Law-making in Europe is complex.
Under following link you find a visualisation on the most important steps along the “Ordinary legislative procedure”:

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/infographic/legislative-procedure/index_en.html

This infographic also provides following information on the differences between Regulations, Directives and Decisions:

” Regulations are directly binding throughout the EU as of the date set down in the Official Journal. Directives lay down end results to be achieved in every member state, but leaves it up to national governments to decide how to adapt their laws to achieve these goals. Each directive specifies the date by which the national laws must be adapted. Decisions apply in specific cases, involving particular authorities or individuals and are fully binding.”

Under following link the timeline of the decision-making process can be seen with the example of the revision of the regulation on shipments of waste: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=CELEX:32024R1157&qid=1737640178655

In this example of the regulation on shipments of waste the European Commission adopted the proposal on 18/11/2021. The proposed legislation was discussed and amended until on 12/04/2024 the regulation was signed by the President of the European Parliament and by the President of the European Council.

Most relevant for economic actors is the date at which a certain legislation enters into force. The “twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union” is a common date for an adopted legislation to come into force. Nevertheless, as indicated in article 86 of the discussed example (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32024R1157) parts of legislation can be dated back or the entry into force can be scheduled at a future date (for the regulation on shipments of waste dates from August 2020 until May 2027 are indicated). To “be on the safe side” of the timelines it is suggested to open the “Document information” tab of each relevant legislation, as the Dates of effect and the “Deadlines” are listed and allocated to the respective articles.

Taking into account that the proposal for a revision of the EU rules on waste shipments started with an internal procedure March 2020 and included stakeholder feedback and public consultations (https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/7567584-Waste-shipments-revision-of-EU-rules_en) the time it took for this revised regulation to be brought on the way exceeded 4 years.

If this piece of legislation would have been Directive, it would have furthermore needed to be transferred to the legislative procedures in the 27 member states…

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What could be your takeaways then? Here some recommendations:

• Expect the unexpected – the initial draft is never identical to the adopted text
• Be aware of the timelines – it can take several years from initiation until adoption of the legislation and the dates of effect and Deadlines can vary among the articles
• Have your say – participation in public consultations (https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say_en) is encouraged by the legislators, as perspectives from all relevant stakeholder groups feed into the legislative procedures
• Stay up to date – exchanging thoughts with peers e.g. on conferences or events organised by associations can help to gain first hand insights on relevant developments