e-RG

Electronic Resource Guide

European Union
Marylin J. Raisch *
This page was last updated March 1, 2014.

T
his electronic resource guide, often called the ERG, has been published
online by the American Society of International Law (ASIL) since 1997.
Since then it has been systematically updated and continuously
expanded. The chapter format of the ERG is designed to be used by students,
teachers, practitioners and researchers as a self-guided tour of relevant, quality,
up-to-date online resources covering important areas of international law. The
ERG also serves as a ready-made teaching tool at graduate and undergraduate
levels.

The narrative format of the ERG is complemented and augmented by

EISIL (Electronic Information System for International Law), a free online
database that organizes and provides links to, and useful information on, web
resources from the full spectrum of international law. EISIL's subject-organized
format and expert-provided content also enhances its potential as teaching tool.

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I. Introduction
II. Treaties Establishing the European Union
III. Community Acts and Sources of Law
IV. Institutions and Powers
V. European Court of Justice and Case Law
VI. Selected Topical Areas of Research
VII. Commentary and Databases
VIII. Concluding Review of Updating and Citation Tools

I. Introduction
This chapter of the ASIL Electronic Resource Guide for International Law (ERG) presents electronic
resources for research in the law of the European Union (EU) and its evolving institutional structure.
In addition, in order to bring the topic more into the perspective of the international legal order,
(that is, beyond the EU’s status as a unique international organization with close political ties
resembling, but not yet identical to, a loose federation of Member States), emphasis will be placed
on the following aspects of the resources for research:
● an overview of the EU’s official web site, Europa (http://europa.eu/)
● other electronic resources such as unofficial databases and relevant academic and
intergovernmental or NGO web sites;
● the EU’s external relations;
● sources pertaining to recent and continuing debates on enlargement and about
changes of a “constitutional” nature;
● sources of updated information by way of blogs, news feeds, and press releases.
Electronically available scholarly resources will be reviewed in the concluding section on
commentary.

II. TREATIES ESTABLISHING THE EUROPEAN UNION

A. Current European Treaties
The entity known today as the European Union continues a process of increasing integration, begun
after the Second World War and governed by sets of treaties since the first Treaty of Rome (Treaty

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establishing the European Economic Community,1957), toward the creation of a single market.
Unlike a Free Trade Area (FTA), a customs union such as the European Community (within the EU
and increasingly identified with it) has a common trade policy toward non-members. (Note:
throughout this guide, dates for each treaty, given in parentheses, indicate the month and year of
coming into force). The Treaty of Lisbon came into force on 1 December 2009 and is now the
latest major amending document in the history to date of the European Union. Details on the
changes introduced by the latest phase in institutional reform are presented below. Community law
has become European Union Law with the conferral of legal personality on the EU.

The Consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of
the European Union, Official Journal C 115 of 9 May 2008 (http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:115:SOM:EN:HTML) comprises three spheres of
operation : 1) economic institutions and activities, enforced by the EU’s own supranational courts;
2) a common foreign and security policy; 3) justice and home affairs. For another presentation of
the treaties, see the table below:

Table of Treaties foundational to the European Union prior to the Treaty of Lisbon:
Treaty Name Amending... Main Features Status

Rome Treaty Original treaty setting up Council with direct As amended to

Establishing a common market, itself Member date, still the
The amended 1) by a Merger representation; “First Pillar” of
European Treaty (1967) to give it economic union
Economic and the other two treaties Commission which and trade
Community a common set of initiates and relations for what
(1957) institutions, and 2) a executes Council has since become
Single European Act decisions; the European
(SEA) for European Union
Political Cooperation in A Court of Justice
foreign policy and Assembly of
European
Parliament (EP).

SEA introduces a
co-operation
procedure,

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enlarging role of EP
in legislative process

Maastricht Treaty on Treaty Establishing The • Brought into Amended by the

European European Communities being the European Treaty of
Union, 1993 Union, *founded Amsterdam,
on the European 1999 and Nice,
Communities, but with
supplemented by consolidated
intergovernmental texts
co-operation
formalized as
• a common foreign
and security policy
and
• a common justice
and home affairs
(crime) policy
• subsidiarity
principle

Amsterdam Treaty of Treaty on European • free movement of In force but

Amsterdam, Union workers since 1993 subject to
1999 enhanced with amendment by
closer cooperation Nice Agreement
on security and
crime, drug control,
corruption, and
terrorism
• common borders
(passport control)
under incorporated
Schengen
Agreement
• Co-decision for
parliament and

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Council
• More areas where
Council of
Ministers may
decide using
qualified majority
voting instead of
unanimity
• New title on
employment;
inserts Social
Chapter into main
body of the treaty

Nice Treaty of Treaty on European • Looking to In force as of 1

Nice Union (as amended by enlargement of February 2003
Amsterdam) Member States, 30
new treaty article
areas of concern
open to qualified
majority voting of
the Council
• Co-decision: 7
new areas

The official web site of the European Union, Europa (http://europa.eu/) provides what is now
effectively an online official depository of texts and information for the European Union, but in
addition to guiding the researcher through this large and complex site, one aim of this guide is to
add links to unofficial databases or sources with reliable, enhanced information relevant to EU
research. From the Europa main page (http://europa.eu/index_en.htm) under EU Law, the Treaties
section (http://europa.eu/eu-law/treaties/index_en.htm -- scroll down) presents a brief overview with
links to complete consolidated texts of the TEU, Amsterdam, Nice, and the original founding
treaties.

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B. The Treaty of Lisbon: the EU Reform Treaty and Its Process

The Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the
European Community
(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:C:2007:306:SOM:EN:HTML), 2007 O.J. (C306) 1
was signed on 13 December, 2007, with protocols and declarations attached. It amends the current
EU and EC treaties without replacing them.

History
Europa (http://europa.eu/) now contains a separate page, posted by the Council of the European
Union, for the intergovernmental conferences (IGCs)
(http://www.consilium.europa.eu/Documents/treaty-of-lisbon/previous-igcs?lang=en) with separate
links to the 2007 IGC, the most recent. Appropriately, it is embedded in the portal of the Council
of the European Union, about which more information and sources are detailed in section IV.B. of
this chapter .
Previous texts are found at: http://europa.eu/eu-law/decision-making/treaties/index_en.htm As the
set of texts and the progress of negotiations have unfolded, a database of comments and versions is
provided, along with the preparatory documents. There are declarations, protocols, a main body,
and a preamble. Be advised that what we have here is not a single draft of a treaty but rather the
paper trail of a process.

