St. Vincent and the Grenadines - Public Consultation Process[7.2]

On January 2003, the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC) published a consultation document in local newspapers and on its website on “Conducting Public Consultations” in order to obtain comments regarding the appropriateness and adequacy of its public consultation procedures and to formalize the NTRC consultation procedures. Comments were due one month after publication of the consultation documents, and reply comments were due two weeks after receipt of the responses. The NTRC received comments from two entities at the end of its consultation period. The final guidelines for conducting public consultations were published in June 2003, setting forth the following two-tiered process:[1]

1. The NTRC prepares a consultative document, which will be available on its website, as well as available at the NTRC office.
2. The NTRC publishes the consultative document and invites responses within a specified period, which may vary between 7 to 21 days depending on the issue upon which the consultation is based. The NTRC will mainly use the written format for its consultation process, but may supplement the written format with public hearings were appropriate.
3. Responses are submitted to the NTRC (1 st round of responses). Responses can be submitted by post, fax or e-mail. Responses will be posted on the NTRC website, and stakeholders are also encouraged to publish or circulate their comments to other interested parties directly.
4. The NTRC circulates and invites comments on the responses that it has received within a specified timeframe.
5. Comments are submitted to the NTRC (2 nd round of responses).
6. The NTRC publishes a Statement or Policy Position Paper after due deliberation.

ENDNOTES

[1] St. Vincent and the Grenadines National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, Guidelines for Conducting Public Consultations , June 2003.