VADEMECUM for the Inter-institutional Working Groups on how

VADE MECUMFor the Inter-institutional Working Groups on howto get prepared for EU Accession negotiationsPublished by In cooperation with

VADE MECUMfor the Inter-institutional Working Groups on how to get prepared for EU Accession negotiations December 2017

Name of publication:Vade mecum – for the Interinstitutional Working Groups on how to get prepared for EU Accession negotiationsPublished by:© Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbHFor publisher:Blerina Raca, Project ManagerGIZ project “Support to harmonisation of economic and trade legislation with EU acquis”Rr. Ismail Qemali, No 3, 2nd Floor,Tirana - AlbaniaT +355 42273424E: [email protected]: www.giz.de/albaniaAuthor:Dr. Peter HEIL (Altus Ltd. Hungary)Editorial Board:Blerina Raca, Zhenihen Zanaj, Alma BilaliDesign and layoutStudio TartariCover image: Created by Alliesinteractive - Freepik.comTirana, 2018No. of copies printed200Place and date of issueTirana, February 2018GIZ is responsible for the content of this publication.On behalf of theGerman Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) CIP Katalogimi në botim BK Tiranë Dr. Peter HEIL (Altus Ltd. Hungary) Vade mecum – for the Interinstitutional Working Groups on how to get prepared for EU Accession negotiations / Dr. Peter HEIL. – Tiranë: Tartari, 2018; 73 pgs.; 21.59x27.94cm. ISBN 978-9928-4390-7-9 1. Bashkimi Europian 2. 347.7(496.5)(094.5) 346.548(496.5)(094.5) 2

AcknowledgementsGIZ wishes to express their gratitude to the Ministry of Finance and Economy and theMinistry for Europe and Foreign Affairs for supporting the preparation of this Manual, andadapting it for their work.Special thanks are also due to the officials and experts who have contributed to thepreparation of this Manual and the Chapter Task Plans that were used as a basis of theVade mecum – including, personally, Dubravka Vlasić Pleše, Tanja Milin, Borna Dimitrovic,Irena Alajbeg, Ružica Gelo, Anila Jani, Pranvera Kastrati, Klotilda Neziri, Zhenihen Zanaj,Alma Bilali, Blerina Raca, Peter Heil as well as the members of the Inter-institutionalWorking Groups for Chapters 1, 3, 28 and 30. 3

FOREWORDThis document is a Vade mecum – or “how to…” manual – prepared for the Albanianministries and national authorities to assist them in the preparations for theirforthcoming negotiations on accession to the European Union. It was produced withthe financial assistance of the Federal Republic of Germany, delivered through theGesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), in autumn 2017.The Manual reflects lessons learned during the preparation, with GIZ’s assistance, offour strategic Task Plans in the areas related to the Internal Market, at the Ministry ofEconomic Development, Tourism, Trade and Enterprise in 2016 and 2017 – and it is nowbeing offered for use to all other ministries with tasks related to the EU accessionprocess.The main target group of the manual are the Inter-institutional Working Groups (IIWGs)in charge of alignment with the EU acquis, as already set up by the Albanian government.The IIWGs include officials of the ministries and national authorities working in the areascovered by EU legislation. Progressively, in line with the evolving national legal and policyframework, the IIWGs will involve in their work, as applicable for each chapter,representatives of local governments and other public bodies, non-governmentalorganisations, speaking for the business sector, employers’ organisations, trade unions,civil society organisations as well as academia.Apart from aiding the preparations for screening, the Vade mecum also has an addedobjective to assist ministries to lay the basis for updating the National Programmefor European Integration (NPEI). Task Plans that are expected to emerge as a product ofusing the Vade mecum, should be directly usable for the NPEI, in both format and content.For this, this Guide makes reference, wherever needed, to existing official methodologiesissued by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.In order to be successful, IIWGs need to be well organised, well managed, and theymust have a strategy. This is where this Vade mecum lends a hand. Following therecommendations in this booklet, the IIWGs should be able to come up with their very ownTask Plans and draft high quality contributions to the NPEI. Blerina Raca Project Manager Support for the harmonisation of Albanian economic and trade legislation with EU acquis 4

HOW TO USE THE VADEMECUM?Preparing for the screening and the accession negotiations with the EU places highdemands on every candidate country’s administration. Very substantial analytical andplanning work is required, posing new types of questions, and demanding the use of newmethodologies. No candidate country has been able to comply with those requirements atonce. The Albanian administration also needs to further develop its capacities in thisregard.Accordingly, the Vade mecum is not to be understood as a set of compulsory requirementsthat need to be applied “right now”. In some areas, where accession preparations are mostadvanced, and specialist expertise is available, this may be possible. But in most sectors, amore gradual approach will have to be taken. Chapter Task Plans based on this Vademecum, as well as the NPEI itself will have to be treated as living and evolving documents,each edition of which will get closer to the ideal.In order to be useful for all Working Groups at any stage of development, and in order todisplay a realistic assessment of the tasks ahead, the Manual does need to “go thewhole way” – i.e. it needs to define how, at the right time, a fully-fledged Task Plan maybe prepared. But it should be applied flexibly. In practical terms, to serve all needs, andto be compatible with all actual levels of progress in all Chapters, the Vade mecum comesin three parts:  PART ONE offers a basic methodology. In fact, it’s a “Vade mecum light” with the aim of satisfying a minimum set of requirements. These should be applied already in the very first editions of Chapter Task Plans.  PART TWO goes deeper, and gives detailed methodological suggestions. These are, on the one hand, hints how the basic requirements in Part I can be satisfied. Beyond that, they point to specific methodologies, and deeper analyses that, at this stage, are “nice to have” – but will be necessary by the time Screening starts. Depending on the level of progress in the given chapter, and the expertise and resources available to the working group in question they may be implemented now or later. Those elements that are addressed later, should be treated forthwith as measures to be included into the Chapter Task Plan itself.  PART THREE contains Annexes with templates and methodological references.Summing up, users of the Vade mecum are kindly invited to apply the Manual according totheir own needs and possibilities. When planning their next steps towards the screeningand negotiation process, they should consider the Vade mecum in its entirety – butdecide about actual actions realistically, on the basis of their needs, and possibilities. 5

TABLE OF CONTENTSI. PART ONE – BASIC METHODOLOGY ..................................................................... 9 I.1 The role of the Task Plan...................................................................................... 9 I.2 Process to elaborate the Task Plan ...................................................................... 9 I.3 Task Plan structure............................................................................................. 11 I.4 Approval of the Task Plan................................................................................... 14 I.5 Before you start…............................................................................................... 15 I.6 Annotated model of the Task PLan..................................................................... 16II. PART TWO - DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS .............................................................. 22 II.1 Introduction to the Task Plan .............................................................................. 23 II.2 Screening ........................................................................................................... 27 II.3 Summary of the Acquis in the Negotiation Chapter covered ............................... 32 II.4 State of play in Albania ....................................................................................... 37 II.4.1 General Assessment ................................................................................... 38 II.4.2 Policy context .............................................................................................. 39 II.4.3 Stakeholder analysis ................................................................................... 40 II.4.4 Specific situation ......................................................................................... 42 II.5 Institutional Framework ...................................................................................... 43 II.5.1 Tasks of the Inter-Institutional Working Groups ........................................... 43 II.5.2 The Membership of the Inter-Institutional Working Group ............................ 45 II.5.3 The Operation of the IIWG........................................................................... 47 II.6 Financial aspects of alignment............................................................................ 49 II.7 Action Plan ......................................................................................................... 51 II.7.1 Sector Co-ordination Framework ................................................................. 53 II.7.2 Sector-level analyses, policies and strategies.............................................. 53 II.7.3 Tasks related to specific elements of the Acquis ......................................... 54 II.7.4 Securing Funding – national budget and donor projects .............................. 54 II.7.5 Planning, Monitoring, Negotiations with the EU ........................................... 54III. Annexes................................................................................................................. 56 III.1 Templates .......................................................................................................... 57 III.1.1 Action Plan template.................................................................................... 57 III.1.2 Screening List.............................................................................................. 58 III.1.3 List of sector strategies................................................................................ 59

III.1.4 List of donor programmes............................................................................ 60 III.1.5 IIWG members’ list template (with status).................................................... 61 III.1.6 Stakeholders’ table ...................................................................................... 62 III.1.7 Budget......................................................................................................... 63 III.1.8 Donor Programmes ..................................................................................... 64 III.2 Methodology Sheets........................................................................................... 65 III.2.1 SWOT analysis............................................................................................ 65 III.2.2 General action planning method – Results Model........................................ 66 III.2.3 Logical Framework Method ......................................................................... 67 III.2.4 Stakeholder Analysis (Capacity WORKS).................................................... 68 III.2.5 (Regulatory) Impact Assessments ............................................................... 69 III.2.6 Functional analyses and Training Needs Assessments ............................... 70 III.2.7 Budgeting .................................................................................................... 71 III.2.8 Indicators (KIS)............................................................................................ 72 III.3 Other reference documents ................................................................................ 73 III.3.1 Order of the Prime Minister on IIWGs .......................................................... 73 III.3.2 Sample Task Plan (Chapter 1) .................................................................... 73 III.3.3 Stakeholders’ Map – Chapter 1 ................................................................... 73 III.3.4 SMEI II – EU Officials’ Handbook ................................................................ 74 III.3.5 SMEI III Guidelines for Law Approximation.................................................. 74 III.3.6 NPEI 2018 methodology.............................................................................. 74 LIST OF TABLESTable 1 - Sample text: the Inter-institutional Working Groups ........................................... 24Table 2 - Sample text: the Screening Process (in short) ................................................... 25Table 3 - Sample text: explaining the structure of the Task Plan....................................... 26Table 4 - Task Plan Methodology – overview of sections and their links ........................... 12Table 5 - Sample text: Chapter 2 – The Screening Process.............................................. 27Table 6 - Sample text: relationships between sector co-ordination bodies ........................ 44 7

