In confirmation with its believe in the significance of constructive dialogue, the ETEC Portal enables for positive social E-Participation and meaningful interaction via blogs, opinion polls, complaints – suggestions – comments, and evaluation of topics and services to utilize stakeholders' experiences and influential and interested bodies and individuals in evaluation, accreditation and measurement tests in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Thus, the Commission supervises and reviews all posts to ensure compliance with related laws before its publication. Moreover, to give participants an opportunity to voice their opinions freely to ETEC officials and raise the level of dialogue. In that regard, ETEC provides an open communication forum to all participants upon entering personal data and contact information, reserving the right to publish or remove whatsoever violates its policies or the Saudi official websites' E-Participation laws, with no obligation to it. Thus, neither ETEC nor its employees or representatives are liable for any consequences of comments, published or observed, via its electronic means of participation.

E-Participation Policy and Decision-Making

ETEC's E-Participation policy serves beneficiaries' interests in decision-making; best advice for their business, services, K-12 education, vocational training and higher education. ETEC benefited from the following advantages of modern technologies for participants' best interests:

- Increased sharing capacity and popularity.
- Transparency and fairness.
- Objectivity; avoiding administrative biases.
- Help expedite decision-making by analyzing available electronic contributions.

Sharing Available Tools:

ETEC benefited from social E-Participation tools: comments, evaluations, direct communication (i.e., clear, concise and unfiltered), blogs, opinion polls, directed questionnaires (i.e., census, surveys, etc.), complaints and suggestions, expanding or reducing its circle of E-Participation in accordance with the nature of the topic in focus, using all or some of these means in the process of decision-making.

Policies and Laws:

- ETEC's E- Participation policies and laws enables it to utilize all that helps serve beneficiaries, via sharing opinions, experiences and suggestions with experts authorities, stakeholders, citizens and those of direct or relevant interest on its E-Portal.

Therefore, the nature of ETEC's discussions is usually conducted in an open forum where all can participate and express opinions on focused topics and goals related to the public, to assess their direct effects, and to share and receive feedback, experiences, and opinions for advice, unless it deems it necessary to identify a target group.

Thus, ETEC periodically reviews posts, but is not obligated to review or respond to all, due to volume or repeated information, while reserving its right to publish or remove any content that violates its policies or Saudi E-Participation law. Accordingly, neither ETEC nor its employees or representatives are liable for any consequences arising from any published or observed comments via ETEC's electronic means of participation.

Moreover, any E-Participation and interaction via ETEC's electronic means constitute tacit approval of its right to use them in its decision-making processes and future policymaking, with an unbinding commitment to publish and archive all related results.

Stages of E-Participation in Decision-Making:

The process of E-Participation in decision-making undergo several stages before reaching a final decision. ETEC holds the right to amend, accelerate or bypass any or some of the following stages in accordance with the nature of the presented topics:

Stage (1): Presentation

ETEC publishes topics via its electronic portal to a targeted or public audience, then requests their E-Participation in decision-making as follows:

- Describe topic, objectives, participation period, available means and information of the internal authority responsible for the decision-making process.
- Determine target(ed) group(s) requested for E-Participation in decision-making.
- Significance of the target(ed) group(s)' role in relation to decision-making and extent of effect and impact on its/their interests.
- E-Participation laws and policies in decision-making.

Stage (2): Publication

ETEC publishes its topics on its electronic portal and submits them for public social E-Participation in decision-making with any additional means it sees fit in accordance with the nature of the topic(s), including the printed press.

Stage (3): E-Participation Collection:

After making its E-Participation channels available and managing them in accordance with its policy, ETEC collects and classifies contributions, while communicating and responding – as much as possible – during this period to posts that require clarification and assistance.

Stage (4): E-Participation Analysis:

Upon concluding its specified period for its social E-Participation on any specified subject, ETEC will sort, analyze and select whatever it deems an appropriate contribution for its decision and policy making.

Stage (5): Decision Making and Announcement:

After analyzing its E-Participations, ETEC will study its outcomes - as much as possible - and decide on what best suits its decision-making and announce its decision via its electronic portal and whatever media it deems appropriate.

Stage (6): Discussion Closure and Archiving:

The discussion of the topic in focus is officially closed once ETEC has disclosed and announced its decision and archived all related E-Participation documents involved in its decision-making process and prepares and archives an E-Participation report on all stages that includes:

- A study evaluating and justifying the initial situation and need for E-Participation in the decision-making process.
- E-Participation documents (i.e., contributions).
- ETEC's communications in the E-Participation Collection phase.
- Detailed statistics on the E-Participation process.
- Decisions and policies taken as a result of the E-Participation process and justifications for its formation and development.
- Report on E-Participation achievements and obstacles during the process and the future recommendations.

E-Community Participation Policy