Why lobbyists need a flight plan – a case study

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Pilots have flight plans. Before they go into the air , they go through a checklist and review  their flight plan.  When they are in the air, they’ll adjust their journey, depending on weather conditions and turbulence.  Their final journey won’t be exactly the same one they planned for. They know from the start that they’ll make adjustments during the journey.

A good pilot knows that if they just jumped in and took off without a journey plan, the chances of landing safely, if at all, are slim.

When you prepare for the journey, you see how long it is going to be, and what you need to bring along. If you don’t know the journey, you may be caught out, and think the journey is a short one, but then forced to land or crash in the sea when you discover it is a lot longer than you had planned for.

When embarking on a legislative or policy file, I find it useful to know the journey’s map.   I’ve taken to looking at similar journeys taken by others to get a good idea of the map. It helps see what preparations are needed, and if possible, improve on the journey plan.  I know from the start that adjustments will be needed during the journey. The voyage won’t be smooth.

Case Study

A case study is the adoption of occupational exposure legislation.

In 2016, the Commission started the process to amend Directive 2004/37 on the protection of workers from the risk related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work.

Below, I have chunked down the key steps by date.

It could as well be represented by a process chart and  a journal record of the legislative journey.

What you’ll notice from it, is that the voyage is not a short one – more than 3 years. There are several important steps in the journey, from political validation, scientific deliberation, review by the social partners (which is unique to OELs), the adoption by the Commission, and legislative adoption by the Council and the European Parliament.

The journey is broken down into several important chunks or steps. If you miss one important step, you’re likely to land up in the wrong place, or in the right place at the wrong time, or simply crash.

 

Stages in the Journey

  1. Commissioner Marianne Thyssen backs 3rd CMD  – 23 May 2016
  2. SCOEL informed of new list of substances to be evaluated – 12 September 2016
  3. SCOEL Recommendation adopted by SCOEL – 30 June 2016 [ 8 hour 0.3 ppm]
  4. Working Party on Chemicals (WPC) (a sub group of ACSH) – 15-16 June 2016
  5. Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work( ACSH) – 9 September 2016  (link)
  6. SCOEL Recommendation on Formaldehyde published – 6 March 2017 (link)
  7. Joint Declaration of on the EU’s legislative priorities for 2017-2018 – 14 December 2017 (link)
  8. Road Map launched Public 4 week feedback  opens  – 27 November 2017 (link)
  9. Road Map Public feedback closes 4 submissions – 25 December 2017 (link)
  10. Draft impact assessment report submitted to the RSB –  30 January 2018 (link)
  11. Regulatory Scrutiny Board positive opinion –  23 February 2018
  12. Regulatory Scrutiny Board opinion with changes incorporated – 30 January 2018 (link).
  13. Services Draft proposal – February 2018
  14. Inter-Service Consultation – March 2018
  15. Commission proposal adopted – 5 April 2018 (link) (Press Release link)
  16. Post proposal feedback opens – 5 April 2018
  17. Post proposal feedback closes – 4 June 2018
  18. European Parliament Employment and Social Affairs Committee draft report – 29 June 2018 (link)
  19. Economic and Social Committee Opinion – 19 September 2018 (link)
  20. Amendments tabled in committee 24 September 2018 (link)
  21. Vote in Committee – 20 November 2018 (link)
  22. Committee decision to open inter-institutional negotiations with report – 20 November 2018 (link)
  23. Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading – 23 November 2018 (link)
  24. Coreper letter confirming inter-institutional agreement 15/02/2019 (link)
  25. Approval in committee of the text agreed at 1st reading inter-institutional negotiations – 19 February 2019 (link)
  26. Text adopted by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading – 27 March 2019 (link)
  27. COREPER agree – 15 May 2019
  28. General Affairs Council adopt – 21 May 2019 (link)
  29. Final Act – 5 June 2019 (link)
  30. Next Steps – publish in Official Journal