Some changes in the new treaty:

A summary of changes in the new treaty may be found at the Treaty at a Glance portal
(http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/glance/index_en.htm). Highlights of changes significant to legal
research in the EU are as follows, from the list provided at the site above:
● Increase of co-decision procedure in policy-making …for the vast bulk of EU
legislation.
● Withdrawal from the Union: the Treaty of Lisbon explicitly recognizes for the first
time the possibility for a Member State to withdraw from the Union
● Effective and efficient decision-making: qualified majority voting in the Council will
be extended to new policy areas to make decision-making faster and more efficient. From
2014 on, the calculation of qualified majority will be based on the double majority of
Member States and people, thus representing the dual legitimacy of the Union. A double
majority will be achieved when a decision is taken by 55% of the Member States
representing at least 65% of the Union’s population.
● [The creation of] the function of President of the European Council elected for two
and a half years introduces a direct link between the election of the Commission President
and the results of the European elections, provides for new arrangements for the future

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composition of the European Parliament, [for a smaller Commission,] and includes clearer
rules on enhanced cooperation and financial provisions.
● Finally, it is important to note that there exists already a source of authority for
developments that may take place under the provision for “enhanced cooperation.” That
authority exists under the TEU (http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2006/ce321/ce32120061229en00010331.pdf) as
amended by the Nice Treaty (http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/en/treaties/dat/12001C/htm/12001C.html), specifically TEU Art. 43, and it is
within the authority of Member States to decide amongst themselves, that is, a smaller group
of them, to accelerate and tighten cooperation as a last resort when objectives cannot be met
under the Treaty timetable or methods. Ten conditions for this “enhanced cooperation” are
stated in the TEU Art. 43. Basically, the arrangements must respect the acquis
communautaire.

What is the Acquis Communautaire?

“Acquis Communautaire means everything that was decided and agreed upon since the establishment
of the three European Communities, whatever the form in which this was done, whether legally
binding or not,” and refers to “the body of rules which govern the Union in whatever field of
activity,” essentially encompassing “everything that was ‘acquired’ by the previous Communities and
the Union.” P. Mathijsen, A Guide to European Union Law (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2010) at
5, n9.

III. COMMUNITY ACTS AND SOURCES OF LAW

A. The focus on search examples in this section will be on directives, but in the hierarchy of norms
governing the EU, the treaty texts provide for three major types of legislation:
● Regulations, which are binding directly on all Member States upon enactment and
required to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ)
(http://publications.europa.eu/official/index_en.htm);
● Directives, which are not binding directly as written but which require
implementation by each Member State, that is, the enactment of laws which create the
norms stated in the directive;
● Decisions, which are binding only upon the members or entities to which each may
be addressed; the process is administrative, a kind of regulatory ruling.

With regard to the latter two types of legislation, publication in the OJ is not obligatory. The
structure of the official journal (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/oj/NewStructure2010.pdf) has been
clarified after the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty.

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The founding treaties are deemed primary sources of law along with international agreements. The
legislation, a third source of law, is “secondary.” American researchers should note that “secondary”
here means delegated legislation, second in the hierarchy of “what trumps what” but not a type of
commentary, as the term is used in the U.S. legal system.

The full range of EU norms is outlined and terms defined at the Summaries of EU Legislation page
(http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/index_en.htm) and organized at The ABC of European
Union Law (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/editorial/abc_toc_r1.htm).

The revised Europa Index page (http://europa.eu/index_en.htm) now gathers in one place
information on EU policy-making and search capability for EU legislation and case-law under the
"EU Law" tab on the menu bar at the top and center of the screen (http://europa.eu/eu-
law/index_en.htm). Laws in force includes summaries as well as national laws implementing EU
law, and treaties, legislation in preparation, legislative procedures, and legal cooperation may all be
reached from this one access page..
In addition, there is now a separate linked page for Official documents from EU institutions
(http://europa.eu/documentation/official-docs/index_en.htm).

1. Locating EU Legislation in force

An easy way to locate legislation by topic is through Summaries of EU Legislation
(http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/index_en.htm), For example, the Summaries page lists pre-
selected topics. Under “food safety” one is taken to a page with an overview of all EU activities, and
the acts described and summarized.

Since March 2013, the new EUR-Lex (http://new.eur-lex.europa.eu/homepage.html?locale=en) runs

in parallel with this version of EUR-Lex.
- To consult the authentic Official Journal: use the new EUR-Lex . At the new EUR-Lex site,
The Official Journal (OJ) database is located at: http://new.eur-lex.europa.eu/oj/direct-
access.html?locale=en
- To find treaties, preparatory acts, case-law and all other types of EU documents: use the
current “grandfathered” EUR-Lex . The new EUR-Lex (http://new.eur-
lex.europa.eu/homepage.html?locale=en) provides 1) simple search; 2) search by document
preference; 3) search by ELI; 4) advanced search; and 5) expert search.

Example: To find the original product liability directive, begin in the simple search template linked
above and choose the file category “Legislation.” On the next page, select the radio button for
“Directives” (under “Secondary Legislation”) and “Search terms” (under “Further search options”;

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this adds specific terms). Then, click "Search." Finally, on the template on the next screen, select
the “Title and text” radio button and fill out the template that will come up by putting “liability” in
the “Search” term field and “defective products” in the “With” term field. Click “Search.”

With fair ease one can survey the resulting list and, after seeing highlighted an amendment to a
generally titled directive on approximation of laws etc. re liability for defective products (amended
from an original dated 1985), one goes on to locate the original product liability directive as the last
entry:

Council Directive 85/374/EEC of 25 July 1985 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and
administrative provisions of the Member States concerning liability for defective products, OJ L 210,
7.8.1985, p. 29–33.

The Directory of Community Legislation in Force (http://eur-

lex.europa.eu/en/legis/latest/index.htm) gathers all legislation in force under 20 top-level rubrics for
the areas or treaty provisions that provide authority for the legislation.
Helpful thematic files (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/dossier/index.htm) are provided for another set
of topics that vary from those listed in the Summaries section, although the site states that these files
will no longer be updated. These also list and link to full text legislation in specific areas.

The European e-Justice Portal (https://e-justice.europa.eu/home.do?action) is an interface that has

been created for greater transparency and access in the areas outlined by the Council of the European
Union (see pages 24-25 in the Council's June 2010 press release at
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/jha/114900.pdf for a
discussion of the e-Justice portal project). This interface: 1) brings together legal databases; 2)
provides more access to statutory implementation of EU law and court decisions at the national level
via N-Lex (available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/n-lex/index_en.htm) with links to national court
sites; and 3) enables communication between citizens and courts as well as among courts themselves.
As this portal expands, it will provide integrations of free and subscription-based databases that are
part of the EU online internal system. Another feature is its link to a section on public and private
international law and its relation to EU law (available at https://e-
justice.europa.eu/content_international_law-10-en.do).

