Joint Public Advisory Committee
Public Consultation Guidelines

Preamble

The Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC), together with the Council (composed of cabinet-level or equivalent representatives of the three countries) and the Secretariat comprise the NAFTA Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC): a unique institution charged with seizing an historic opportunity.

The North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation set a precedent as a formal environmental agreement adopted in parallel with a trade agreement, and the Commission it created also set a precedent by including a public, non-governmental advisory group as one of its components.

JPAC was established to advise the Council in its deliberations and to advise the Secretariat in its planning and activities. As its members, it vision is to promote continental cooperation in ecosystem protection and sustainable economic development, and to ensure active public participation and transparency in the actions of the full Commission.

While we come from three different nations, and have different institutional connections, we serve on JPAC as individual citizens of the North American continent, joined in a commitment to preserve and enhance our common environment and achieve a sustainable society.

Based on these principles, JPAC has been charged by the Council to reach out to the public that is interested in and affected by the work of the Commission.

1. Purpose of Consultation

The purpose of the public consultations is to comply with the provision of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) which charges JPAC to "[...] provide advice to the Council on any matter within the scope of this Agreement, including on any documents provided to it under paragraph 6, and on the implementation and further elaboration of this Agreement." In addition, "JPAC may provide relevant technical, scientific or other information to the Secretariat."

Invitations to the public to participate in a consultation have a stated purpose, such as to:

• Establish a policy or directive;
• Assist in the preparation of the program of the CEC;
• Obtain views in the context of a specific project; and
• Address a specific issue or set of issues.

Information, consultation and participation are different activities engaged by JPAC. The majority of events may be in the nature of a consultation or in gathering information, or both. A consultation is the preferred means of contributing to the decision-making progress on the subject at hand.

In addition, JPAC from time to time may consult or seek information or the participation of experts, specific groups and individuals on any relevant issues or projects, and may assist the Secretariat to organize the public input for diverse activities.

2. Goals

As to consultations, this event should have as an outcome to provide to the Commission:

• sense of the concerns, priorities and aspirations of the participants;
• information to shape the policies and programs of the CEC; and
• whenever possible, specific recommendations and proposals.

and to provide to the participants:

• a forum to interact constructively and make progress towards solutions and actions; and
• feedback on the results of the consultation and how advice received was taken into account.

3. Principles

These guidelines are based on the following principles:

• any consultation should be organized to provide the most effective use of the time available and the resources dedicated to it; and
• any consultation should serve to advance the purpose for which it has been convened.

As a consequence, consultation meetings will generally provide:

• information to participants on the purpose and objectives of the meeting;
• opportunity for participants to express individual views without interruption or contradiction;
• opportunity to build on views expressed and, whenever possible, to discuss and reach conclusions, consensus or recommendations; and
• opportunity for the participants to engage in open-ended discussion (generally at the conclusion of the meeting).

To achieve these objectives, the Committee should be guided by the following principles:

a) Recognize the difference between information, participation and consultation activities.

b) Provide a clearly-stated purpose and outcome.

c) Any event that is a consultation should include opportunity for:

• every participant to express his/her views clearly and succinctly, orally and/or in writing, on the issue at hand;
• exchange between participants and JPAC and between participants themselves; and

• feedback from JPAC on information received and steps to follow.

4. Structure

With these principles in mind, consultation meetings will generally be structured along the following lines:

• advance notification;
• introduction and information;
• early break-up into work groups or roundtables;
• at the beginning of each of the smaller group meetings, opportunity for each participant to make a presentation; and
• a closing plenary session to provide opportunity for workshop reports and recommendations, for short, open discussion between participants and JPAC members.

JPAC and Secretariat members participate in each of the smaller groups. JPAC members normally act as facilitators. Professional facilitators will be employed when it is appropriate.

In addition, members of the general public may state their views in a brief presented at the public meeting or submitted to JPAC Secretary before the established deadline. The title page of all briefs submitted to JPAC should indicate the topic, the name of the submitting individual or organization as well as the submission date.

Persons who prefer not to submit a brief may make their views known by speaking at the public meeting. Speakers are free to choose whatever form of presentation they consider appropriate.

Following the public consultation, all comments and briefs will be analyzed by JPAC, which shall prepare a report for Council. The report will be published and made available to anyone upon request.

5. Financial Considerations

a) Consistent with current practice and the Commission's objective of facilitating public participation, the budget for information, participation and consultations should assist t he participation of NGOs according to the following criteria:

• funds from the budget of the CEC will be made available to each Party in the proportion agreed to by the Parties;
• distribution of the assistance to individual participants is the responsibility of the Parties, not of JPAC; and
• an impartial means of allocating funds on the basis of need will be developed by the each Party (generally using a national advisory committee or network of NGOs) for distribution to those NGOs who have applied within the determined deadlines for participation in the meeting.

b) Workshops require additional meeting rooms and additional translation units, which add to the expense of the event. Therefore, they must be budgeted and planned for.

There is an unavoidable cost if the Commission is to maintain an effective dialogue with its public, and this cost must be seen in light of the budget allocation of the CEC.