Legislative drafting and online consultation: a contribute to law-making for better regulation?

This paper deals with online consultation (also known as e-consultation or consultation by ICT) as a legislative drafting technique. As we all know, for some time at international level (see OECD's Papers on Better Regulation) consultations of the recipients of legal acts carried out within the regulatory cycle have been considered fundamental for a better regulation. Specific theoretical models and just as many IT programs have been studied in the literature to enhance consultations in the field of the regulatory impact assessment activities. Mainly this paper deals with the consultations by ICT, making an overall assessment of their state-of-the-art diffusion and regulation; trying to understand whether and in which way the ICTs have valorised the consultative activity and above all whether, hypothetically, its diffusion has really improved the quality of law. Or whether, on the contrary, as has often happened in e-government practices, ICT alone cannot work magic in putting right all the shortcomings by way of excessively enthusiastic users in charge of implementing it.