ABBREVIATIONS AP = Action Plan EC = European Commission EU = European Union GDP = Gross domestic product GIZ = Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit IIWG = Inter-institutional Working Group IPA = Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance IPMG = Integrated Policy Management Groups IPS = Integrated Planning System KIS = Key implementation steps LGA = Legal gap analysisLOGFRAME = Logical framework MEDTTE = Ministry of Economic Development, Trade, Tourism and Entrepreneurship MEFA = Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs MFE = Ministry of Finance and Economy MTBP = Medium-term Budget Programme NPEI = National Programme for European Integration NSDI = National Strategy for Development and Integration RIA = Regulatory impact assessment RoP = Rules of Procedure SAA = Stabilisation and Association Agreement SMART = Specific, measureable, achievable, relevant, timed SMEI = IPA Support to the Ministry of European Integration SWOT = Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats TP = Task Plan 8

I. PART ONE – BASIC METHODOLOGY I.1 THE ROLE OF THE TASK PLAN Chapter Task Plans serve the twin purposes of  Assisting with and planning preparations for the screening, the first stage of accession negotiations with the European Union;  Providing inputs to the National Programme for European Integration (NPEI), as the main national strategy for the accession process. For every negotiation Chapter, there should be one Task Plan prepared, to serve the entire agenda of the Inter-institutional Working Group (IIWG) in charge. Like the NPEI, each Chapter Task Plan should be updated regularly. Updates should be synchronised with the NPEI itself. According to information available at the time of drafting this Vade mecum, each year:  The NPEI is to be drafted (and/or be updated) in autumn, in parallel to the preparation of the Government’s Annual Work Plan.  Annual progress reports of the European Commission – as the most important feedback to Albania on the country’s progress towards accession – are expected to be published, as from 2018, in spring each year.  Negotiations with the European Union, in the framework of the Accession Council, Accession Committee, and Sub-committees are progressing the whole year, according to different schedules.  The programming of IPA assistance to Albania starts in the early months of each year, and normally ends before the year is over. As visible, there are a number of strategic processes going on, which the TPs have to consider. At the same time, these processes have their own, very different schedules. Given the objective to feed into the NPEI, it is recommended that Task Plans are written / updated between the publication of the EU’s annual progress report and the start of the NPEI’s update process. In practical terms – between April and August each year. I.2 PROCESS TO ELABORATE THE TASK PLAN The specific sequence of steps needed to elaborate a Chapter Task Plan, and the responsibilities for each step, have been identified and tested during the elaboration of the four Task Plans existing at the time of preparing the Vade mecum. It is recommended that the same sequence – based on the prevailing national legislation and the institutional framework – is also applied in other Chapters, as shown in Table 1 below. 9

Table 1 – Steps needed to prepare a Task PlanSTEP 1 Re allocation of EU acquis Responsible for Step 1STEP 2  Discuss on the EC screening list for the  Technical coordinator of the chapter of chapter the lead ministry  Identify line ministries to be members of  IIWG  Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs IIWG  Share and accept responsibilities for law harmonisation and implementation Further development of rules of procedures Responsible for Step 2 for the organization and functioning of IIWG  Technical coordinator of the chapter of  Identification of subgroups within the the lead ministry chapters  IIWG  Role of EU directorate  Ministry of Europe and Foreign AffairsSTEP 3 Stakeholder mapping and TNA Responsible for Step 3STEP 4  Based on the screening list, identify who  Technical coordinator of the chapter of are the key stakeholders of the sectors the lead ministry and how to cooperate with them  IIWG throughout the process of EU integration  Establish cooperation with key stakeholders  Development of TNA, once consolidated sent it to ASPA for training implementation or find funds from IPA or other donors Development or update of LGA Responsible for Step 4  Based on identification of sub thematic  Technical coordinator of the chapter of areas develop LGA the lead ministry  Update LGA on an early basis for a better  IIWG (sub groups created) planning of legal measures in NPEISTEP 5 Development of action plans/analysis to Responsible for Step 5 address  Technical coordinator of the chapter of  Recommendations from SAA the lead ministry subcommittee meetings  IIWG (sub groups created)  Recommendations from EC progress reportsSTEP 6 Follow closely the negotiations process of Responsible for Step 6 candidate countries  Technical coordinator of the chapter of  Opening benchmarks (OB) set by the EC the lead ministry for the specific chapters  IIWG (sub groups created)  Assessment of OB in the context of Albania  Preliminary measures to take in order to avoid as much as possible OBSTEP 7 Listing of above activities in one document – Responsible for Step 7 the task plan  Technical coordinator of the chapter of the lead ministry  EU directory in line ministrySTEP 8 Adoption of the task plan by the lead Ministry Responsible for Step 8  Deputy MinisterIn specific terms, the preparation of the Task Plan should involve – in line with theapplicable Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEFA) legal harmonisation and NPEImethodologies – the following: 10

 STEP 1 – Allocating (or: re-allocating) the responsibility for EU alignment with respect to each chapter, sub-chapter and item of the EU acquis to the relevant ministries and national agencies, thereby determining the membership of the IIWG;  STEP 2 – Establishing (or: updating) the Rules of Procedure (RoP) of the chapter’s inter-institutional working group, in line with its responsibilities. In particular, IIWGs should consider, and reflect in their RoPs, the eventual need to establish sub-groups within the IIWG to deal with specific areas.  STEP 3 – Furthermore, IIWGs need to consider, which additional stakeholders – other than the ministries and national agencies participating on a permanent basis – need to be involved in the IIWG’s work, and how that should be done. This should also be reflected in the RoP. Furthermore, based on the outcome of this stakeholder analysis, a training needs assessment (TNA) should be prepared for the purpose of devising a capacity building plan for the IIWG itself.  STEP 4 – With respect to the substance of alignment with EU requirements, the IIWG should develop a Legal Gap Analysis (LGA) for the chapter. For most chapters, at least a partial LGA exists. These LGAs should now be updated, and amended, e.g. in case they do not cover the entire chapter, or if important legislative developments in the EU were registered. LGA needs to follow the relevant, official methodology issued by MEFA.  STEP 5 – Based on the Legal Gap Analysis, a strategy needs to be developed as to what steps Albania requires to prepare for the screening, negotiations and, progressively, to fully align with the EU acquis. For this, the IIWG needs to consider a variety of sources, and come up with a specific list of tasks to be performed.  STEP 6 – In addition to the analysis of the domestic situation, IIWGs should explore progress and experiences of neighbouring countries, and recently acceded states, with special regard to the content of the screening and benchmarks related to the opening and successful closure of negotiations.  STEP 7 – the outputs of all above steps need to be combined into a single task plan, complete with clearly defined measures, responsibilities, deadlines, indicators of achievement and resource requirements. This action plan directly feeds into the NPEI, specifically its IT monitoring database.I.3 TASK PLAN STRUCTUREAn overview of the structure and internal logic of the Task Plan, as well as the keystandard methodologies needed to produce its different components is displayed on Table2 overleaf. 11

Table 2 - Task Plan Methodology – o 12

overview of sections and their links2

In more specific terms, the Chapter Task Plans should be prepared in a similar structure,having seven sections, as follows:  An Introduction – to explain the purpose of the Action Plan, and to summarise the key elements of its other chapters. For best results, this section should be written last.  An explanation of the screening process. For this generally applicable chapter, the use of a common text is proposed. (Part Two, Chapter II.2)  A structured and prioritised overview of the EU acquis of the chapter. As the acquis is very extensive, for practical purposes, it is proposed that the analysis focuses on the areas and items of the acquis, which were addressed in recent Screenings with Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. Information regarding these is available from the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. ( relates to STEP 1, STEP 4 and STEP 6 above)  Next, the analysis of the State of Play in Albania needs to be described. This chapter should include, first, a general assessment of progress, the overview of the relevant national policy framework, and a full picture of the stakeholders who are concerned by it. Second, in addition, a specific assessment should be given of the status of alignment with regard the key individual areas or items of the EU acquis. The specific analysis needs to address the harmonisation of legislation, as well as Albania’s actual capacity to implement the acquis in terms of institutional structures, human capacities and necessary investments. ( relates to mainly to STEP 5 above)  Fifth, the Task Plan needs to describe the Chapter’s institutional framework. This means, on the one hand, the IIWG itself, and how it will operate. On the other, the section should discuss which stakeholders are involved in the work of the IIWG, and in what way. ( relates to STEP 2 and STEP 3 above)  Sixth, the financial implications of the accession process should be discussed, at three levels. (1) A budget needs to be established for the implementation of the Task Plan. Beyond that, progressively, but as soon as possible, the IIWGs should also assess the wider implications of implementing the EU acquis in Albania in terms of the (2) revenue and expenditure side of the state budget, as well as (3) the situation of the private sector, including both enterprises and households. ( relates to mainly to STEP 5 above)  Last but not least, a specific Action Plan needs to be developed. The format of the action plan should follow exactly that of the list of actions presented in the monitoring system of the NPEI. For each measure, the action plan should include a clear definition of the task, responsibilities, deadlines, etc. For details, please refer to MEFA’s Methodology for Drafting and Monitoring of the NPEI 2018. ( relates to STEP 5 and implements STEP 7 above) 13

