The first thing I ask every new client is what type of proposal they are dealing with and where is the proposal in the adoption process.
I do so for two simple reasons.
First, as soon as you are clear about what type of initiative you are dealing with, the steps and actions you need to take are very clear. I turn to a collection of process charts, checklists and case studies, and can more or less give an accurate diagnosis on the chances of success and the next actions.
Second, the later you step in, the less chance you have to influence events. My Catholic guilt has forced me too many times to say “I can’t help because it is too late in the process”. Fortunately, there are more than enough lobbyists and lawyers to say I am wrong and take on the fight. To date, none have succeeded.
It means there is no one map and approach that works. But, if you have a set of well-tested maps (checklists, process charts, case studies), that have been tried and tested and work, your chance of getting to where you want to be are a lot higher than if you don’t.
A Mechanical Approach
If you really understand the mechanics of how laws and policies are really adopted and passed, you don’t leave things to chance. A lot of people find this mechanical approach dull and prefer a more free-flowing approach, driven by their gut and emotions. With age, I’ve found if you have mechanics perfected, know what to do and when you have a lot more headspace for ‘exciting’ things.
I mainly work on a mix of secondary legislation and ordinary legislation.
The majority of my work is secondary legislation dealing with substance issues.
So, I tend to deal with a lot of ECHA Agency work. This means the work is divided into two stages, the deliberative work in Helsinki, and the adoption work in Brussels. The opinion-making and then the adoption by secondary legislation. Each has its own process, dynamic, and requires different information to be brought to different people at different times.
The steps for a CLP Classification, REACH Restriction, REACH Authorisation, or REACH SHVC Identification, are clear.
The actions you need to take for each of the procedures are as clear. If you want to ignore these steps and right actions, you can’t be surprised if things don’t go your way.
When you are dealing with any CLP or REACH measure, all you are really dealing with is a piece of secondary legislation.
Summary
CLP Classification: Delegated act
REACH Restriction: RPS Measure
REACH Authorisation: Implementing act
REACH SHV Identification: Implementing act
For a list of procedures, please go here.
So, all you have to do for each is turn to a good process chart that spells out all the steps, makes clear all the actions needed, and offers you a clear process map, checklist and case studies of what success and failure look like.
Be Ahead of the Curve
The only difficulty is that a lot of the material you need to make your case will be needed years before any proposal is made. The timelines to prepare your case, and create the right evidence, are often too short to bring new and pertinent evidence to the table. So, this requires that you are constantly attentive to new scientific developments and political winds, and are on alert, and ready to prepare your case when the winds change. If you wait until a proposal is made public, you are likely too late.
The same goes for ordinary legislation. The steps in the ideation, adoption and legislative passage of a proposal are well laid out. The actions you need to take are well known, if not often practised.
The direction of travel is locked in early on. It is possible to insert or derail but is very difficult. If you have the resources to pull this off.
The Key Steps Are Not Public
Just as with a recipe, the adoption of legislative proposals follows a number of steps. Those steps are particular for each and every recipe, and the steps for the adoption of each type of law are more or less the same. There will be variations. The politics and the issue and of course the votes for her against the proposal well to some degree rather be different. But, what is not different, are the steps that happen. The steps for an implementing act, delegated act, RPS Measure, or ordinary legislation, are different. The actions you need to take and when are not the same.
What is clear when you look at the anatomy of a legislative proposal from ideation, adoption and political agreement, the public steps are a small part of the overall process.
It is like looking at the skeleton of a human being and proclaiming the bones as a living breathing human. But that skeleton misses the sinews, nerves, blood, muscles, and organs, let alone the soul of life itself of a fully functioning sentient human being.
Too much lobbying and campaigning proceed as if the skeleton is everything. And, as such misses out and all but the most important steps and the actions that you can take to influence the process.
The one reason to Lobby
Lest we forget, the purpose of lobbying is so that your client can influence the final outcome of the policy and law. It is not, as so many seem to think, an opportunity for bellybutton gazing, the healing and gnashing of teeth in marathon internal meetings. Your sole objective should be to ensure that the final policy or law put onto the statute books/Official Journal, is the one that you want.
Those minded for aspirations for perfection on this political Earth, should perhaps seek a more spiritual vocation of a think tank, University cloister, or a take a vow of political celibacy and become a Party activist. There the torments of this political world can be dealt with by political recitations of faith, or in the privacy of one’s own room, political self-flagellation. But if you are minded to do this, you should at all costs avoid entering the world of lobbying. The disappointments will be too much for you.
One Challenge
There is only one challenge. Few of the key steps are public. And, more importantly, the small windows of opportunity that you have to influence the direction of travel are often not public. But, if you don’t know the real steps in the first place, it is going to be hard to find out what actions you need to take or have any real influence.
If you do follow this approach, your chances of embracing success are high. It is an approach that time, persistence and self-realism.