B4. The state should develop and disperse information, policies and procedures about how to participate in decisions. This information should be clear, and the state should facilitate public understanding of this information. B5. If there are selection processes about who can participate in a decision, these processes should be objective and open. B6. The time frames within which people may participate in decisions should be reasonable. This means that the time frames should be such that the public can prepare and access information about a project being considered. In addition, public participation should occur at a time which would allow opinions, voiced during a decision-making process, to be considered. For example: the public concerned with a decision should be informed about a proposed activity early in the decision-making process, while options are still open and while they may still influence any final decisions. B7. Participation in decision-making processes should take different forms, depending on the subject matter of a decision and the public involved. Public participation may involve • • • • • • conducting meetings between stakeholders at convenient locations; circulating and making available documents relevant to a decision; giving the public the opportunity to circulate written statements at meetings or around a community; giving the public the opportunity to speak, to ask questions, and to have their questions answered at meetings; establishing committees comprised of different stakeholders, which are involved in decisionmaking; calling for comments and submissions. B8. If people or communities request a state or non-state actor to participate in a decision, the state or non-state actor should respond to these requests. B9. The state should be proactive in organising opportunities for the public to participate in decisions affecting the environment, even without requests for participation. B10. Grounds for restricting participation in decision-making should be as restrictive as possible. If a request to participate in a decision is refused, the state should notify the person or community requesting participation about the refusal, and should provide reasons for the refusal and information about review procedures. Valid reasons for refusing participation may include: • • • • • the environment would be adversely affected by disclosure; international relations would be adversely affected by disclosure; national defence would be adversely affected by disclosure; public security would be adversely affected by disclosure; the confidentiality of commercial or personal information would be adversely affected by disclosure. B11. Once a decision is made, the public should be informed of the decision. In informing the public, the state should be guided by the principles guiding the promotion, protection and implementation of participatory rights listed in this Annex. - 53 -