Public participation in draft legislation

National scope

The aim of this initiative is to gauge the opinion of citizens, organisations and associations at two separate stages of the process used to prepare draft bills, draft royal legislative decrees and draft legislation.

Prior public consultation Before the draft legislation is prepared

Hearing and public information Once the draft legislation has been prepared

This process, which promotes participation in the drafting of legislation, is subject to the following regulations:

  • Article 133 of Act 39/2015, of 1 October (BOE-A-2015-10565), of the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Authorities.
  • Article 26 of Act 50/1997, of 27 November (BOE-A-1997-25336), on the Government.

This point of access is provided in accordance with the provisions of Order PRE/1590/2016, of 3 October (BOE-A-2016-9121), publishing the Council of Ministers Agreement of 30 September 2016, whereby directives are issued to approve the public participation in the process of drafting legislation via the internet portals of ministerial departments.

European Scope

This channel aims to gather the opinion of related sectors on the Commission's legislative proposals that, due to the powers attributed to this Ministry, fall within its scope of action.

Public participation In European legislative proposals and impact assessments

On February 23, 2021, the Council of Ministers approved the Agreement to improve the negotiation process and incorporation of European Union law into the internal legal system. The purpose of this Agreement is to improve the participation of the Kingdom of Spain in the regulatory development processes in the European Union (upward phase) and to improve its application and transposition (downward phase).

To this end, the Agreement provides for the preparation of an “Impact Study on the legislative proposals of the European Commission” (EIPLE). During the process of preparing the EIPLE, a public participation process is carried out so that citizens, interest groups, business and union associations, study offices, experts or any sector that is considered affected by the legislative proposal can express their opinion.

Links of interest

The status of draft legislation can be accessed on the Transparency Portal, provided that the relevant formalities have been completed and the publication of the status on that portal is mandatory.

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