There is a useful add on to PDF. You can compare two PDFs and see how the text has changed.
For me, this has an extra use. It helps you see how much of a legislative proposal got changed.
Many people claim a crucial role in influencing the final proposal from when the Commission issues it, to when the European Parliament and Council adopt it. These smart tools help you call out the bluffers.
My own rule of thumb is that in most legislation, the final text bears a strong resemblance to the original proposal. While there may be changes, those changes are often superficial.
Two very experienced former bosses in DG Environment, who between them probably steered more new laws into the OJ than most officials read, put the number at around 5-10%. Over the next 20 plus years, the lack of of change has stuck with me.
A lots of money is spent trying to influencing laws once it goes out the door. These comparison tools help you identify your return on investment.
To test it, I used one of the pieces of software to compare a recent law that’s been had been adopted. After all the toing and froing between the European Parliament and Council, and the digesting of hundreds of amendments, the Commission’s original proposal got through relatively unscathed onto the Official Journal.
There is merit in a doctoral student doing a more sober and analytical study.
Despite not having mastered the versatility of the software, a first glance shows not much changed from the start to the end. I need to plug in a lot more before and after EU laws and see if there has been any real change.
There’s some academic literature on this where they actually did textual comparisons to have data to prove your gut. Event we are doing later in April on this – will send you an invite.
I used a piece of comapre the PDF software. Before and after revealing in how little changes.