The vade mecum on complaint-handling and citizen engagement delivers one of the nine actions in the European Commission's 2018 environmental compliance assurance action plan. It was prepared between May 2018 and May 2019 by Directorate-General Environment of the European Commission together with the Ecologic Institute and individual experts nominated by members of the Environmental Compliance and Governance Forum.

In January 2018 the European Commission adopted an Action Plan to improve compliance with EU environmental rules. Ecologic Institute and its partners support the European Commission in implementing the Action Plan. In particular, the project assists the European Commission in the development of good practice guidance documents on combating environmental crimes, on compliance assurance in rural areas and on handling environmental complaints of citizens as well as with the communication on the Action Plan.