I.4 APPROVAL OF THE TASK PLANTask Plans should be developed under the auspices of the the responsible IIWG, andadopted by the relevant ministry/ies. Subsequently, it should be presented at the level ofexisting EU coordination system. Table 3 - Process to present and agree the Task Plan (example: internal market chapters) MEDTTE develops and adopts the task plans for all 7 IIWGs under its lead MEI monitors MEDTTE’s experience and preparation of IIWGs Based on MEDTTE’s good experience, MEI prepares a draft methodology for preparation of task plan to be used for all IIWGs MEI presents draft methodology to KKNIE KKNIE adopts the methodology MEI sends the final methodology to line ministries leaders of IIWGs to start drafting the task planM1 M2 Mx Task plan Task plan Task plan drafted, drafted, drafted, discussed discussed discussedand adopted and adopted and adopted by the by the by the leader leader leader Ministry Ministry MinistrySubsequently, as discussed, the Task Plan should feed into the National Programmefor European Integration. Thereby, the Task Plan can provide for the deeper analyticaland strategic work that allows the preparation of a high-quality NPEI. Chapter Task Plansare a useful precursor to the NPEI because there is more time available for theirpreparation, and because they can go deeper into the subject matter, yielding moredetailed explanations and tasks lists. The NPEI, in turn, is a document that – dealing with 3 14

accession criteria and 35 Chapters at the same time – needs to have focus, anddemonstrate a concise, structured strategy towards both the EU and domesticstakeholders. It is only this way that Albania can effectively demonstrate its understandingand ability to apply the acquis – which is also the main purpose of the Screening exercisethe Task Plan directly supports.I.5 BEFORE YOU START…In order to prepare a chapter task plan, authors should take the effort of compiling allrelevant documentation in a single location, accessible to all members of the Inter-Institutional Working Group. Ideally, this could be a library either on a server of the leadministry, or in a cloud-based application, such as Dropbox, or Google Drive (consideringany confidentiality rules, too).The purpose of this is threefold:  Ensuring that the Task Plan, and later on the NPEI, is written on the basis of the latest available information, collecting also materials that are “hidden” in one or the other organisation, without having been circulated to the entire IIWG;  Providing an opportunity to decide about the validity and applicability of each background document – studies, strategies, databases, etc – and deciding about eventual updates needed, or the eventual repeal of outdated documents;  Establishing a knowledge-base that is available to all IIWG members, and that can forthwith be regularly updated, and be maintained as a common resource, avoiding any miscommunication, or duplication of work.A suggested structure for such a knowledge base can be seen from the documentattached hereunder:Ultimately, when possible, the elements of the knowledge base should be transferred intothe IT system underlying the NPEI. (Detailed instructions by MEFA are to follow).In terms of methodology, please be mindful of MEFA’s methodology for the update of theNPEI 2018.11 Especially: Section 2.1.2 – Documentation gathering / update; 2.1.3 – Sources for drafting / update of the NPEI 15

I.6 ANNOTATED MODEL OF THE TASK PLANOverleaf, the Vade mecum presents an annotated model of the Task Plan as it should beapplied in each chapter. More detailed explanations – with references to keymethodologies as applicable and feasible – are presented in Part Two. 16

Task Plan of the Inter-Institutional Working Group for CHAPTER [number] – [title] Responsible: [head of the working group] Prepared [date]1. IntroductionThis section gives a brief “executive summary” – on not more than two pages – of thepurpose and content of the Plan. For this, it provides brief information on the EUenlargement negotiations, the EU structures in Albania, key elements of the specific EUacquis in the chapter as well as the general state of play in Albania.Who will do it: Technical coordinator of the chapter, in cooperation with EU integrationdepartment in the responsible line ministry.Recommended length of section: 2 pagesHow to do it? – key elements:  Purpose of the document – (aiding screening preparations; deeper analyses underlying the NPEI)  Target group, users of the TP – (authorities and bodies in the IIWG, and their role, in short terms – based on the relevant legislation)2.  Chapter acquis key aspects (list and define main areas)  State of Play in Albania – (general, chapter level assessment of progress, and most important tasks / milestones ahead)  Screening – (short info, use sample text in Part Two)  Structure of the Task Plan – (short info, use sample text in Part Two)2. ScreeningThis section describes the screening process as preparatory stage of EU accessionnegotiations.Who will do it: Technical coordinator of the chapterRecommended length of section: 2 pages2 Order of the Prime Minister No. 107 dated 28th December 2014. – See Annex III.3 17

How to do it? - key elements:  Use sample text in Part Two, section II.2;  Optional: add short information on the chapter opening and closing benchmarks from recent negotiations (by Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, as applicable)3. Summary of the Acquis in Chapter [number]This section provides a summary of the EU acquis of the negotiation Chapter. Thereby, itestablishes a basic level of knowledge that all readers – and all members of the IIWGs –must have in order to be able to take part in the process effectively.Who will do it: Technical coordinator of the ChapterRecommended length of section: 3 pagesHow to do it? - key elements:In more specific terms, the description of the acquis should cover:  What issues the chapter regulates;  How the relevant policies and legislation have evolved over time;  What main policy objectives the EU pursues under it, and what key policy documents it has produced;  How the Chapter is structured into policy fields and sub-areas;  What key items of legislation need to be treated as priority – with ca. one paragraph of explanation for each, describing their significance;  How it may be connected to other negotiation chapters.This section of the Task Plan should not yet address how the acquis affects Albania –this is done in the next section of the Task Plan exclusively.When drafting this section, please be mindful of the relevant methodologies issued byMEFA: Methodology for Drafting and Monitoring of the NPEI 2018 – section 2.2.1(Identification of the Acquis and main requirements) and section 3 (Structure and content)– as well as the SMEI III “Guidelines For Law Approximation”);4. State of play in AlbaniaThis section is to give a comprehensive picture about the status of Albania’s progresstowards alignment with membership requirements in the Chapter. The overview should bespecific, and allow the later identification of all key tasks completed, on-going andoutstanding. 18

Who will do it: Inter-Institutional working group in coordination/cooperation with EUdepartment in the line ministryRecommended length of section: 4 pagesHow to do it? – Key elements:In terms of substance, this section should cover:  A general assessment of progress under the chapter  The policy context – key challenges and applicable national policies  A stakeholder analysis (at chapter level)  A review of the specific situation – item-by-item analysis for key legislation, by area.In terms of methodology, please be mindful of MEFA’s Methodology for the 2018 review ofthe NPEI – especially: sections 2.2.2 (Analysis of the national framework); 2.2.3 (GapAssessment); as well as section 3 – (structure and content)5. Institutional FrameworkThis section describes the existing institutional framework for EU integration in this chapter;and how it may change due to the screening and beyond. Specific attention is paid to themembership of the Inter-Institutional Working Group for the Chapter.Recommended length of the section: up to 2-3 pagesWho will do it: Technical coordinator of the chapter in cooperation with EU department inline ministry.How to do it? – Key elements:This section explains, in general terms, the tasks of the IIWGs; the membership of theIIWG; and how it operates. More specifically, it should:  Describe the current inter-institutional framework for co-ordinating the chapter, with the definition of roles and duties of all the institutions and bodies involved in the EU integration process for the Chapter;  Any subgroups to be created depending on the complexity of the chapter;  Any expected needs for the IIWG to be expanded (towards the business community, academia, civil society depending on the content of the chapter) to reflect the requirements set by the chapter, in order to be better; positioned during negotiations with EU)  Rules of procedure and logistical arrangements.The listing of the tasks of the IIWGs should take into account the prevailing nationallegislation (Prime Minister’s Order No. 107 of 28th December 2014, as attached in Part III). 19

