In the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth countries, Hong Kong, the United States and the European Union, [1] a green paper is a tentative government report and consultation document of policy proposals for debate and discussion. A green paper represents the best that the government can propose on the given issue, but, as it remains uncommitted, it can without loss of face leave its final decision open until it has been able to consider the public reaction to it. [2] Green papers may result in the production of a white paper. They may be seen as grey literature.
A green paper in Canada, like a white paper, is an official government document. Green papers tend to be statements not of policy already determined, but of propositions put before the whole nation for discussion. They are produced early in the policy-making process, while ministerial proposals are still being formulated. Many white papers in Canada have been, in effect, green papers, while at least one green paper—that on immigration and population in 1975—was released for public debate after the government had already drafted legislation. [3]
Similarly, in the UK, green papers are official consultation documents produced by the government for discussion both inside and outside Parliament, for instance when a government department is considering introducing a new law. [4] [5]
The term "green paper" has been said to originate with the publication in 1941 by Herwald Ramsbotham, UK president of the board of education, of plans for educational reform in a green binding, which became known as the "Green Book". [6] According to the BBC, UK green papers are printed on paper of a pale green colour.
A green paper released by the European Commission is a discussion document intended to stimulate debate and launch a process of consultation, at European level, on a particular topic. A green paper usually presents a range of ideas and is meant to invite interested individuals or organizations to contribute views and information. It may be followed by a white paper, an official set of proposals that is used as a vehicle for their development into law.
A major review of defence policy in Australia culminated in a white paper issued in December 2000. Prior to this, a discussion paper was released in June 2000. This discussion paper was in nature what is known as a green paper (and was sometimes referred to as such).
The purpose of the 2008 EU green paper on copyright was to foster a debate on how knowledge for research, science and education can best be disseminated in the online environment. The green paper, which was published on 16 July 2008, aimed to set out a number of issues connected with the role of copyright in the "knowledge economy" and intended to launch a consultation on these issues (see this document). The EU asked for answers and comments to be submitted up to 30 November 2008.
A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. Since the 1990s, this type of document has proliferated in business. Today, a business-to-business (B2B) white paper is closer to a marketing presentation, a form of content meant to persuade customers and partners and promote a certain product or viewpoint. That makes B2B white papers a type of grey literature.
The draft European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA), or formally the Draft Agreement on the establishment of a European patent litigation system, was a proposed patent law agreement aimed at creating an "optional protocol to the European Patent Convention (EPC) which would commit its signatory states to an integrated judicial system, including uniform rules of procedure and a common appeal court". It differed from the Unified Patent Court Agreement in that the EPLA negotiations were coordinated from the side of the European Patent Office, rather than from the European Council and Commission and therefore also offered the possibility for non-EU states to participate.
The reform of the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, has been a topic of discussion in UK politics for more than a century. Multiple governments have attempted reform, beginning with the introduction of the Parliament Act 1911 by the incumbent Liberal Government. When the Labour Party came to power in the 1997 general election, the Blair government passed the House of Lords Act 1999. On 7 November 2001 the government undertook a public consultation. This helped to create a public debate on the issue of Lords reform, with 1,101 consultation responses and numerous debates in Parliament and the media. However, no consensus on the future of the upper chamber emerged.
Parliamentary informatics is the application of information technology to the documentation of legislative activity. The principal areas of concern are the provision, in a form conveniently readable to humans or machines, of information and statistics about:
The Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) is an independent, non-partisan, pan-European non-profit organisation. It aims to enhance the quality of policy decisions through providing policy-relevant research, based soundly in economic scholarship, to policymakers, the private sector, and civil society.
The European Union uses a range of legal instruments to implement policy, varied across two major decision-making processes co-decision and cooperation procedure.
An Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom is primary legislation passed by the UK Parliament in Westminster, London.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a multilateral treaty for the purpose of establishing international standards for intellectual property rights enforcement that did not enter into force. The agreement aims to establish an international legal framework for targeting counterfeit goods, generic medicines and copyright infringement on the Internet, and would create a new governing body outside existing forums, such as the World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the United Nations.
Crown copyright is a type of copyright protection. It subsists in works of the governments of some Commonwealth realms and provides special copyright rules for the Crown, i.e. government departments and (generally) state entities. Each Commonwealth realm has its own Crown copyright regulations. There are therefore no common regulations that apply to all or a number of those countries. There are some considerations being made in Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand regarding the "reuse of Crown-copyrighted material, through new licences".
