The number of consultations undertaken could be reduced by conducting consultations for groups of countries or making the process voluntary for small emitters (e.g. least developed countries and small island developing states). Another way to minimise resource use could be conduct international consultations electronically via the internet, as the European Commission regularly does for its internal policy process (see Box 4). The length of the period of consultation is generally around 2-3 months. A separate webpage is set up for each consultation containing information on the objective and questions posed by the consultation, together with links to any relevant documentation.