In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such an inquiry differs from a royal commission in that a public inquiry accepts evidence and conducts its hearings in a more public forum and focuses on a more specific occurrence.
Interested members of the public and organisations may make (written) evidential submissions, as is the case with most inquiries, and also listen to oral evidence given by other parties.
The political decision whether to appoint a public inquiry into an event was found to be dependent on several factors.
Reports usually make recommendations to improve the quality of government or management of public organisations in the future.
[2] Empirical studies do not find support for the claim that appointing a public inquiry leads to a decline in media attention to the inquired issue.
A number of historically important public inquiries have taken place in South Africa since the advent of full democracy in 1994.
Only United Kingdom government ministers can establish public inquiries, set their terms of reference, and appoint the chair.