The Telecoms Package was the review of the European Union Telecommunications Framework from 2007 – 2009. The objective of the review was to update the EU Telecoms Framework of 2002 and to create a common set of regulations for the telecoms industry across all 27 EU member states. The review consisted of a package of directives addressing the regulation of service provision, access, interconnection, users' contractual rights and users' privacy, as well as a regulation creating a new European regulatory body (BEREC).
An open-access mandate is a policy adopted by a research institution, research funder, or government which requires or recommends researchers—usually university faculty or research staff and/or research grant recipients—to make their published, peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers open access (1) by self-archiving their final, peer-reviewed drafts in a freely accessible institutional repository or disciplinary repository or (2) by publishing them in an open-access journal or both.
Copyright for Creativity - A Declaration for Europe issued on 5 May 2010, is intended as a statement of how copyright policy could be constructed in the Internet Age. It comes against the background of political debate within Europe to rethink copyright in an era where the use of digital content without paying fees to the creators is part of the business model for some of the largest global internet platforms. Interests of content creators and online platform providers collide. The declaration has been written by a group from political party "European People's Party (EPP)" The Declaration focuses on both the exclusive rights and the limitations and exceptions to existing copyright rulings and standards.
Although for many decades, it was customary to focus on GDP and other measures of national income, there has been growing interest in developing broad measures of economic well-being. National and international approaches include the Beyond GDP programme developed by the European Union, the Better Lives Compendium of Indicators developed by the OECD, as well as many alternative metrics of wellbeing or happiness. One of the earliest attempts to develop such an index at national level was Bhutan's Gross National Happiness Index and there are a now a number of similar projects ongoing around the world, including a project to develop for the UK an assessment of national well-being, commissioned by the Prime Minister David Cameron and led by the Office for National Statistics.
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is a land-use planning policy in England. It was originally published by the UK's Department of Communities and Local Government in March 2012, consolidating over two dozen previously issued documents called Planning Policy Statements (PPS) and Planning Policy Guidance Notes (PPG) for use in England. It has since been revised in 2018, 2019, 2021 and twice in 2023. The live version is from December 2023.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) was a proposed trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the United States, with the aim of promoting trade and multilateral economic growth. According to Karel de Gucht, European Commissioner for Trade between 2010 and 2014, the TTIP would have been the largest bilateral trade initiative ever negotiated, not only because it would have involved the two largest economic areas in the world but also "because of its potential global reach in setting an example for future partners and agreements".
Monika Panayotova is a Doctor of Political Science, with interests in the field of the EU security and defence policy. Bulgarian politician – Monika Panayotova has been appointed as Deputy Minister for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU 2018, responsible for the relations with the European Parliament during the Bulgaria's presidency since June 28, 2017.
Lobbying in the European Union, also referred to officially as European interest representation, is the activity of representatives of diverse interest groups or lobbies who attempt to influence the executive and legislative authorities of the European Union through public relations or public affairs work. The Treaty of Lisbon introduced a new dimension of lobbying at the European level that is different from most national lobbying. At the national level, lobbying is more a matter of personal and informal relations between the officials of national authorities, but lobbying at the European Union level is increasingly a part of the political decision-making process and thus part of the legislative process. 'European interest representation' is part of a new participatory democracy within the European Union. The first step towards specialised regulation of lobbying in the European Union was a Written Question tabled by Alman Metten, in 1989. In 1991, Marc Galle, Chairman of the Committee on the Rules of Procedure, the Verification of Credentials and Immunities, was appointed to submit proposals for a Code of conduct and a register of lobbyists. Today lobbying in the European Union is an integral and important part of decision-making in the EU. From year to year lobbying regulation in the EU is constantly improving and the number of lobbyists is increasing.
The Chequers plan, officially known as The future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union , was a UK Government white paper concerning Brexit, published on 12 July 2018 by the prime minister, Theresa May. The paper was based on a three-page cabinet agreement from 6 July 2018 and laid out the type of future relationship between the UK and the European Union (EU) that the UK sought to achieve in the Brexit negotiations. At the time it was anticipated that the United Kingdom would leave the European Union on 29 March 2019.
The Conference on the Future of Europe was a proposal of the European Commission and the European Parliament, announced at the end of 2019, with the aim of looking at the medium- to long-term future of the EU and what reforms should be made to its policies and institutions. It is intended that the Conference should involve citizens, including a significant role for young people, civil society, and European institutions as equal partners and last for two years. It will be jointly organised by the European Parliament, the EU Council and the European Commission. On 19 April 2021, the multilingual digital platform of the Conference futureu.europa.eu was launched.
Participatory democracy "is founded on the direct action of citizens who exercise some power and decide issues affecting their lives". Participatory democracy refers to mechanisms through which citizens are involved in public decision-making processes, not as an alternative to representative democracy but as a complement to it.