What is approximation?

The approximation of law is a unique obligation of membership in the European Union. It means that countries aspiring to join the European Union must align their national laws, rules and procedures in order to give effect to the entire body of EU law contained in the acquis communautaire.
Formally, approximation applies only to directives. Decisions and regulations are directly effective and do not require the intermediate step of transposition, but do require implementation and enforcement.
There are three key elements in approximation. They are called “elements” and not “steps” because governments need to take all three into account at each stage in the process:

Transposition the government must adopt or amend national laws, rules, and procedures so that the requirements of the relevant EU directive are fully incorporated into binding national laws and regulations.

The Member States have considerable discretion in choosing the most appropriate type of national and sub-national legal acts to transpose EU environmental obligations.
In most cases only national legislation passed by Parliament or Presidential or Governmental Decrees will be considered sufficient.

Implementation or “practical application” - This means to provide the institutions and budgets necessary to carry out the laws and regulations. Often, governments can begin to prepare the necessary institutions and procedures before the new laws and regulations are formally adopted.

Enforcement - This means to provide sufficiently strong controls and penalties to ensure that the laws and regulations are complied with. Since the 1990s, enforcement has become a very important issue, because weak enforcement by some Member States will prevent achievement of the EU’s health and environmental policies as well as the single market.