2. Directives: effects
Of the major pieces of legislation, directives may present the greatest additional challenge to the
novice researcher because of (1) the requirement that they be implemented in the national law of the
Member State and (2) the accompanying legal issues of possible “direct effect” of directives,

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notwithstanding the requirement. Direct effect creates individual rights that national courts must
protect (P. Mathijsen, A Guide to European Union Law as Amended by the Treaty of Lisbon,
London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2010 at 32 and cases cited in fn. 35). However, while regulations
generally both pre-empt national law as supranational legislation and create rights by direct effect,
only certain directives can have direct effect, and even then, only in certain circumstances.
Understanding what this means is a matter of researching case law from the European Court of
Justice with regard to the particular directive at issue and cases addressing directives of a similar type.
Certain general principles have emerged and are fairly settled in the treatises and basic texts for
European Union law or in specific studies of these issues. Stated simply, a directive deemed to have
some form of direct effect may be effective, either vertically or horizontally, as follows:

● Vertical Direct Effect:

○ As fully implemented, a directive may affect the Member State in its
legal relationship with third parties;
○ As partly implemented or not implemented at all, a directive may be
invoked by an individual against a Member State.

● Horizontal Direct Effect:

○ May exist where private entities try to claim any rights under a
directive in their relationship with each other.

A “horizontal direct effect” is evaluated in light of the principle that directives place obligations only
on Member States and not on individuals. At this point the jurisprudence must be consulted and
analyzed carefully as it develops (see section V., subsection A. below). Member States can be liable
for damage to individuals regarding failure to implement a directive under certain circumstances,
which require a showing that the directive would be of the type to create rights, the language doing
so is present in the directive, and the cause of the damage was a breach of this state obligation. The
leading case is Francovich v. Italy, ECJ 19.11.91 C6,9/90, [1991] ECR I-5357. This case is cited to
the official Reports of Cases before the Court and its successor Reports of cases before the Court of
Justice and the Court of First Instance (Luxembourg: Court of Justice of the European
Communities, 1990-) (ECR). Cases from 1954 onward may be browsed by year and number at the
Eur-lex site under the case law search feature accessible at the following link: http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/JURISIndex.do?ihmlang=en.

Another source of information is the new CURIA Case-law site, although the CURIA case law
template (available at http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=en) is not comprehensive.
A description of the resources available in the CURIA case-law database is available at

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http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_14954/. Alternatively, researchers can select the “EU case-

law” file category from the Eur-lex search page (available at http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/RECH_menu.do?ihmlang=en) to access the case law template (available directly at
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/RECH_jurisprudence.do) for information on cases from earlier years. One
may select the “Court of Justice” and “Date or time span” radio options and click “Search” to get to
the following screen and search by date.

3. Researching directives
Researching directives, then, can be a matter of researching the European Union case law (see section
V below). There are monographic studies of leading cases in the area that outline the parameters of
this research and that may serve as a useful introduction to the field. Updated information may be
found by searching library databases generally with Library of Congress subject headings such as
“Law -- European Union countries -- Sources International and municipal law -- European Union
countries:”

Sacha Prechal, Directives in EC law (http://www.worldcat.org/title/directives-in-ec-

law/oclc/56807067&referer=brief_results), 2d ed. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press,
2005. Oxford EC Law Library, General Editor: F. G. Jacobs, Advocate-General, Court of Justice of
the European Communities. Sacha Prechal is the author of several books on EU law and was the
founding editor of the Yearbook of European Law.

John Fairhurst, Law of the European Union (http://www.worldcat.org/title/law-of-the-european-

union/oclc/76961181&referer=brief_results), 7th ed. Harlow, UK: Longman, 2010 (textbook,
good presentation).

Trevor C. Hartley, European Union law in a global context: text, cases and materials
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/european-union-law-in-a-global-context-text-cases-and-
materials/oclc/52460067&referer=brief_results), Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University
Press, 2004 (see Chapter 10).

4. National Implementation of Directives

In the product liability search example above, a bibliographic record is obtained by clicking on
“bibliographic notice” under the correct directive (available at http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/Notice.do?val=115911:cs&lang=en&list=115911:cs,&pos=1&page=2&nbl=11&pgs=
10&hwords=liability~defective%20products~)
Scroll down- WAY DOWN- and past the useful descriptors or subject headings or further research,
one arrives at display the national implementing measures and click on MNE (French abbreviation

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to reveal the list of Member States and citations (in the vernaculars to vernacular sources) to their
national implementing laws ( http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:71985L0374:EN:NOT).

The new and emerging N-Lex, (available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/n-lex/index_en.htm) is an

experimental portal for national implementing laws. There is a template imposed over national sites
for vernacular searching. If you already have the name of the law, or if N-Lex is not successful for
searching for the full text (and they warn that national sites must keep it updated), use the World
Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/) or Lexadin World Law Guide site (available
at http://www.lexadin.nl/wlg/) to see if national legislation is identified as implementing EU
directives.

EuroVoc (available at http://eurovoc.europa.eu/drupal/) is a search term translation and submission

engine that may be useful in research for national legislation. The databases in N-Lex are mostly in
the official languages of the Member States and EuroVoc may be used to search for legislation using
terms in a language you do not know. For example, if you select Spain and legislation at N-Lex, the
full text search (available in a number of collapsible menu options at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/n-
lex/legis_es/boe_form_en.htm) will provide a “EuroVoc” link next to each search box. Clicking one
of these links will open a separate window to a site for search phrase translation. If you click one of
these links and enter, say, animal welfare as a phrase, it will be displayed along with the target
language (Spanish) and the translation "bienestar de los animals" for use in searching the N-Lex site
in the national language targeted.

For English translations of a number of commercially-related laws that mostly implement EU acts,
consult the following print publications:

● Commercial Laws of Europe. (London: European Law Centre, 1978-). Includes texts
of legislation in English and also in the original language when authentic English text is
unavailable.

● Other loose-leaf services and collections of translated laws in areas such as tax,
investment, and labor usually include EU Member States and may indicate origination of the
law with EU harmonization efforts.

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B. Other acts under the EU Treaty

Acts introduced by the Treaty of Amsterdam under “police and judicial cooperation in
criminal matters”

● Framework decisions: unanimously adopted to be approximations of national laws,

binding on Member States as to results but method of achievement is up to the Member
State (sometimes known as joint action, but see below);
● Common position: according to the Eur-lex definition, “a legal instrument under
Titles V and VI of the Treaty on European Union and is intergovernmental in nature.
Adopted unanimously by the Council of the European Union, it determines the Union’s
approach to particular questions of foreign and security policy or police and judicial
cooperation in criminal matters and gives guidance for the pursuit of national policies in
these fields”;
● Decisions: used for matters other than approximation of laws;
● Conventions: the Presidency can enter into some intergovernmental cooperative
arrangements usually binding only the institutions and not the Member States.

