Introduction
On 7 January 2021, Marc Hansen, the Minister Delegate for Digitalisation and Minister Delegate for the Administrative Reform, presented the national portal for public inquiries to the public. The portal has been online since 13 January 2021 at www.enquetes-publiques.lu and provides information about various procedures and related public inquiries.
This initiative of the Ministry for Digitalisation is part of the Government's efforts in the field of the administrative reform and simplification. Indeed, before the national portal for public inquiries was created, information about a given inquiry was communicated in the form of official notices published in the national press and the specific distribution channels of each entity.
Through this new portal, citizens now have a digital means of consulting public inquiries and submitting their contributions. This is in addition to the traditional methods specific to each procedure.
Context
Public inquiries are formal and mandatory prior to certain administrative decisions. The procedures for each public inquiry are governed by the law relating to the administrative procedure concerned. The organisers, whether they be ministries or administrations, public establishments or municipalities, are keen to give maximum visibility to their inquiries in order to allow citizens to make their remarks, observations or complaints before the competent authority takes its decision.
The advantages of the portal
An Internet portal bringing together all kinds of public inquiries is an asset because of its continuous availability to the citizens. It can be accessed anywhere and at any time, and the general public no longer needs to travel to consult the documents relating to a public inquiry. In addition, a notification system, to which individual citizens may subscribe, informs the interested party about ongoing enquiries or about a particular topic. Lastly, in cases where the procedure provides for it, citizens can also submit their contributions directly by electronic means using a MyGuichet.lu assistant.
In the long run, the Internet portal can greatly contribute to the harmonisation of public consultation procedures and bring about a necessary simplification in the eyes of all stakeholders.
Finally, from the point of view of public services, the management of public inquiries is made easier and faster because it is more convenient to collect citizens' contributions.
Headings and functionalities
The Internet portal is divided into 4 main headings:
- ongoing public inquiries and information relating thereto,
- official notices relating to public inquiries and administrative decisions,
- a calendar of the information meetings scheduled, together with the contact details and consultation hours of the organising bodies,
- an explanatory guide to the administrative procedures concerned.
The portal is available in 4 languages (French, German, English and Luxembourgish). The bodies organising public inquiries can therefore provide information about their inquiries in these four languages. Citizens can also subscribe to personalised alerts in order to be informed in real time of the addition of new inquiries to the portal in the municipality or municipalities of their choice.
With regard to the submission of contributions, it should be noted that, if the applicable legislation so permits, the portal provides citizens with a means of submitting their remarks directly using the MyGuichet.lu assistant with or without strong authentication (LuxTrust certificate). If the applicable legislation does not provide for the submission of these remarks digitally, the portal nevertheless offers the option of consulting the official notices relating to the inquiry in question.