funding for NGO activities, although there have been sharp cuts in this field. Parliamentary support is non-existent and support from local governments is also not very strong, though they may offer in-kind support. Since the private sector is not yet rich enough, private sponsorship is rather limited.
Unfortunately, opposition failed to reverse the decision of the government to continue the building of the Temel’n power plant, mainly because NGOs and the public did not have access to all of the relevant information. There were also strong lobbies in favor of the decision, and influential support from abroad.
The story is the same everywhere - in some regions, there are often strong interest groups of entrepreneurs and state officials who push for projects, official bodies often knowingly break the law, while expert or legal assistance comes too late or even never.Paying for expert advice is also an issue.
Nearly all legal instruments for public participation were established after 1989, with the change in political regime.
In the non-formal field, the biggest achievement is that NGOs and citizens use a broad range of non-formal tools in daily practice, and since they are now more accustomed to the new parliamentary system, they can make a more efficient impact on the decisionmaking process. There is a new generation of NGOs who use and combine the non-formal instruments in a highly sophisticated and innovative way. Another achievement is that many citizen groups work very closely with the municipalities and the local communities on issues of local, regional and national importance.
Some of the existing legal instruments, such as the General Environmental Act, are too general. Earlier, some of the new environmental laws were prepared and adopted in a hurry and without appropriate experience, but it is nearly impossible and risky to make changes now, because any amendment can be used as an excuse to dissolve existing laws.
Government officials are not open to initiating and implementing public participation provisions and citizens are relatively passiveÐeconomic and social problems are more pressing, and if they are interested, it is only in issues directly affecting them.
NGOs strongly oppose the government, and it is not possible to have any regular dialogue with positive results. State officials are not very open to NGOs, at all levels. Since the strongest governmental party clearly rejects the notion of "civil society" and denies the role of NGOs in decision processes, the present government cannot be expected to improve its dialogue with environmental groups.
NGOs have many problems. During the last few years, a great number have been dissolved - local groups have problems with fundraising, legal assistance and expertise. Their activists are not always well experienced or educated, and they ask for expert assistance when it is too late. Access to legal assistance is expensive and there are not many lawyers assisting NGOs and citizens. Though the cooperation between NGOs is rather good, sometimes there is competition and conflict between them.
Despite all this, there have been important developments since 1989 and it is not possible to dissolve all environmental laws. And environmental NGOs are now more independent than in the past.
Parliament needs to establish an Office of the Ombudsman to provide more accessible remedies to citizens if their constitutional rights are infringed. A new law on national and local referendum is needed and a reform of the court system is necessary to strengthen the role of the prosecution service, thus enabling citizens to openly challenge the government.
Both the government and parliament need to pay more attention to public participation and give broader access to environmental information. In this respect, strengthening the position of the MoE is of utmost importance. The MoE should have status equal to that of other ministries and should play an important advocating role in promoting public participation. Regular dialogue between state authorities and NGOs needs to be established.
Municipalities need to improve their communication with citizens and implement more efficient and innovative methods such as establishing a local Ombudsman, more proactive public information practices, working together with formal and informal committees of local councils, etc.
NGOs need to cooperate with each other to share experience and assist each other in order to increase their knowledge, expertise and efficiency when using legal tools related to public participation. The existing networks and advisory centers should provide assistance to citizens and other NGOs, while regional centers should be a natural extension of these facilities.