The „Standards of Public Participation” were adopted by the Austrian Council of Ministers on 2 July 2008 and recommended to be applied by the Austrian federal administration.

Where policies, plans, programmes, and legal instruments are prepared, the public is increasingly offered an opportunity to participate. Public, politics and administration can benefit optimally from such involvement where the participation of the public is exercised at a high quality. This can be ensured by the application of standards aimed at maximising the effectiveness and efficiency of public participation. The present Standards of Public Participation are to help administrative staff of the federal government in the concrete conduct of high-quality participation processes. They are a contribution to good governance in Austria.

The Standards of Public Participation were prepared by an inter-ministerial working group with the participation of legally established representations of interest, NGOs and external experts as part of a project commissioned by the Austrian Federal Chancellery and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management.

An initiative of the Austrian Federal Chancellery and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management

Engineering office for landscape planning, www.arbter.at