Common positions and joint actions also are used in the area of “common foreign and security
policy” (CFSP). The common position for the CFSP is defined much as above; the joint action is in
this case adopted by the Council and consists of “set objectives” rather than a framework.

Other Non-binding Instruments

● A recommendation allows the institutions to make their views known and to suggest
a line of action without imposing any legal obligation on those to whom it is addressed (the
Member States, other institutions, or in certain cases the citizens of the Union).
● An opinion is an instrument that allows the institutions to make a statement in a
non-binding fashion, in other words without imposing any legal obligation on those to
whom it is addressed. The aim is to set out an institution’s point of view on a question.

C. Legislative Process
The co-decision procedure for the adoption of legislative acts is the most commonly-used procedure.
The steps are outlined below in text excerpted from the Consolidated versions of the Treaty on
European Union and the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union (available at http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:115:0047:0199:EN:PDF) (OJ C115,
9.5.2008) ("This publication contains the consolidated versions of the Treaty on European Union
and of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, together with the annexes and

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protocols thereto, as they will result from the amendments introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon,
signed on 13 December 2007 in Lisbon. It also contains the declarations annexed to the Final Act of
the Intergovernmental Conference which adopted the Treaty of Lisbon."). It includes legislation
based on important articles regarding types of discrimination, free movement of workers, freedom of
establishment, mutual recognition of diplomas, transport, environment, public health, consumer
protection, and many aspects of social policy.

Articles 294-296 of the above-referenced document read as follows:

First reading

3. The European Parliament shall adopt its position at first reading and communicate it to the Council.

4. If the Council approves the European Parliament's position, the act concerned shall be adopted in the
wording which corresponds to the position of the European Parliament.

5. If the Council does not approve the European Parliament's position, it shall adopt its position at first
reading and communicate it to the European Parliament.

6. The Council shall inform the European Parliament fully of the reasons which led it to adopt its position
at first reading. The Commission shall inform the European Parliament fully of its position.

Second reading

7. If, within three months of such communication, the European Parliament:

(a) approves the Council's position at first reading or has not taken a decision, the act concerned shall be
deemed to have been adopted in the wording which corresponds to the position of the Council;

(b) rejects, by a majority of its component members, the Council's position at first reading, the proposed act
shall be deemed not to have been adopted;

(c) proposes, by a majority of its component members, amendments to the Council's position at first
reading, the text thus amended shall be forwarded to the Council and to the Commission, which shall
deliver an opinion on those amendments.

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8. If, within three months of receiving the European Parliament's amendments, the Council, acting by a
qualified majority:

(a) approves all those amendments, the act in question shall be deemed to have been adopted;

(b) does not approve all the amendments, the President of the Council, in agreement with the President of
the European Parliament, shall within six weeks convene a meeting of the Conciliation Committee.

9. The Council shall act unanimously on the amendments on which the Commission has delivered a
negative opinion.

Conciliation

10. The Conciliation Committee, which shall be composed of the members of the Council or their
representatives and an equal number of members representing the European Parliament, shall have the
task of reaching agreement on a joint text, by a qualified majority of the members of the Council or their
representatives and by a majority of the members representing the European Parliament within six weeks
of its being convened, on the basis of the positions of the European Parliament and the
Council at second reading.

11. The Commission shall take part in the Conciliation Committee's proceedings and shall take all
necessary initiatives with a view to reconciling the positions of the European Parliament and the Council.

12. If, within six weeks of its being convened, the Conciliation Committee does not approve the joint text,
the proposed act shall be deemed not to have been adopted.

Third reading

13. If, within that period, the Conciliation Committee approves a joint text, the European Parliament,
acting by a majority of the votes cast, and the Council, acting by a qualified majority, shall each have a
period of six weeks from that approval in which to adopt the act in question in accordance with the joint
text. If they fail to do so, the proposed act shall be deemed not to have been adopted.

14. The periods of three months and six weeks referred to in this Article shall be extended by a maximum
of one month and two weeks respectively at the initiative of the European Parliament or the Council.

Special provisions

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15. Where, in the cases provided for in the Treaties, a legislative act is submitted to the ordinary legislative
procedure on the initiative of a group of Member States, on a recommendation by the European Central
Bank, or at the request of the Court of Justice, paragraph 2, the second sentence of paragraph 6, and
paragraph 9 shall not apply.

In such cases, the European Parliament and the Council shall communicate the proposed act to the
Commission with their positions at first and second readings. The European Parliament or the Council
may request the opinion of the Commission throughout the procedure, which the Commission may also
deliver on its own initiative. It may also, if it deems it necessary, take part in the Conciliation Committee
in accordance with paragraph 11.

Article 295

The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission shall consult each other and by common
agreement make arrangements for their cooperation. To that end, they may, in compliance with the
Treaties, conclude interinstitutional agreements which may be of a binding nature.

Article 296 (ex Article 253 TEC)

Where the Treaties do not specify the type of act to be adopted, the institutions shall select it on a case-by-
case basis, in compliance with the applicable procedures and with the principle of proportionality.

Legal acts shall state the reasons on which they are based and shall refer to any proposals, initiatives,
recommendations, requests or opinions required by the Treaties.

9.5.2008 EN Official Journal of the European Union C 115/175

C 115/174 EN Official Journal of the European Union 9.5.2008

1. Preparatory Acts

European Commission green papers

are found at http://ec.europa.eu/green-papers/index_en.htm and white papers
(http://ec.europa.eu/white-papers/index_en.htm) (proposals for action or legislation) are both
usually issued as COM documents; when they are legislative proposals, they should be accompanied
by an Explanatory Report. Full text or links for papers since 1985 are provided. Most but not all are
published in the Preparatory or C section of the OJ. Since the Commission initiates most legislation,

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experts in policy areas originate most proposals within their Directorates General, which are policy-
specific departments that form the organizational structure of the Commission.

2. Legislation Tracking
The Ordinary Legislative Procedure (formerly the co-decision procedure) (available at
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/policies/ordinary-legislative-procedure?lang=en) may be tracked via
a section of the portal for the Council of the European Union. Council votes and discussions are
tracked.

The European Parliament (“EP”) has an increasing role and its portal provides the OIEL or
Legislative Observatory (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/index.jsp?language=en). Documents
moving through EP committees, such as reports and draft legislation submitted by one of the other
institutional bodies (usually the Commission or Council) may be searched through a variety of access
points. The Legislative Observatory is a good choice when you know that Parliament is involved as
well as the Council; Council meeting results are given. Parliamentary questions, readings, and
conciliations are provided. Political party involvement is included. Results are filtered and sorted by
the type of document associated with each stage of the procedure (first reading, etc.).

