Citizens to play more active role in decision-making: Moldovan government approves new rules for consultation, civic initiative

The involvement of citizens and civil society in the development of public policies and normative acts will be ensured on the basis of a new Law on public participation in the decision-making process.

The initiative will make the decision-making process more transparent and will offer citizens more opportunities to engage in public decision-making. They will be able to participate in all stages of drafting, adopting and amending normative acts and policy documents.

Public participation will be supported through two digital platforms. Publishing consultations on www. particip.gov.md will become mandatory and citizens will be able to follow their entire progress. The e-Democracy platform will be used to promote civic initiatives and ensure the direct involvement of citizens in decision-making.

The draft law extends the timeframes for public participation, so that citizens and interested organizations benefit from more time to analyze proposals and submit recommendations.

At the initiation stage, the minimum period will be 10 working days for normative acts and 15 working days for policy documents. After the drafts are prepared, the consultation period will increase to at least 15 working days for normative acts and 20 working days for policy documents.

The draft also introduces the mechanism of civic initiative, through which citizens will be able to propose the development of decisions on issues of public interest, on the basis of a clear and transparent procedure.

“Through this law, we are introducing a remedy mechanism. Infringements of decision-making transparency procedures can be corrected and challenged by citizens and interested parties. The State Chancellery will work together with all authorities, in order to ensure that this law is fully implemented,” said Secretary General of the Government Alexei Buzu.

The law will apply to all central and local public authorities, including parliament, the president, the government, autonomous public authorities and authorities in territorial-administrative units with special status. The new provisions will enter into force on January 1, 2027, while the civic initiative mechanism will apply starting from January 1, 2028.