Consultations of the draft Management Plan. After the management-planning workshop the lead compiler has the task of drafting the Management Plan based on the workshop outcomes in cooperation with the Secretariat. Depending on the time available, this usually takes between two and four months. This first draft is then circulated to the workshop participants as well as those government representatives and national experts that were invited but not able to attend. This first consultation round is meant to ensure that all the necessary substantive details as well as actions for the species are reflected as discussed at the workshop. Following the feedback from the workshop participants, the lead compiler prepares a new draft which is submitted by the Secretariat to the AEWA Technical Committee for comments. A revised draft is then again prepared by the lead compiler and submitted by the Secretariat to all Focal Points and Contact Points in the relevant Range States for official government consultation. The timeframe for the official consultation is ideally three months. Within the framework of the official consultation the Focal Points and Contact Points are expected to circulate the draft to all relevant national bodies and stakeholders for comments in accordance with their respective established national procedures and to submit the consolidated national comments to the Secretariat by the given deadline. If no comments are submitted by the deadline, the Secretariat assumes that Range States are in agreement with the Plan. Possible extensions of the deadline for submitting national comments can be requested of the Secretariat. The Secretariat is responsible for the overall final editing (both language and layout) of the draft plan. In order to avoid unnecessary delays throughout the drafting process, this task is usually carried out towards the end of the consultation process.
