Once the Omnibus II Level 1 text is agreed in the trialogues it must be approved by a plenary vote in the Parliament first, and then by member states in the Council.
Although the ECOFIN Council is responsible for the Directive and takes part in the trialogues, Omnibus II can be approved by any Council configuration (e.g. agriculture or foreign affairs). Providing the text remains unchanged, Omnibus II should sail through both Parliament and Council.
Normally the approved text then undergoes legal and linguistic scrutiny by the jurist-linguists in the Parliament and Council, who will work together to prepare the text for publication in the Official Journal. Translation and publication can take up to three months, so to speed up the process, new common guidelines (introduced in March this year) will allow for work to begin on sections of the text as they are agreed rather than wait for the final draft. This should considerably shorten the time it takes to publish in the Official Journal after the Parliament and Council approval.
Once in the Official Journal, the Level 1 text becomes legally binding and can be transposed into national law in each member state.
Level 2 text
Only after the Level 1 text is published in the Official Journal can the Commission begin the process for publishing the Level 2 text.
First, the Commission will review the draft internally, taking account of the changes made to the Level 1 text. At this stage informal discussions may take place between the three bodies to allow the Commission to consider their opinion.
The final text then undergoes legal and linguistic scrutiny by the Commission and formally offered to the Council and Parliament for approval. This is called the ‘objection period’, during which the two bodies can either accept or reject the text.
The consideration is for the entire text. If it is rejected, the text cannot enter into force and the Commission must redraft it. Hence the importance of the informal discussions.
In the Parliament the review of the text will be conducted by the ECON committee. To speed up the process, an informal written discussion will take place rather than a committee meeting. The text will only go to the Plenary if objections are raised.
If the Parliament and Council raise no objections during the objection period, the text is published in the Official Journal and the Level 2 text becomes legally binding.
According to the FSA consultation (CP11/22) published last year, “It is anticipated that the level 2 will be an EU regulation and, as such, will apply directly to firms and supervisory authorities without requiring transposition into domestic law.” This is understood to be the commonly held view, although it has not been confirmed officially.