6. Financial aspects of alignmentThe objective of this sub-section is to provide an overview of how the costs of alignmentwith EU requirements are to be covered.There are also revenues that may arise as a consequence of accession – e.g. as a resultof the alignment of certain taxes, or directly through agricultural policy and regional policy(affecting mainly Chapters 11, 14, 21, 22 and 27, as well as 33).Who will do it: Technical coordinator of the chapter in cooperation with EU department inline ministryRecommended length of section: 1 pageHow to do it? – Key elements:Typical types of costs that the Task Plan should consider, include:  The cost of studies and analyses preparing legal alignment, including LGAs and RIAs;  The cost of institutional alignment – functional analyses, drafting regulations, organisational strategies, training needs assessments, hiring additional staff, training staff, office space and infrastructure. (This part should also consider the costs related to the operation and capacity building (training, etc.) of the (members of) the IIWG);.  Review and further development of tools and methods (processes, IT support, etc.).  Large scale public infrastructure investments as a result of alignment (e.g. environmental infrastructure, transport corridors, etc.)  Effects on the state budget – expected additional state revenues (e.g. due to alignment of taxation), expected reductions of state revenues (e.g. disappearance of customs duties, elimination of permitting procedures, etc.), additional expenditure by the state (e.g. new types of subsidies to protect vulnerable groups).How much of these types of costs and reveneues can be quantified in a given edition of theTask Plan, depends on the availability of preparatory studies (See: Part Two).Financial aspects also cover the available resources to cover the expenses above –including relevant budget lines, and donor resources. Again, the level of detail will dependon the availability of detailed studies and technical expertise.Minimum requirements regarding calculating the costs of alignment are defined by theNPEI 2018 methodology of MEFA. (Section 2.3.2 - Costing)7. Concrete activities defined in the Task Plan (Action Plan)Based on the preceding chapters, this section defines the key tasks to be performed aspart of preparations for the Screening (and as applicable, beyond it, if the IIWG so 20

decides).As Task Plans are being proposed specifically with the aim of supporting the review ofthe National Plan for European Integration (NPEI), the definition of tasks should use theNPEI’s relevant methodology.Who will do it: Inter-institutional working group in cooperation with EU department in lineministry and MEFA representativesRecommended length of section: Not applicable. The Task Plan should use thedatabase format (currently: Excel) prescribed for the NPEI’s IT system.How to do it? – Key elements:  Measures aimed at the IIWG itself (setting-up, capacity building, etc.)  Sector-level analyses, preparation of strategies; etc.  Tasks related to specific elements of the acquis (Legal alignment, institution building, human capacity building; Investments into tools, methods, infrastructure)  Steps aimed at securing the funding for the implementation of the TP.For each of the above activities, responsibility and deadlines are to be set. Also for thetask plan overall, indicators of progres are to be defined.The Methodology of the NPEI 2018 has a specific layout for the presentation of sector taskplans. Ultimately, these are to be derived from a common database (IT system). Thestructure of the task plan should cover (at least) the elements included in Annex 3 of theNPEI (“Monitoring Matrix”) *** 21

II. PART TWO - DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS Part Two of the Vade mecum has seven sections, each standing for a section of the future Task Plans. In each section, detailed instructions are provided on how the particular section of the TP should be written. As discussed in Part One, the immediate application of some of the methodologies presented hereunder may not be feasible in some Chapters, for two main reasons:  One, because the background studies needed to develop fully-fledged Task Plans that would be detailed enough to give a convincing performance at the Screening, and later at the negotiations – such as up-to-date and comprehensive Legal Gap Analyses, strategies and planning documents, regulatory impact assessments, economic models and forecasts, functional analyses of the institutional framework, training needs assessments, cost-benefit analyses and preparatory studies of key investments, etc. – may be missing.  Two, because applying the said methodologies and producing those studies require specific expert knowledge, as well as time and money, which may not be available at the time of preparing the Task Plans. Therefore, Task Plan writers are invited to follow the Task Plan model and apply the approaches and methodologies in Part Two in line with actual needs, and capacities. Whatever cannot be delivered within the timeframe available for the preparation or update of a chapter Task Plan, should be included into the plan itself as a future task. The seven sections of Part Two are as follows:  Introduction to the objective and purpose of the Task Plan;  Explanation what the screening is about, and how it relates to the accession process overall;  Overview of the acquis communautaire in the given negotiation Chapter;  State of play of the accession process, in Albania, in the given area of EU law;  Institutional framework of preparations – with a focus on mainly the organisation of the IIWGs, and how they should work to successfully prepare themselves;  Assessment of the financial aspects – costs and revenues – of alignment;  Recommendations as regards the compilation of an Action Plan to prepare for the Screening. Overall, the explanations and methodologies in Part Two are fully compatible with those discussed in Part One. They also deliver the same type of Task Plan with the same structure – albeit with better founded and more detailed. Explanations follow the sequence of the document, not the sequence of the steps recommended to prepare it. (Ont hat, please refer to Part One, Section I.2) 22

II.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE TASK PLANPurposeThe first section of all Task Plans, the “Introduction”, should be used to give a briefexplanation – on not more than two pages – of the purpose and content of the Plan.Accordingly, it is a summary of what follows. Therefore, it is useful to write this sectionlast – when all other sections of the Chapter Task Plan are completed.Who will do it?Technical co-ordinator of the chapter, in co-operation with EU integration department in theresponsible line ministry.Proposed length2 pagesHow to do it?The Introduction should contain the six main points:1., Stating the purpose of the Task PlanIn terms of stating the Plan’s purpose, the introduction should give a short definition ofwhy the task plan has been prepared. This can be done the same way as explained inthe Foreword to this Vade mecum. Feel free to copy!The sub-section relates to Section 2 of the Task Plan.2., Identifying the target groupAs already stated, the target group of the Task Plan are the Inter-institutional WorkingGroups. By way of a general description of the IIWGs, a sample text3 that writers maywant to use (even copy) is presented in Table 4.3 Note: the sample text is based on the existing Task Plan to Chapter 1 (Free movement of Goods) 23

Table 4 - Sample text: the Inter-institutional Working GroupsInter-institutional Working Groups (IIWGs) were set up in 2009. Their purpose was to strengtheninter-institutional cooperation in the context of EU accession. The tasks and operation of WorkingGroups are currently regulated by Prime Minister’s Order 107 dated December 28th 2014.Their first major task was to provide answers to the Questionnaire that the European Commissionhad sent to the Government of Albania following the country’s application for membership. TheCommission’s Questionnaire was a tool to acquire information about the status alignment with EUstandards, as a basis for the Opinion (or “avis”) of the EC on Albania’s application4 – namely,whether or not Albania was ready to be accepted as a candidate country, and whether or whenaccession negotiations could be started. The EC Questionnaire featured several hundred questions.Responses amounted to several thousand pages. Time was short. Therefore, effective inter-institutional co-operation was of paramount importance.Following the submission of Albania’s response to the Questionnaire, IIWGs took on the task of co-ordinating pre-accession preparations. Over the recent years, their work was mainly related tothe preparation and annual updates of the National Programme for European Integration (NPEI),and the management of bilateral dialogue with the European Union in the context of the EU-Albania Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA). As part of those negotiations, the IIWGsalso sent regular information to the Commission regarding the progress of the integration process.This information was used by the EC for their Annual Reports on Albania. The Commission’s reportsin turn were an important input for the regular updates of the NPEI, as well as definition of prioritiesfor the use of Union aid to Albania under the EU’s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (as wellas other donor programmes).Preparations for the accession negotiations in general, and for the screening in particular, are part ofthe same process. The essence of the IIWGs – co-ordinating legal harmonisation, capacitybuilding and investments needed to get ready for implementing EU law in Albania – istherefore not changing. The Task Plans will merely help to take that task to the next level: makingit more specific and more result-oriented. This is needed because in the later stages of theaccession process requirements towards candidate countries are becoming more and morestringent. Beyond the need to familiarise themselves with EU laws, candidate countries must delivertangible and verifiable results. This requires, in each negotiation Chapter, as well as across sectors,the effective and efficient co-operation of all national authorities concerned, and an effectivedialogue with non-governmental stakeholders.Specifically, each Task Plan relates to a different IIWG. Therefore, please list theauthorities responsible for the harmonisation and implementation of the Chapter at hand,along with their role. The list of the members of the IIWG should be provided as an Annex(See Part Three – Section III.1.5.)3., Summarising the key elements of the Chapter at handNext, the Introduction should give a brief overview of the Acquis Chapter, on ca. half apage.4 The full text of the Opinion can be downloaded here. 24

This part is a summary of Section 3 of the Task Plan.In particular, this sub-section should identify the main principles, policies, items oflegislation and key benchmarks in the Chapter to which the TP relates. Naturally, thistext is unique to each Task Plan, and needs to be written by an expert with a well-foundedknowledge of the subject matter.The description here, in the Introduction to the Task Plan, is again a short summary only:half a page maximum. Details will follow later in the dedicated Section II.3.4., State of play in AlbaniaOnce the overview of EU requirements in the Chapter have been established, theIntroduction should address, again in short terms, on ca. half a page, the status ofpreparations.This part is a summary of the more detailed Section 4 of the Task Plan, and should bewritten after that.Elements that should be included here include the main:  results achieved in the alignment process;  main overall challenges, needs for reform, expected impact of alignment;  commitments undertaken towards the EU in the SAA process (and other frameworks)  the most important specific tasks still to be completed (with responsibilities and deadlines, if available),5., Short information on the screening process.On this point, we again recommend to copy the sample text below into all Task Plans: Table 5 - Sample text: the Screening Process (in short)The Screening process – which the present Task Plan primarily aims to prepare – is the firststage of the EU enlargement negotiations. Its purpose is to review the state of accessionpreparations in the candidate country, in the context of the key elements of relevant EU policies andlegislation. In so doing the screening establishes a baseline for the actual negotiations in eachchapter. On that basis, following the Screening, the candidate country can come up with a specificstrategy of alignment with EU requirements during the remainder of the pre-accession period.More specific information on the screening process is given in Section II.2. 25

6., The structure of the planThe introductory section of the Task Plan should conclude with a text explaining itsstructure. It is strongly recommended that each Task Plan follows the same structure, asdescribed in the Vade mecum, so that they are compatible. Also, they should use the samebasic methodologies.If additional elements are needed, please attach them as an annex to the Task Plan.To complete this subsection of the Introduction, again, the sample text below should beused, with minimal adaptations, if needed, in all Task Plans. Table 6 - Sample text: explaining the structure of the Task PlanThe task plan consists of seven sections, containing:  The present section: an introduction to the objective and purpose of the Task Plan;  An explaination of the screening process, and how it relates to the accession process overall;  An overview of the EU acquis in the given negotiation Chapter, explaining the key items on which the IIWG should focus;  The state of play of the accession process, in Albania, in the given area of EU law;  the organisation of the IIWGs, and how they should work to successfully prepare themselves;  an analysis of the financial aspects of alignment  Recommendations as regards the compilation of the task plans themselves; and 26

