Stakeholders’ consultations – together with impact assessments, evaluations and expertise – are a key tool for transparent, targeted and coherent policy making, when properly taken into account. They help taking decisions that respect principles of proportionality and subsidiarity and that are based on evidence, practices and views of those affected by the policies and involved in their implementation. The guidelines focus on consultations carried out in policy preparation of new policies, programmes, legislative proposals, and delegated and implementing acts, as well as evaluations. While these guidelines are intended for internal Commission use only, stakeholder inputs are an essential element in ensuring the quality of the final product. EUCIS-LLL notably insisted on the need to set up consultations genuinely taking into account qualitative input from stakeholders (less closed questions) and to provide transparent feedback on the way contributions have been handled. Read the whole EUCIS-LLL contribution to the Stakeholders’ Consultation guidelines.