Inter-institutional procedures beginning in 1976 are tracked via Pre-Lex

(http://ec.europa.eu/prelex/apcnet.cfm?CL=en#); these procedures involve legislative, but also
budgetary, proposals and proposed international agreements. Search entry points under the
advanced search, http://ec.europa.eu/prelex/rech_avancee.cfm?CL=en include the involved
institutions, events, legal basis, and sphere of activity. The document type is called “type of file” and
the role of the institutional body is an option, such as “primarily responsible” or “author of report.”

3. Publication; entry into force

A legislative act at the level of regulations and directives is or becomes binding and once enacted, it
must be published in the Official Journal of the European Union (“OJ”) and then included in the
Directory of Legislation in Force (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/legis/index.htm). As noted above
regarding Preparatory Acts, the OJ is published in the C series and L series; these designations are
part of the official citation to a text (see citation section below). Competition decisions are no longer
published in the OJ. A source for these decisions is the Competition Directorate General under the
Commission (http://ec.europa.eu/competition/antitrust/cases/index.html).

Acts enter into force on the 20th day following their publication unless a date is specified in the
legislation.

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IV. INSTITUTIONS AND POWERS

A. Commission and Directorates General

The Commission of the EU is a powerful quasi-executive central body that monitors compliance
with EU law, delivers its own decisions, participates in the legislative process, negotiates
international agreements, and implements the budget. The Commission portal
(http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm#) links to the Directorates General
(http://ec.europa.eu/about/ds_en.htm) of which it is also composed, with each DG representing an
important sphere of activity. The Commission originally had to include at least one national from
each Member State. While the Presidency of the EU has been a rotating position among Member
States, the President of the Commission is appointed by the governments of the Member States and
then approved by the European Parliament. The President of the Commission serves a term of five
years.

B. Council of the European Union (different configurations)

The Council is made up of a representative of each Member State at a ministerial level. The type of
representative may vary depending upon the type of meeting or area under consideration, be it
finance or agriculture. Thus, they take on configurations in about 9 different areas. There is a
Committee of Permanent Representatives (“COREPER”)
(http://europa.eu/whoiswho/public/index.cfm?fuseaction=idea.hierarchy&nodeID=3760&lang=en)
that consists of Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the Union, but high-level civil
servants rather than cabinet-level ministers frequently represent the Member States in less important
discussions. This is not the same as the European Political Council, which is a conference of Heads
of State.

The duties of the Council concern the bringing together of Community and national interests and as
such take decisions as well as coordinate policies. The role in the legislative process is detailed above.
The official portal can be found at the EU Council's website
(http://www.consilium.europa.eu/homepage?lang=en).

C. European Parliament
The European Parliament (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/portal/en) is an assembly of
representatives of the peoples of the Member States. Under the Nice Treaty, there are different caps
on numbers of members for different designated years. They are elected for a term of five years.
Parliament now participates in the legislative process through committees
(http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/committees/committeesList.do?language=EN). Among
other powers, Parliament puts questions to the Council, Commission, and President, participates in

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the budgetary process, and other monitoring tasks. It participates in the legislative process by
committees but also acts on legislative proposals meeting as a body, in plenary.

D. Economic and Social Committee

The European Economic and Social Committee (“ESC”) (http://www.eesc.europa.eu/index_en.asp)
plays a consultative or advisory role to the Council, Commission, or Parliament and its members
represent economic and social interests within civil society, such as consumers, workers, etc.

E. Committee of the Regions

This Committee of the Regions (http://cor.europa.eu/en/Pages/home.aspx) has advisory status and
consists of representatives of regional or local bodies who are elected or accountable to an elected
assembly. They must be informed of requests for opinions from the ESC. It is independent but may
be consulted by Parliament. One important activity is subsidiarity monitoring, which tracks the
mandated process of keeping decision-making as close as possible to the citizen. Reports on the
process are on the CoR Subsidiarity website (available at
https://portal.cor.europa.eu/subsidiarity/Pages/default.aspx) with useful links to additional
information.

V. EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE AND CASE LAW

A. The Court of Justice

The following new information is pertinent to the case law research for the European Union
beginning 1 December 2009 and the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon:

"Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009, the European Union
now has legal personality and has acquired the competences previously conferred on the European
Community. Community law has therefore become European Union law, which also includes all the
provisions previously adopted under the Treaty on European Union as applicable before the Treaty
of Lisbon. In the following presentation, the term Community law will nevertheless be used where
reference is being made to the case-law of the Court of Justice before the entry into force of the
Treaty of Lisbon." (Presentation (http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_7024/) of the Court of
Justice in the legal order of the European Union)

Case law of the European Union may be accessed via the major courts portal, CURIA
(http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/j_6/). One may follow links from the first welcome page of the
portal or from the left pane of any sub-portal.

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As noted above, the case law of the European Court Justice stands alongside the treaty and acts as
the major source of the rule of law. The interpretation of the treaty and laws, often at the request of
national courts’ judges seeking guidance in the application of the law in pending case, is crucial to
the evolution of EU law. Therefore, before attempting a cold search of the case law, it is
recommended that the researcher begin with some familiarity with the most well-known, watershed
cases, especially in particular areas of law, by consulting a concise text or journal article, such as one
of the following (though note that developments after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon
may not be reflected):

● The website ECLAS (European Commission Library Catalogue) (

http://ec.europa.eu/eclas/F) gives access to articles and books in the Central Library of the
European Commission.
● Bogdandy, Armin von, and Jürgen Bast. Principles of European Constitutional Law.
2d rev. ed. Oxford: Hart, 2010.
● Craig, Paul and Gráinne de Búrca. The Evolution of EU Law. 2nd ed. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2011.
● Hartley, Trevor C. The Foundations of European Union Law. 7th ed. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2010.
● Maduro, Miguel Poiares, and Loïc Azoulai. The Past and Future of EU Law: The
Classics of EU Law Revisited on the 50th Anniversary of the Rome Treaty. Oxford: Hart, 2010.
● Mathijsen, P. S. R. F. A Guide to European Union Law: As Amended by the Treaty of
Lisbon. London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2010.
● Piris, Jean-Claude. The Lisbon Treaty: A Legal and Political Analysis. Cambridge
[U.K.]: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
● European Union Law Reporter: an explanatory commentary on the principal aspects of
EU law and policy.4 v. (loose-leaf). Bicester, Oxfordshire: CCH Editions Limited;
Commerce Clearing House; CCH International (Firm); CCH Europe (Firm) 1962- .

Newer cases, articles, and commentary often refer to these cases as rubrics in a kind of shorthand
indicating a settled principle of EU law or a significant line of cases, even in subject areas that are
still contested.