II.2 SCREENINGPurposeThe aim of this section of the Task Plan is to provide a deeper understanding of thescreening process, which it is supposed to prepare and support.Who will do it?Technical co-ordinator of the Chapter.Proposed length2 pagesHow to do it?This part applies the same way to all negotiation chapters. Therefore, without furtherado, we encourage writers to copy the sample text below5 into their TPs. Table 7 - Sample text: Chapter 2 – The Screening Process2 ScreeningThis section is dedicated to explaining what the screening is. More specifically:  First, the purpose of screening is defined;  Second, its context is described – i.e. how it relates to Albania’s accession process overall;  Third, the screening process itself is presented in more detail;  Fourth, the role of negotiation benchmarks is addressed;  Last but not least, the negotiation process is reviewed.2.1 The purpose of screeningScreening, or the analytical examination of the EU's acquis (the body of European union lawapplicable), is the preparatory stage of accession negotiations. It is vital since it forms the basis forthe bilateral accession negotiations between the European Union and the various candidatecountries.The screening process is carried out jointly by the European Commission and each of thecandidate countries, allowing the latter to familiarise themselves with EU law and demonstrate5 The sample text is an extended and re-edited version of the relevant sections of the Task Plan for Chapter 1 27

their capacity to put it into effect. Screening allows identifying those areas of EU law in whichprogress is needed if the candidate countries' legislation is to be compatible with EU rules. Theseareas are divided into “chapters” 6, which are negotiated individually.72.2 The context: the accession process overallThe EU's relations with the Western Balkan countries evolve in the context of the stabilisation andassociation process. Each country moves step by step towards membership as it fulfils itscommitments towards the Union and its Member States.Specifically, Albania’s major milestones on her path towards joining the EU were as follows:  Albania was recognised by the EU as a potential candidate country for EU membership in the year 2000.  Negotiations on the country’s Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) were started in 2003. The SAA was signed in 2006.  Albania submitted her application for membership in 2009.  Subsequently, in line with applicable EU law, the EC Commission was due to issue an “Opinion” on Albania’s readiness to join the EU. In order to acquire the information necessary for that assessment – on the basis of a decision by the Council of the European Union – the Commission handed over a detailed Questionnaire to the Government of Albania. The Questionnaire was filled-in and returned to the EC in April. 2010. Completing this Questionnaire was the first major task of the Inter-Institutional Working Groups.  In the following years, Albania continued with the implementation of the SAA, and – as all other potential candidate and candidate countries – received annual evaluations (Reports by the EC). On the basis of these evaluations, in 2013, the European Commission recommended to the Council to grant Albania candidate status. The Council approved the proposal in June 2014.As a next step, Albania is now due to be invited to start the process of accession negotiations.The first stage of negotiations is, as explained above, the screening. Specifically, as mentioned  Screening is used to determine the degree of progress already achieved by the candidate country, and to establish, whether, and under what pre-conditions actual negotiations can be started;  Negotiations serve the purpose to agree when and how Albania will fully align itself with EU policies and legislation, what transition periods it may eventually apply, and when it may become a member of the EU.Both are conducted separately for each negotiating chapter.2.3 Screening in detailScreening begins with the so-called “explanatory screening“, within which the Commissionpresents to the candidate country the acquis (the most important legislation) divided into negotiatingchapters.Subsequently, a specific assessment will be made in the so-called “bilateral screening”, wherethe candidate country presents its policy, legislative and institutional framework focussing on how itcompares with the EU acquis, and it will be determined what still needs to be done to achieve6 The full, official list of acquis chapters can be found here7 Based on: EUR-LEX glossary of t ermsterms. 28

alignment until full membership. The basis for this are the relevant legal gap analyses and tables ofconcordance.It is important to highlight that screening  is not intended to perform a detailed scrutiny of the EU legislation and the legislation of the candidate country. Instead, it makes a general overview of the provisions selected as the most important. Furthermore,  covers the acquis prevailing at the actual time of the screening. This principle is applied even if a reform is under way and even if it’s envisaged that in short term changes in certain area of the acquis will happen.During the screening process and for the purpose of the “bilateral screening”, it is likely that Albaniawill be asked to prepare written information according to a questionnaire by the Commission. Thesequestionnaires are the so-called “screening lists”8. They contain a general comparison of EU andnational legislation in table format, to be filled in by the candidate country. This information is likelyto be requested with a short deadline (typically around a month). Again, screening lists do notprovide detailed analysis by article, but indicate the existence or non-existence of certain policymechanisms for the legislation covered by screening.After the screening meetings, i.e. following the completion of “bilateral” screening, the Commissionwill present to the Member States a Screening Report. The Report will contain a recommendationto the Council whether and / or under what conditions negotiations in the chapter should begin.Logically, the quality of preparations for the screening, and the ability of Albania’s negotiatingdelegation to present their case convincingly, will be key for determining when the country will bedeclared ready to negotiate a chapter. The difference between a “good” and “bad” performance atthe screening table may accelerate or delay the accession process in the given area by manymonths, or even years.2.4 BenchmarksIn each chapter, the Commission’s recommendations towards the Council with regard to theopening – and later on: the successful closing – of negotiations in a chapter are formulated on thebasis of a set of specific benchmarks.The purpose of setting benchmarks for the membership negotiations is to encourage thecandidate country to undertake necessary reforms and/or fulfil contractual obligations that mirroracquis requirements. They are also expected to make the negotiation process more transparent.Benchmarks were introduced for the first time, in the negotiation process with Croatia. Asexperience shows, Croatia’s benchmarks were highly similar to those applied in the negotiationswith Montenegro and Serbia.There are two kinds of benchmarks that Albania shall receive:1., “Opening benchmarks” – pre-conditions for opening negotiations in a chapter – are usuallyrelated to  the adoption of strategies and action plans,  strengthening administrative capacities,  the adoption of laws and by-laws8 For a the template of screening lists please refer to Part Three, Section III.1.2 29

 meeting contractual obligations towards the EU (primarily as part of the implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement),  etc.Where opening benchmarks are set, negotiations can only start once the EU Council decides thatAlbania has complied with all of them.2., “Closing benchmarks” determine the conditions for concluding negotiations in a chapter Theytypically require  the further development of administrative capacities,  the adoption of action plans for remaining tasks until the date of accession to ensure the effective implementation of the transposed EU acquis.The drafting of action plans is likely to be undertaken in close collaboration between the candidatecountry and the European Commission. Albania should expect that the implementation of theseclosing commitments will be strictly monitored even after the closure of negotiations.2.5., NegotiationsAccession negotiations are conducted in the form of a multi-lateral intergovernmental conferencebetween the EU member states on the one hand, and Albania on the other. The negotiations aremanaged by the European Commission, which will act as an “honest broker” between the parties.In each of the 35 chapters, negotiations are opened once the EU Council, based on therecommendation of the Commission, has determined that Albania is ready. This may occur  as a direct outcome of the screening, or  upon fulfilment of a set of “opening benchmarks”, as explained below.As soon as the Council has confirmed that opening benchmarks in a particular chapter are fulfilled, itwill invite Albania to present its negotiating position for the chapter. In this document, Albaniawill be expected to present  the level of alignment with the EU acquis already reached  the programme of the remaining alignment  the review of the administrative implementation capacities  requests for transitional periods or derogations as permanent waivers in the implementation of the acquis in a particular area.In parallel, the EU member states will also adopt a common position.These two positions subsequently form the basis for the actual accession negotiations betweenthe parties. It is during the negotiations, that closing benchmarks will be set. Once these arefulfilled, the Member States and Albania shall agree to provisionally close the Chapter. As ageneral rule, “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” – therefore, already closed chaptersmay be reopened if – e.g. – negotiations in a related area, or major changes in the related EUpolicy – so require.Once all chapters are closed, the IGC will also close, and the Accession Treaty shall be drafted.The Treaty will contain the detailed terms and conditions of membership, any transitional 30

arrangements, and the deadlines for the remainder of the accession process. Subsequently, theTreaty is signed, and ratified by the European Parliament and all member states. Upon completionof the ratification process – and at the agreed date – the Albania shall become a Member State.SourcesAs explained in the text, opening and closing benchmarks have often been the same, orvery similar, in recent negotiation processes. Therefore, it is useful to do some researchand identify chapter opening and closing benchmarks (also: eventual “interimbenchmarks”) which were issued for Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. (The list ofbenchmarks is available from MEFA, and is to be part of the IT system supporting theNPEI).The relevant information should also be presented in this section. 31

