Another early start, and the final touches are laid on the draft conclusions and recommendations discussed by the workshop. The meeting began at 9 o'clock, the atmosphere was a little tense, but generally positive. The chairman walked through the corridors on his way to the Adama Zijlstra room and told us he was satisfied with the result. At 11 o' clock the recommendations were to be presented to the State Secretary of the Environment Mr Pieter van Geel.

Once in the conference room, the draft was sifted through sentence by sentence. The participants were on the edge of their seats and the microphone ladies were run off their feet so that participants could voice their amendments to the proposed text.

The atmosphere was mainly positive, and there was a lot of laughter. For example when chairman Jan Terlouw was too quick to approve a paragraph. Or when a member of the European Commission told a fellow member to sit down and shut up about a particular point.

Some comments were on the content of the text, but most concerned the formulation of certain paragraphs. Some delegates wanted to formulate sentences more cautiously, than others. Other points led to forceful discussions. Mr Sears, delegate for the European Economic and Social Committee, spoke of “a battle of the groups”. Mr Terlouw warned delegates to make concrete proposals for amendments and not just to say what was wrong. If his warning was only followed by soft murmurings, he just said “we'll keep it like this, since there is no blood flowing”.

When Mr Van Geel walked into the room just before eleven, people were still discussing the final paragraphs. At 11 o'clock sharp, the chairman ended the discussion and handed the conclusions and recommendations to the State Secretary. However, he only did so after thanking the delegates for their dedication and the lively debate during the last three days. Mr Van Geel agreed and said, “I hope that these results make REACH more efficient and less costly”.