The final legality of European Union acts is determined by the courts, and this ensures that the
Member States and the EU institutions, as well as natural and legal persons, enact or comply with
community law. Jurisdiction includes preliminary rulings and failure to fulfill EU obligations.
Advocates-General assist the court.

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The General Court

To clarify the jurisdiction of the lower court under the Treaty of Lisbon, the following text is taken
directly from the presentation of the General Court: (http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_7033/)

"The General Court has jurisdiction to hear:

● direct actions brought by natural or legal persons against acts of the institutions,
bodies, offices or agencies of the European Union (which are addressed to them or are of
direct and individual concern to them) and against regulatory acts (which concern them
directly and which do not entail implementing measures) or against a failure to act on the
part of those institutions, bodies, offices or agencies; for example, a case brought by a
company against a Commission decision imposing a fine on that company;
● actions brought by the Member States against the Commission;
● actions brought by the Member States against the Council relating to acts adopted in
the field of State aid, ‘dumping' and acts by which it exercises implementing powers;
● actions seeking compensation for damage caused by the institutions of the European
Union or their staff;
● actions based on contracts made by the European Union which expressly give
jurisdiction to the General Court;
● appeals, limited to points of law, against the decisions of the European Union Civil
Service Tribunal;
● actions brought against decisions of the Community Plant Variety Office or of the
European Chemicals Agency.

The rulings made by the General Court may, within two months, be subject to an appeal, limited to
points of law, to the Court of Justice."

EU Civil Service Tribunal

A European Civil Service Tribunal (http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/T5_5230/) hears disputes
regarding the EU civil service, and appeals from it on questions of law may be taken to the General
Court.

The European Court of Justice

There is one judge for each Member State on the court and eight Advocates-General. The latter are
advisory judges called upon to offer separate opinions in areas of special expertise. The judges of the
court, however, do not issue separate or dissenting opinions. The Rules of Procedure of the court

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may be found via links posted under Court of Justice

(http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_7024/#procedures) at the Curia website.

Searching for particular cases by topic using keywords or known citations

Since case-law from 1954 onwards is now stored separately from the case database for cases from
June 17, 1997, the best overview of the links is available from the case-law content link
(http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_14954/) at Curia. Translation services are under way for
Member States who came into the EU at 2004 or 2007; see this notice
(http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_14955/). The older cases
(http://curia.europa.eu/en/content/juris/c1_juris.htm) in English are searchable from Eur-Lex
(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JURISIndex.do?ihmlang=en) but also linked from the numerical search
feature at Curia (http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_7045/). There are two different search
templates: one is for access by case number and the other through more options.
If you know the case number (e.g. for the ECJ, C-184/06) the simple browse portal
(http://curia.europa.eu/en/content/juris/c2_juris.htm) is a proper starting point. If you want to
specify the type of document (http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=en&), opinion of
an Advocate-General versus a judgment, for example, use the template.

Example: search the template (http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=en&) leaving the

boxes checked (except for Civil service Tribunal). Fill in the subject-matter field from clickable
menu, a link to the right of the field. From the areas of the treatylisted, check “free movement of
goods.” Enter “bananas”in the text field, and click the green search arrow at the bottom right.
Currently 28 documents are retrieved. To limit this to judgments only, click the “modify” link at the
upper right and then, back at the template, use the menu of the documents field to eliminate all but
judgments.
Bear in mind that just as in the printed publication of the cases in the official Reports of Cases
before the Court and its successor, Reports of cases before the Court of Justice and the Court of First
Instance (Luxembourg: Court of Justice of the European Communities, 1990-) (ECR), the Curia
search template and results list designate the main Court of Justice with case numbers and hyphen
C- and Court of First Instance cases with hyphen T-, these full case numbers remain valid for online
case searching by number as well. Also remember that terminology used in the English language
versions of the cases is based on British English usage, so American researchers should note that, for
example, insider trading becomes insider dealing.

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Note: Since 2004 there are selected unpublished recent decisions, and the Curia database
incorporates the full texts as appearing in the official reports (see two paragraphs above) with these
guidelines appearing on the web site:

Since 1 May 2004, subject to a decision to the contrary by the formation of the Court concerned, the
following are not published in the ECR:
- judgments delivered, other than in preliminary ruling proceedings, by Chambers of three Judges,
- judgments delivered, other than in preliminary ruling proceedings, by Chambers of five Judges ruling
without an Advocate General's Opinion,
- orders.

However, those decisions are accessible on the Court's internet site (http://curia.europa.eu) in the
available languages, namely the language of the case and the language of deliberation.

Annotations or "notes de doctrine" (http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_7083) are presented in a

separate database and contain annotations of cases by legal commentators.
Apart from (links that may exist from the curia site under certain rubrics etc) , there are unofficial
case collections, both electronic and print, that assist researchers in finding cases relevant to
particular areas of European Union law:

Common Market Law Reports. Yorkshire: Thomson Sweet & Maxwell, 1962- . (title varies)
(C.M.L.R.).

Common Market Law Reports. Antitrust Reports (Supplement). London: The European Law Centre
at Sweet & Maxwell, 1991- . (called Reports after 2000; constitutes v. 4 of each year's issues of
Common Market law reports for 1991, and v. 4-5 of each year's issues for 1992).

European Human Rights Reports. London: European Law Centre Ltd., 1979- .

Blogs
European Law Blog, http://europeanlawblog.eu/
ECJ Blog (http://courtofjustice.blogspot.com/)

B. National case law

An overview of national case law and member implementation of EU law in general may be found as
Application of Community law by national courts: a survey

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(http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_18914/?hlText=annual+report+on+monitoring+the+applicati
on), survey and summaries in English 1983-2002, and 2003 onwards in French only.

The Association of the Councils of State and Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions of the European
Union have created the searchable JuriFast database ( http://www.aca-
europe.eu/index.php/en/jurifast-en) linked to a database of national decisions which gathers
preliminary questions and rulings on them before the Court of Justice of the EC and national
decisions following the ruling.

European Commercial Cases. London: European Law Centre, 1978-

Simmonds, K.R., general editor. Encyclopedia of European Community Law:
London: Sweet & Maxwell, (1973- .) contains a focus on U.K. case law.
European Community Cases. London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2000- .
1989- Previously published: Bicester: CCH Editions, 1989-1992; Kensington upon Thames, Surrey:
CCH. New Law, 1992-1999; these cases originally appeared in the Common market reporter, now
called the European Union Law Reporter.