II.3 SUMMARY OF THE ACQUIS IN THE NEGOTIATION CHAPTER COVEREDPurposeThe aim of this chapter is to give a summary of the EU acquis of the negotiationchapter the Task Plan is addressing. Thereby, the Chapter will help to establish abasic level of knowledge that all readers – and all members of the IIWGs – must have inorder to be able to take part in the accession process.Short summaries of chapter acquis are texts that members of the working groups will havewritten many times already. Accordingly, this should be a relatively easy task for thequalified expert.The key objective in this section of the Task plan is not to be fully comprehensive, but topresent key information in a clear, structured and understandable way.Neither is there a need to “reinvent the wheel” – writers of the Task Plan may rely on a hostof existing documents (referencing, of course, the original publication). Suggestions asto possible sources to do research follow further below.Who will do it?Technical co-ordinator of the ChapterProposed length3 to 5 pagesHow to do it?It should start with a general introduction to the chapter, addressing the following issues:  What issues the chapter regulates;  How the relevant policies and legislation have evolved over time;  What main policy objectives the EU pursues under it, and what key policy documents it has produced;  How the Chapter is structured into policy fields and sub-areas;  What key items of legislation need to be treated as priority – with ca. one paragraph of explanation for each, describing their significance;  How it may be connected to other negotiation chapters.In general, the logic of presentation could follow the heading structure of the latestNational Programme for European Integration.This section of the Task Plan should not yet address how the acquis affects Albania –this is done in the next section of the Task Plan exclusively. 32

SourcesWhile there are many useful sources available to prepare a summary of EU legislation,there is no single official source, or website, that would provide comprehensiveinformation on all chapters of the acquis. There is no way around it: for each Task Planspecific research will have to be done.Typical sources that the writers of the Task Plan can – and indeed: should – rely upon, toestablish a structured and prioritised overview of the acquis, are listed below.9Methods to find the sources and documents for the presentation of the acquis are alsoincluded in MEFA’s Methodology for Drafting and Monitoring of the NPEI 2018 – section2.2.1 (Identification of the Acquis and main requirements) and section 3 (Structure andcontent) – as well as the SMEI III “Guidelines For Law Approximation”.1., Official lists of EU lawFor practical purposes, the Task Plan should be based on screening lists, which arefiltered presentations of the EU acquis focussing on the most relevant and most importantacquis elements. Screening lists can be obtained from the Ministry of Europe and ForeignAffairs, or direct contacts with peers working e.g. in Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. Listsof EU law may also be published by national governments, e.g. as done here, by theTurkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Task Plan writers may also use the Screening Reports on the same countries.Progressively, later editions of the Task Plan should take on board the remaining elementsof EU law, as all of them will have to be implemented by the date of accession.Comprehensive lists and databases of European Union legislation are available on theinternet. Being comprehensive, but lacking overview texts, they are more difficult tomanage. However, lawyers working in the Working Groups should be able to work withthem. The most important databases to consult include:  EUR-Lex  the TAIEX Legal Approximation Databases  the Official Journal of the EU.2., Legal Gap AnalysesThe Albanian government has been preparing legal gap analyses (LGA) in most Chaptersof the acquis for many years now.Existing LGAs are an obvious starting point for the Task9 Note: the emphasis is on structured and prioritised: the existing, standard methods for Legal Approximation and LegalGap Assessment are more geared towards completeness, while the objective of the presentation in Section II.3 (and II.4,and II.7) of the Task Plan is to be strategic. 33

Plan, and they will also be known to the Working Groups. Some of these LGAs are not upto date, or do not cover the entire relevant acquis.The methodology of preparing LGAs is included in the NPEI 2018 methodology (Section2.2)In more specific terms, LGAs include the description of relevant  EU policies;  Legislation, including o a brief explanation of relevant Treaty provisions; o secondary legislation (regulations, directives, decisions);  Jurisprudence of the Court of Justice and  Soft law (recommendations, opinions, guidance materials).So, in case they are available and valid, LGAs may be sufficient to prepare section 3 ofthe Task Plan. Again, for the purposes of the TP, not all details need to be addressed.3., The EC Questionnaire and EC Opinion on the Application for membershipAs mentioned in the section on the Screening: when a country submits an application formembership, the European Commission is invited by the Council to prepare an Opinion (or“Avis”) on that application. To form the Opinion, the Commission forwards a detailedquestionnaire to the Government of the country in question. In the case of Albania, theQuestionnaire counted 2280 questions – i.e. ca. 70 per Chapter.Although the Questionnaire to Albania dates back several years, the list of issuesaddressed by it is still instructive today. Indeed, it is particularly useful as it is a bothexhaustive and still manageable checklist. Back in the day, the questionnaire wasresponded to by the same IIWGs, for which the current Task Plan is prepared. Therefore, itshould be available in the archives of each Ministry, or be obtained from the Ministry ofEurope and Foreign Affairs.4., Information sources of the European Union and its institutionsThe European Union maintains a number of websites, which explain the substance of theEuropean Law, in a more accessible language, referring not only to laws, but also topolicy documents. Therefore, they are a “must read” to Task Plan writers. There aremany sites, and for each of the acquis chapters, some research will have to be done. Forinstance, you may refer to the following:  Summaries legislation by the European Commission  The websites of the Commission’s directorates general contain detailed information on the EU’s policies. The institutional websites lead to thematic web pages. (For example, this one on Environmental Policy);  The European Parliament also published Factsheets on EU policies; 34

 Publications and information booklets, which are being produced constantly by the EU institutions, can be also obtained from the EU Delegation in Tirana, or the European Union’s Info Centre in Tirana.  Writers of tasks plans may also use existing contacts to peers in the Commission (both DG NEAR and the relevant sectoral DGs), who may be able to provide latest policy information.4., Expert studies and training materialsIn largely every chapter of the Acquis, Albania has had technical assistance projectsaimed at the alignment with EU law. These projects have produced large numbers ofpapers and studies on the key aspects of the Acquis. They should be available in therelevant ministries.Having comprehensive information on previous, on-going and planned donorprojects would be an important part of the work of Inter-institutional Working Groups.Therefore, establishing a library of such studies is a good investment for reasons wellbeyond the Task Plan.5., Other links  Richly referenced – and cross-referenced – background information on EU law can be found on Wikipedia. (See here the example regarding Internal Market chapters). While Wikipedia is of course not an official publication, it has a substantial network of researchers, and established processes for quality control. At the end of the day, if used in a considerate manner, it is a practical source for this section the Task Plan.  Useful information may be found on official websites of national governments. For instance, the Government of Montenegro also maintains pages with short summaries of EU legislation, along with the relevant national strategies (where available). Similar information is available from the Serbian government, too.  The reservoir of scientific publications is also limitless. Quality items are often available through the internet, containing also references to further reading. A visit to a public library may also be recommended.Note: the future evolution of the AcquisWhen working with earlier documents, as well as with a view to an eventual future updateof Task Plans, it should be noted that the acquis is not static, rules are changing and newelements are added. Changes can be tracked through the decision-making process10 of theEuropean Council. Relevant sources of information include the:  Agenda of the Presidencies of the Council of the European Union10for a short description, see http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/council-eu/decision-making/ 35

 Green Papers / White Papers published by the European Commission to stimulate discussion, or to inform, on given topics at European level Information available at the European Parliament and the Commission’s Directorates General; Information obtained through peer networks in contact with the EU. 36

II.4 STATE OF PLAY IN ALBANIAPurposeThe aim of this chapter is to give a comprehensive picture about the status ofAlbania’s progress towards alignment with membership requirements in the acquischapter the Task Plan addresses. The overview should be specific, and allow the lateridentification of all key tasks completed, on-going and outstanding.Who will do it?Inter-institutional working group in co-operation / co-ordination with the EU department inthe line ministry.Proposed length4 pages.How to do it?To make the Task Plan user friendly, the logic of presentation should be the same as inSection 3. In other words, the discussion of Union policies, items of legislation andaccession requirements should be done in the same order, or at least taking care thatcorresponding elements can be clearly identified.11The proposed structure of the section, as explained below, should include: 1. A general assessment of progress under the chapter 2. The policy context – key challenges and applicable national policies 3. A stakeholder analysis (at chapter level) 4. A review of the specific situation – item-by-item analysisThe outcome of these analyses will lead directly to the remaining chapters of the TaskPlan, which will discuss:  the institutional framework of the Chapter (including the IIWG itself)  the financial aspects of alignment  an Action Plan of measures to prepare for the screening, and as applicable, beyond.11 E.g. take care that policy documents and legislation is always referred to int he exact same manner, use referencenumbers, and cross-references in the text. 37

In terms of methodology, please be mindful of MEFA’s Methodology for the 2018 review ofNPEI – especiall: sections 2.2.2 (Analysis of the national framework); 2.2.3 (GapAssessment); as well as section 3 – (Structure and content)II.4.1 General AssessmentFirst, please provide a short overall assessment of the status of preparations, addressingthe following questions:  How far has Albania advanced with alignment in this sector overall?  How is the progress with respect to legal harmonisation?  How effective is the implementation of the EU Acquis?  What are the areas where further progress is particularly needed?The assessment should take into account the relevant EU documents, including:  the conclusions of the EU’s latest Report on Albania;  other recent EU assessments of preparations, e.g. in the framework of the deliberations of the Association Council / Committee / Sub-committees;  the IPA Indicative Strategy Paper (ISP) for 2014-2020, especially with regard to key priorities that the EU suggested should be addressed by the Albanian Government;  the Commission’s Opinion on Albania’s application for Membership – insofar as that 2010 assessment is considered still relevant.References to these documents should be specific, and traceable – using full literaturereferences.The text should include the EC progress report’s findings regarding the  status of preparations (e.g. “at an initial stage”; “moderately advanced” or “advanced, etc.) and  recent progress (e.g. “no progress”; “some progress”; “considerable progress”, etc.),since these are comparable across sectors, as well as with those issued with regard toother countries in the region.Should the Government’s assessment be substantially different to that of the EU, thisshould also be indicated, with some explanation. 38

