For more information, see the Annex. No 144 of 4 June 1997. It is also accessible on the Europa-dg24 server . After 5 years of negotiations between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, the Directive was adopted on 16 January 1997 by the Parliament and on 23 January 1997 by the Council. The Directive has been published in the Official Journal of 4 June 1997, and enters into force on that date.
Member states have three years for the implementation.
In order to achieve final agreement between the Council and the Parliament on the provisions of the Directive, an additional period of time was required. This procedure, known as the 'Conciliation Procedure', began on 1 October 1996. The Conciliation Committee consisted of several members and representatives of the Council and the Parliament. The Commission participated in the activities of the Committee and took several initiatives to gather all the opinions. On the 27th of November 1996, the Conciliation Committee agreed on a compromise text.