VI. SELECTED TOPICAL AREAS OF RESEARCH

Under the “Policies and legislation” link on the main page of the European Commission site
(http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm) are richly populated portals for information on many topics,
including the selected topics listed below. Legal texts, summaries, and search portals are featured
under the "legislation" link.
In print and in sections linked at each of the topic portals listed below, monthly and annual reports
on those topics and other sectors represented in the treaty are included in analyzed numbered
sections of the now-archival Bulletin of the European Union
(http://europa.eu/bulletin/en/welcome.htm), European Commission. Brussels: European
Commission, Secretariat-General, 1994- 2006 (ceased in print), carried forward to 2009 (content
through July/August 2009) online, and now replaced by EU News
(http://europa.eu/news/index_en.htm). Activities reports and analysis are still supplemented by the
General Report on the Activities of the European Union
(http://europa.eu/generalreport/en/welcome.htm). European Commission, Brussels: The
Commission, 1995- .

A. External Relations
Of considerable interest to international lawyers are the foreign relations activities of the EU as an
international actor as well as the continuing path to enlargement of membership. The
Commission’s portal for the European Union-External Action (http://eeas.europa.eu/index_en.htm)

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(contains links at the top to major sub-portals for the principal related areas under “what we do”
http://eeas.europa.eu/what_we_do/index_en.htm), security and defense
(http://eeas.europa.eu/csdp/index_en.htm), and enlargement
(http://eeas.europa.eu/enlargement/index_en.htm).

B. Commercial Regulatory Matters: Competition Policy, Banking and Financial Regulation

Competition: There are several electronic and print avenues to researching EU competition law and
policy (http://europa.eu/pol/comp/index_en.htm). In addition to sources cited above under
commercial cases and statutory law for European jurisdictions, there is a wealth of specialized
monographs in the area of competition law and policy. The Enterprise section is also relevant. The
Commission has a separate page for competition policy
(http://ec.europa.eu/competition/index_en.html) at and in the Commission’s Directorate-General
structure there is the web page for the Competition DG
(http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/competition/index_en.htm) linking to the annual Report on Competition
Policy (http://ec.europa.eu/competition/publications/annual_report/index.html).

An excellent site for competition law and policy with links to many national competition law web
sites for the EU Member States is Concurrences: (http://www.concurrences.com/) web site of The
Institute of Competition Law. The links are free and there is an offer of a paid subscription to the
online review Concurrences in French on antitrust law as well as an e-competition database. The
latest English versions of the e-Competitions Bulletin and abstracts from the review are free on the
site. The editors and contributors are from law firms and academic faculties.

Banking and Financial Regulation: In the wake of the severe and continuing crisis involving bank
regulation, capitalization, sovereign debt and the financial crisis overall with regard to jobs and
public sector cutbacks, the Commission has created a site for links to the De Larosière Report and
successor oversight to the Lamfalussy process, which may be found under a new important official
section in the Commission’s portal on financial services supervision and committee architecture
(http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/finances/committees/index_en.htm). Related issues of
governance in the eurozone are posted
(http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/focuson/crisis/index_en.htm) at the Commission site and
linked from the site for the rotating EU presidency.

The European Council has created a portal for the European response to the debt crisis and
Eurozone governance (http://www.european-council.europa.eu/eurozone-governance?lang=en).

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C. Social Policy

The relevant portal for this topical area is “Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion”
(http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=547&langId=en). A useful feature is the Practical guide-
Applicable legislation in the EU, EEA, and
Switzerland(http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=22 ) under “Publications and
Documents”; this guide summarized social and employment-related law for the increasingly mobile
population of Europe.

Since 2001, several papers and articles have been posted to the Jean Monnet program
(http://centers.law.nyu.edu/jeanmonnet/) and SSRN (http://www.ssrn.com/) on EU employment
policy and the European Social Model.

Just as there can be confusion about the European Council and the Council of Ministers of the
Council of Europe, the European Social Charter
(http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/035.htm), ETS 035 of 1961, 1996 is a
document of the Council of Europe and now includes a complaints procedure whereby violations
may be brought by some ground (trade unions, national NGOs) to a European Committee of Social
Rights.

D. Health and Consumer Protection

Consumers, Fraud, Public Health, Food Safety portals are found under the Directorates-General
page (http://ec.europa.eu/about/ds_en.htm ). The Health and Consumer DG
(http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/index_en.htm ) site has links to different pages than the
above for food and feed safety ( http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/index_en.htm), and consumer safety
(http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/index_en.htm) with its RAPEX database
(http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/safety/rapex/index_en.htm) for non-food consumer alerts.

E. Human Rights
There are new initiatives on human rights detailed at the EU External Action Service’s Human
Rights section (http://eeas.europa.eu/human_rights/index_en.htm). The Council publishes an
annual EU Report on Human Rights (
http://eeas.europa.eu/human_rights/docs/2011_hr_report_en.pdf) (latest 2011). But human rights
internally is a more complex area of research involving the relationship between the decisions of the
ECJ interpreting the EU treaty and the European Court of Human Rights, interpreting the Council
of Europe’s European Convention on Human Rights, and the pending Reform Treaty integration of
human rights into the constitutional arrangements of the EU. The overall framework and texts of

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the Charter of Fundamental Rights are linked in the “summaries of EU legislation” and in a page on
fundamental rights within the European Union
(http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/human_rights/fundamental_rights_within_european_unio
n/index_en.htm). In light of terrorism and developments balancing rights with security, this
framework database within Europe also presents another gateway to these links via the justice,
freedom and security
(http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/justice_freedom_security/index_en.htm) summary.

F. Private International Law

Several issues of importance stand at the intersection of European Law and international law. Choice
of law and jurisdiction are chief among these. The JURE database
(http://ec.europa.eu/civiljustice/jure/search_en.cfm) has been set up by the Commission to collect
and make searchable European and national case law interpreting the Council regulation (Brussels I,
2000 regulation) (http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=EN&numdoc=3200
1R0044&model=guichett). theas well as the Lugano Convention
(http://curia.europa.eu/common/recdoc/convention/en/c-textes/lug.htm ). Both deal with
recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters. There is also a 2003
Brussels II (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32003R2201:EN:NOT
) regulation of the Council dealing with “jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of
judgments in matrimonial matters and matters of parental responsibility.” Overall, the European e-
Justice Portal (https://e-justice.europa.eu/home.do?action=home&plang=en) presents procedures
and documents related to judicial cooperation.

In more substantive areas of law, harmonized rules are being crafted. In contract law, for example,
after consideration in 2007 of a Common Frame of Reference, the Commission is working on a
European contract law through a project on common principles. The major area is that of sales, with
insurance and cloud computing also under consideration. National fact sheets and current proposals
with key dates are linked under Contract law at the Justice section of the European Commission site
(http://ec.europa.eu/justice/contract/dates/index_en.htm). The 1980 convention on the law
applicable to contractual obligations has been replaced by a 2008 regulation on the law applicable to
contractual obligations (Rome I, (http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:177:0006:0016:EN:PDF). The latest
communication on cross-border transactions dates from 2011.