II.4.2 Policy contextNext, still at a general level, the Task Plan should describe, in what way alignment underthe Chapter affects Albania’s economy and society (Section II.4.2.1), and how thecountry is going to deal with the challenge (Section II.4.2.2).II.4.2.1 ChallengesFirst in the sub-section, a short summary of the needs for reform following from EUalignment in the given sector should be provided.Ideally, this assessment should refer to an existing, well-founded analysis. In case suchan analysis is not available, it should be made a priority task under the Task plan.As applicable, the challenges the task plan may refer to:  Extensive legislative work, a need to reviewing large parts of national legislation, such as in the case of the single market, or agriculture;  Needs to strengthen the institutional framework, with special regard to the cost of hiring additional staff and their training – or conversely, the need to lay off a substantial number of state employees;  Impact on the state budget, in terms of a need to restructure taxes and welfare payments, overall positive and negative effects on the balance;  The eventual need for infrastructure investments;  The impact on the economy – on investments, the profitability of enterprises, trade, and the labour market, either as a result of the opening of markets, or regulation;  Impact on society – e.g. in terms of challenges education and training, vulnerable groups, minorities,  Territorial impacts – asymmetric shocks or territorially concentrated development needs in the context of alignment.In terms of methodology, one way to arrive at such conclusions – in case an in depth studyis missing – would be to perform a SWOT analysis. SWOTs may also be available insector strategy documents. In addition, TP writers may refer to Regulatory ImpactAnalyses (RIA) on key pieces of legislation that might have been performed already.II.4.2.2 Policy and strategy documentsOnce the impact of alignment is established, the TP should identify the key elements ofnational policy and legislation that are guiding on-going reforms. Specifically, the TaskPlan should refer to  the National Strategy for Development and Integration (NSDI);  valid sector policy and strategy documents;  the relevant provisions of – and commitments made within – the SAA;  Specific alignment strategies or action plans for EU integration; 39

As a first step, a definitive list of relevant strategy documents and action plans shouldbe established, and provided as Annex to the Task Plan. The identification of applicablestrategy documents is also routinely required in the NPEI and IPA programmingdocuments. The Task Plan is a good opportunity to research and assess the availableplanning documents, determining which ones are still valid, and what strategies or actionplans may be missing. Some of these may actually be required by EU legislation.Strategies identified should be collected into a library accessible to the entire IIWG, andpresented in a table, containing their title, the name of the lead institution, their referenceperiod and links/reference to the actual documents. (See the sample table proposed tablein Part Three, Section III.1.3.) The same list should also be included into the ICT system ofthe NPEI.Next, based on the planning documents identified, the TP should shortly describepolicy, i.e. the long-term vision, goal and principles, which guide government action in thegiven area. Such statements may typically be found in the NSDI and sector strategies.In terms of strategic and operational objectives for the short and medium term – still atthe level of the chapter as a whole – the TP should identify the medium-term strategicobjectives and priorities for action. These may be found in sector strategies, as well as theNPEI, and IPA programming documents.Again, references to other documents should be specific and traceable.II.4.3 Stakeholder analysisWhen describing the state of play, a stakeholder analysis also needs to be performed.There will be two main groups of stakeholders that the Task Plan should identify:  Public authorities;  Non-state actors.The stakeholder analysis needs to be performed at two levels:  At sector level  At the level of sub-sectors or individual items of legislation.These stakeholders are those that may be invited to the Inter-institutional Working Group,entrusted with accession-related tasks, or be the main target groups of alignmentmeasures.II.4.3.1 Sector level stakeholdersThe objective of a sector-level stakeholder analysis is to establish, who needs to berepresented on – or regularly informed and consulted by – the Inter-Institutional WorkingGroup. The long list of candidates for membership includes:  National authorities o ministries, o public agencies, 40

o committees of the Assembly (Parliament);  Regional and local authorities (municipalities);  Social partners (national representations of industry and commerce, business associations, trade unions, etc.)  Academia, educational institutions;  Civil society organisations (especially umbrella organisations representing CSOs in the sector)  Key international donors in the sector.According to EU practice, these actors should be consulted when establishing sector-levelstrategies, and when monitoring their implementation.12Sources where, eventually, sector-level stakeholder analyses already prepared may befound are, typically  The NPEI  Sector strategies  IPA planning documents  Regulatory impact assessments of key legislation.Other than that, in terms of public authorities, the starting point for the identification ofresponsibilities is  applicable legislation,  the statutes of the agencies represented in the sector Working Group, as well as  government decisions.The responsibilities of municipalities may be established on the basis of the Law onLocal Governments, as well as sector legislation.The involvement of non-state actors is regulated in Albania by the Law on PublicConsultations. Further sector-level legislation may also apply.Last but not least, TP writers should review the membership of already existingworking groups and consultation bodies in the sector.In general, all working groups should expect the need to increase the level ofparticipation by non-governmental actors in the process of public policy in general andEU integration in particular. The set-up of Inter-institutional Working Groups is an importantmilestone in that direction.II.4.3.2 Stakeholders of individual items of policy and legislation12 Guidelines on stakeholder consultation were issued by the EC, in their Better Regulation Guidelines. Another exampleis provided by the Code of Conduct on Partnership. The CoC has been established in the framework of EU regional policy(Chapter 22), and in that area it shall be compulsory upon accession. However, its principles may also be applied to otherpolicy areas, already now, especially with regard to the preparation and management of sector strategies. 41

Stakeholder mapping should also be performed with regard to individual pieces oflegislation. Ideally, this will have been done earlier, in the context of  Regulatory impact assessments (RIA)  Legal gap analyses (LGA).Most likely, Task Plan writers will not be able to do this kind of detailed analysis the TPalone. Therefore, if detailed stakeholder analyses, RIAs and LGAs are missing, theyshould be made part of the Task Plan.Information as regards the responsibilities regarding individual items of legislation shouldbe provided in the Annex to the task plan, in the form of a “screening list” table. (See PartThree, Section III.1.2).II.4.4 Specific situationFollowing the logic of presenting the acquis in Section II.3, the Task Plan should identifythe status of alignment and current plans for key areas of policy and items oflegislation in the Chapter. More concretely, the text should address:  To what extent the national legal framework is harmonised with the acquis, and which national rules (existing or planned) are to ensure alignment.  In what way, and how effectively, the implementation of EU law is ensured. What are the national bodies in charge of alignment, and are they properly equipped to execute their task, in terms of legal mandates, organisation, personnel, infrastructure and operational budgets?  In case there is a gap in either legislation or implementation, please describe, how it is to be plugged. Thereby, please make references to planned legislative measures (preferably stating the deadline and the responsible agency) and any investment programmes / donor projects that are to be relied upon. At this stage, a short summary of planned legislative or institution building steps is enough. Details of “gap plugging” will be presented in the Action Plan section of the TP.For each item, please note the specific targets and obligations that have been definedby  The SAA and in the framework of the Association Council / Committee;  National laws, bylaws or Decisions of the Council of Ministers;  The NPEI  Other strategy documents submitted to the EU (such as the Economic Reform Programme, or other, specific action plans).Again, make sure that references are traceable, as (most of) these obligations will formpart of the Action Plan section. 42

II.5 INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKPurposeConsidering the purpose of the Task Plan, the narrowly defined objective of this section ofthe task plan is to determine, which agencies and stakeholders should be involved inthe preparations for the screening. However, as explained below, the analysis is alsorelevant in a wider sense: for sector co-ordination in general.The stakeholders identified in this Section will include those receiving tasks andresponsibilities in the Action Plan section, and / or be targeted by capacity buildingmeasures related to the screening.Specific attention is paid to the membership of the Inter-Institutional Working Group forthe Chapter. However, the analysis needs to go beyond them.Who will do it?Technical co-ordinator of the chapter, in co-operation with the EU deparment in the lineministry.Proposed lengthCa. 2-3 pagesHow to do it?Section 5 of the Task plan should address three things:  The tasks of IIWGs;  The membership of IIWGs  The operation of the Working GroupsII.5.1 Tasks of the Inter-Institutional Working GroupsThe tasks of IIWGs are currently regulated by Prime Minister’s Order No. 107 dated 28thDecember 2014. As the practice of recently acceded EU member states shows, IIWGs arelikely to receive additional tasks in the context of the screening, and later the accessionnegotiations “proper”, as well as after accession.Based on the said experience of other candidate countries, in the context of the screening,IIWG tasks should be expected to include technical level tasks related to the screening,as described in Section 2 of the Task Plan:  The co-ordination of preparations for the screening – i.e. the compilation, implementation, monitoring and regular updates of related task plans; 43