The implementation of a harmonized choice of law instrument for non-contractual obligations of

2007 (Rome II, (http://eur-

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lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:199:0040:0040:EN:PDF) which came into

force in January, 2009) has been under discussion in areas such as defamation and privacy.

VII. COMMENTARY AND DATABASES

Bogdandy, Armin von, and Jürgen Bast. Principles of European Constitutional Law. 2d rev. ed.
Oxford: Hart, 2010. (http://www.worldcat.org/title/principles-of-european-constitutional-
law/oclc/248990639&referer=brief_results)

Craig, Paul and Gráinne de Búrca. The evolution of EU law. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2011. (http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/665136465)

Hartley, Trevor C. The Foundations of European Union Law. 7th ed. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2010.(http://www.worldcat.org/title/foundations-of-european-union-
law/oclc/620092531&referer=brief_results)

Maduro, Miguel Poiares, and Loïc Azoulai. The Past and Future of EU Law: The Classics of EU
Law Revisited on the 50th Anniversary of the Rome Treaty. Oxford: Hart, 2010.
(http://www.worldcat.org/title/past-and-future-of-eu-law-the-classics-of-eu-law-revisited-on-the-
50th-anniversary-of-the-rome-treaty/oclc/187294493&referer=brief_results)

Mathijsen, P. S. R. F. A Guide to European Union Law: As Amended by the Treaty of Lisbon.

London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2010. (http://www.worldcat.org/title/guide-to-european-union-law-as-
amended-by-the-treaty-of-lisbon/oclc/551427632&referer=brief_results)

Piris, Jean-Claude. The Lisbon Treaty: A Legal and Political Analysis. Cambridge [U.K.]:
Cambridge University Press, 2010. (http://www.worldcat.org/title/lisbon-treaty-a-legal-and-
political-analysis/oclc/540143425&referer=brief_results)

European Union Law Reporter: an explanatory commentary on the principal aspects of EU law and
policy.4 v. (loose-leaf). Bicester, Oxfordshire: CCH Editions Limited; Commerce Clearing House;
CCH International (Firm); CCH Europe (Firm) 1962- . (http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36949482)

European Research Papers Archive (http://eiop.or.at/erpa/)

includes the Jean Monnet and European University Institute Papers and many more.

ECLAS (http://ec.europa.eu/eclas/F).
A catalog of the European Commission Libraries

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Databases charging subscription or access fees:

Justis (http://www.justis.com/)
A database of Context, Ltd. provides EC law, including the Official Journal C series in combination
with English and Irish legal materials.

Lawtel (www.lawtel.com/Login.aspx), Sweet & Maxwell (Thomson) is focused on the integration of

EU law into the UK legal system.

EU Competition Law Online ( http://www.ellispub.com/eu-competition-law-online.html),

Ellis Publications promises enhanced news and documents on competition developments within
twenty-four hours.

VIII. CONCLUDING REVIEW OF UPDATING AND CITATION TOOLS AND

OTHER RESOURCES
Updating Tools
The following should prove useful in preparing updated articles or guides on EU law:
European Law Institute (ELI), (http://www.europeanlawinstitute.eu/home/), Similar to the
American Law Institute, this organization has formed to study the development of European law and
legal integration by jurists and experts, across legal traditions.

EU Focus ( http://www.euintheus.org/resources-learning/eu-focus/), (under " Resources &

Learning) and the EU Guide for Americans ( http://www.euintheus.org/resources-learning/eu-guide-
for-americans/), at the Delegation for the European Commission to the USA under publications and
one can subscribe to the EUNewsBrief at the site.

VoxEU.org, (http://www.voxeu.org) describes itself as ...a policy portal set up by the Centre for
Economic Policy Research(www.CEPR.org) in conjunction with a consortium of national sites. Vox
aims to promote research-based policy analysis and commentary by leading scholars. The intended
audience is economists in governments, international organizations, academia and the private sector
as well as journalists specializing in economics, finance and business. Assistance for the Centre's work
on Vox has been provided by the European Union, through its programme of support for bodies
active at the European level in the field of active European citizenship.

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Research Guides

For additional details of the legal research process for the European Union, please refer to the
following research guides and resources (with some academic URLs listed should institutional guides
move).
EISIL ( http://www.eisil.org/index.php?sid=297648529&t=index), Electronic Information System
for International Law (An ASIL Research Tool) has an EU section
(http://www.eisil.org/index.php?sid=297648529&cat=41&t=sub_pages).

European Union Research, NYU Law School, (

http://www.law.nyu.edu/library/research/researchguides/europeanunionresearch/)

European Union Research Boston University Pappas Law Library,

(http://lawlibraryguides.bu.edu/EU)

Research Guide (http://library.law.columbia.edu/guides/European_Union_Legal_Materials),

European Union Materials, Diamond Law Library, Columbia University School of Law

RAPID (http://europa.eu/rapid/), EU press releases, official.

European Union Law: An Integrated Guide to Electronic and Print Research

(http://www.llrx.com/features/eulaw2.htm), Marylin J. Raisch, Includes the EU Document Location
Chart but is no longer updated.

*
Marylin Johnson Raisch is Associate Law Librarian for International and Foreign Law at the John
Wolff International and Comparative Law Library of the Georgetown Law Center. She received her
J.D. from Tulane University School of Law (1980) with work both in civil and common law courses
as well as international law and Roman law. She holds degrees in English literature from Smith
College (B.A. magna cum laude, 1973) and St. Hugh's College, Oxford (M.Litt., 1978). She
received her M.L.S. degree from Columbia University School of Library Service in 1988 and has
worked as a law librarian for fifteen years, ten of which were at Columbia University School of Law
as International and Foreign Law Librarian. Marylin has served as moderator or panelist in several
continuing education programs at the annual meetings of the American Association of Law Libraries
on such topics as selection and reference in international and foreign law, foreign law in English, and
Russian law, and a 2005 workshop on European Union law. She has also presented talks on web
access to foreign and international materials for the International Association of Law Libraries, has
co-directed one of a series of special four-day institutes on "Training the Next Generation" of
international and foreign law librarians, and has edited (with Roberta I. Shaffer) the resulting
volume of proceedings, Transnational Legal Transactions (Oceana, 1995). Marylin is the author of

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several articles, reviews, and web guides on international and foreign legal research, such as “The
European Union: A Selective Research Guide,” 1 Columbia Journal of European Law 149
(1994/95), and hyperlinked web guides published from 2001 through 20013 on international family
law, European Union law, and religious law.

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