 The training of experts to take part in the screening process;  Co-ordinate and further the process of alignment, with regard to policies, legislation, institution building as well as investments;  Preparing draft mandates and materials to be used at the screening;  Participation at the screening;  Register and ensure the implementation of follow-up measures from the screening process.In addition, for all intents and purposes, the stakeholders participating in the screeningprocess should be the same as those involved in  the accession negotiations “proper”;  the Stabilisation and Association Process;  the programming of donor assistance.And, logically, they are also the stakeholders that need to be involved in the generalprocess of policy development and implementation in any given sector. Otherwise, EUintegration risks to become separated from the actual national policy framework, andultimately, to become both futile and irrelevant.For different purposes, and on different occasions, line ministries might have establisheddifferent kinds of working groups working in the same chapter. (For example, workinggroups in charge of the implementation of sector reform strategies, or Integrated PolicyManagement Groups (IPMG) established for the purposes of IPA)13. The preparation of theTask Plan for the screening is a good opportunity to review existing co-ordinationbodies, and to simplify the Chapter’s institutional framework, thereby improving also theefficiency of co-ordination.A non-exhaustive sample text14 that may be used, in part or as a whole, as backgroundinformation and justification for eventual measures to review the existing institutionalframework, is provided in the Table below. Table 8 - Sample text: relationships between sector co-ordination bodiesRegarding the institutional framework for screening (and EU accession negotiations as a whole) it isimportant to recall that the screening is only a (first) part of the overall negotiation process andactivities undertaken by a candidate country on its path to the EU. The pre-screening and pre-negotiation activities should help the candidate country to establish structures and practicesnecessary in order to effectively conclude this “introductory” part of the accession negotiations. Thiswill also help in preparing the candidate country for the negotiations itself and further steps whichare activated progressively as the accession process advances.The candidate country advances with its preparations for future membership in the EU even before13 See Prime Minister’s Order No. 129 dated 21.09.201514 The sample text is an extended and edited version of a corresponding text from the Task Plan of negotiation Chapter 1 44

the start of the screening, and the accession negotiations. These preparations include theestablishments of a firm co-ordination structure within the line ministries but also at the level of inter-institutional cooperation. After the actual start of accession negotiations a good coordination ofactivities becomes even more important.As beginning of negotiations will get closer candidate country will be expected to significantlyincrease its efforts for the approximation of its legislation and strengthening implementationcapacities. In doing this the candidate country will not only be better prepared for future accession,but will also ensure smooth continuation of the accession negotiations. Otherwise opening or closingbenchmarks in areas with relevant discrepancies could slow down the negotiation process.It should be nevertheless emphasized that he EU accession process is de-facto composed of twoparallel processes: - association process (based on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement) the main objective of which is to provide a framework for the process of harmonisation of national legislation of the candidate country with the acquis as well as for its implementation; - negotiation process (based on intergovernmental conference) in which the candidate country has to reach an agreement with the EU Member States about the terms of its accession to the EU. Although the negotiating process with Albania did not formally start, it should be kept in mind that the ongoing negotiations are organised under 35 negotiating chapters. The structure thereby is compatible with the sectorial division of the association process.The two processes are closely interlinked and with the EU accession negotiations advancing,they will nearly merge into a single process. However, during the association process thecandidate country is dealing with the complete acquis, its harmonisation and implementation withinnational legal order till the day of the actual membership in the EU. In the negotiation process -which ends with the completion of negotiations approximately two years before the actualmembership in the EU- the candidate country and its structures are dealing predominantly “only”with specific problems in the transposition and implementation of the acquis.Additionally, the EU uses, inter alia, the institutional structures from the association process(predominantly the SAA committee and SAA sub-committees) for checking the fulfilment of theobligations and benchmarks from the negotiation process.Last but not least, the co-ordination structures in charge of negotiations, and the SAA process needto be closely linked to the overall policy process, the implementation of government strategies,and the programming and use of donor assistance in each sector.Considering the above, in this sub-section, the task plan should provide:  an exhaustive list of the tasks of the Inter-Institutional Working Group, with specific regard to those related to the screening process;  an identification of other working groups that the IIWG will co-operate with, along with the definition of the matters that will be dealt with jointly and the mechanisms of co-operation.II.5.2 The Membership of the Inter-Institutional Working GroupIIWGs are established. However, the compilation of the Task plan should be taken as abasis to review and clarify their membership. The main reasons for this is to simplify andimprove the sector co-ordination framework as explained in Section II.5.1. Furthermore,progressively, IIWGs will have to involve – and in some cases even incorporate as fullmembers – stakeholders from outside the central government. 45

The main reference sources, on the basis of which the membership of the IIWG should bedecided, include:  Section II.4.2 – the identification of national policies and strategies, with special regard to the institutional frameworks of those strategies;  Section II.4.3 – stakeholder analysis at sector level;  Section II.4.4 – specific analysis, with the identification of stakeholders and responsibilities for individual items of EU policy and legislation;  The Methodology for the 2018 review of the NPEI (SMEI IV)  IPA programming documents – with special regards to the sections related to the Sector Approach;  Rules regarding the involvement of the partners and the general public in the policy and legislative processes;  Sector legislation;  Regulations regarding the functioning of the IIWG and other identified, existing working groups, along with their rules of procedures (if available);Also, in line with existing Albanian legislation, IIWGs may decide to create sub-groups totake charge of specific areas of EU legislation.Different stakeholders will have differing roles. Some will be permanent members ofthe IIWG. Others will only be invited to certain sessions. Still others might not be members,but could still be invited to comment on preparations, or be sent information. (Again:national legislation on public consultations as well as on the IIWGs themselves needs to betaken into account).As already mentioned, with regard to the participation of non-governmental actors, theVade mecum recommends to refer to the EC’s Better Regulation Guide from 2017, and –as applicable, mainly in chapters related to socio-economic development policy – theEuropean Code of Conduct on Partnership, as a best practice example.Considering the above, in this section, the Task Plan should provide a list of the membersof the Chapter Inter-Institutional Working Group, along with their status as  Permanent members  Invitees at specific sessions  External members (asked to provide inputs and opinions)  Recipients of information.The list itself (in a tabular form) should be attached in the annex. The main text of the TaskPlan should include a short summary and an accompanying justification. 46

II.5.3 The Operation of the IIWGTo be effective, and to deliver a meaningful contribution to the accession process, Inter-institutional Working Groups should:  Have a strategy and a detailed action plan, which they implement;  Have clear mandates and efficient rules of procedure;  Appropriate resources at their disposal.In most Chapters, there are a number of strategies already in force. The National Planfor European Integration, and the SAA, contain many specific targets to be met.Considering those, and the analysis in Section II.4, the Action Plan section of the TaskPlan shall provide a basis for the work of the IIWG, at least in the context of the screening.Still, there is a real danger that – due to a misinterpretation of the meaning of “co-ordination”, and ultimately the use of the IIWGs – Working Groups become talking shops,producing lots of reports, but no real progress. In the absence of leadership, and anagreement of all IIWG members on their roles and responsibilities, the frequency ofWorking Group meetings would become irregular, some IIWGs might even stop working.This would surely lead to huge delays in the accession process. The mandate of IIWGs isestablished by national legislation. However, each member of the Working Group wouldalso need a mandate, issued by the heads of the institutions delegating those members, sothat they can assume co-ordination tasks within their institutions, represent their positionsin co-ordination processes, and ensure the implementation of tasks pertaining to thatinstitution. Should this not be the case in an IIWG, the head of the IIWG should makeproposals, in co-operation with MEFA, to the responsible ministers.The rules of procedures have a unified model. Based on that model – and as neededeither by amending the RoP (as allowed), or agreeing a share of tasks within the IIWG atoperational level – IIWG heads should make sure that there are clear arrangements withinthe group to cover the following:  The tasks of the IIWG;  The membership of the IIWG;  Rights and responsibilities of IIWG members;  Organisation, operation and documentation of meetings;  Co-operation with other stakeholders;  Strategic planning of tasks;  Monitoring and reporting;  Information to the public.In line with the existing legal framework, RoP need to provide for the creation of sub-groups within IIWGs, which will deal with certain areas of policy, or specific pieces of 47

legislation (as applicable). Sub-groups may be led by the lead ministry of the IIWG, or otherparticipating institutions. Sub-groups should report to the head of the IIWG, and complywith any instructions he or she may issue in line with the responsibilities of the IIWG as awhole.The smooth operation of the IIWGs requires financial resources. These resources cancover the cost of any expertise, capacity building measures, small infrastructure or thecosts of events organised by the IIWG (such as consultations with stakeholders), etc.These costs may be provided through the budget of the lead institution. But ideally, thereshould be a dedicated budget line for this in the budget of the lead institution. Additionalfinancial sources may come from donor projects, provided that the IIWGs are involved intheir planning, and can ensure that they are included in their target groups, with theappropriate activities. To ensure that, should be the responsibility of the Head of theWorking Group.As to human resources, management and secretarial tasks are to be implemented, as ageneral rule, by the lead ministry of the IIWG. Ideally, the IIWG should have at least 1 staffmember directly assigned to their management. This will become increasingly important asthe accession process continues. Again, the lead ministry should identify the said jobposition, and the function of operating the IIWG, within its organisational statues.Furthermore, it should ensure that the members of the working group are included into allrelevant training and capacity building measures, so that they can discharge their dutieseffectively. Specific training measures for the IIWGs – including also exchanges ofexperience with neighbouring countries – may be provided through donor programmes.Considering the above, this section of the Task Plan should provide:  A traceable reference to the mandate of the IIWG;  In the absence of such a mandate – either at the level of the IIWG as a whole or individual members – for the definition of a task in the Action plan to produce those mandates;  A traceable reference to the Rules of Procedure of the IIWG, or  In the absence of an approved RoP, for the definition of a task in the Action Plan to produce the Terms of Reference;  An identification of any sub-groups that may exist, or in case they are not operational, but required, for a task in the Action Plan to establish them.  A reference to the human resources specifically assigned to the IIWG,;  In the absence of specific financial and human resources for the IIWG, a task in the Action Plan to designate them as soon as feasible. 48