Researching Legal Information
in the European Union
Presented by Alison A. Shea
Reference Librarian and Adjunct Professor of Law,
Fordham University School of Law
Why the EU matters to you
If you want to practice transnational law,
the EU regulates a number of areas that
are often involved in transnational
practice, most especially competition law
 EU is now a leading voice in international
affairs and monetary policy

• Euro crisis/austerity measures

EU court cases have far reaching policy
effects
• Google’s “Right to be Forgotten” case
What is the European Union?

A “unique economic and political
partnership between 28 democratic
European countries”

Primarily created to avoid any future
inter-Europe wars and to encourage
more cross-border cooperation in
commercial matters (“internal market”)
What isn’t the European Union?
Council of Europe
 European Court of Human Rights

• Consult the “Do not get confused” chart to
see differences
– http://www.coe.int/en/web/about-us/do-not-getconfused
Establishing Treaties






Treaty of Paris (1951) (ECSC)
EC Treaty (1957) (originally The Treaty of
Rome; renamed the Treaty Establishing the
European Community or The EC Treaty in
1993)
Merger Treaty of 1965
Single European Act (1987)
Maastricht Treaty (1993) (also called the Treaty
on European Union or TEU)
Treaty of Lisbon (2007)
• Information on the succession of treaties available
here: http://europa.eu/abc/treaties/index_en.htm
Current Treaties in Force
Consolidated Treaty on European Union
(TEU)
 Consolidated Treaty on the Functioning
of the European Union (TFEU)
 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the
EU

• All available here: http://eurlex.europa.eu/collection/eulaw/treaties.html
Treaty of Lisbon



Started off as the “EU Constitution” but
most member states freaked out about
that, so now it’s just another Treaty that
amends, rather than replaces, existing
treaties
Came into force December 1, 2009
Amended treaty available at Europa:
http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/index_en.ht
m
• Be sure to consult the consolidated treaty,
which incorporates all changes to existing
treaties
Treaty of Lisbon

What’s the big deal?
•
•
•
•

Greater democracy and transparency
Simplification and more efficient working
Single voice on the international stage
Promoting rights and values
Key issues to watch will be what the EU
does with increased power in foreign
policy and justice, freedom and
security
Treaty of Lisbon

Completely renumbers existing Treaty articles
• When citing articles of the Treaty as it stood
before 1 May 1999, “Article 85 EEC”
• References to the Treaty as it stands from
1999 – 2009 should read ‘Article 81 TEC’
• Reference to the Treaty after 2009 should
read ‘Article 101 TFEU’
– If you need to clarify the old number, use “Article
101 TFEU (ex Article 81 TEC)”

“Table of Equivalencies” for old and new article
numbers available at:
• 2012 OJ(C 326) 363
Major Institutions of the EU

Legislative Body
• European Parliament

Judicial body
• European Court of Justice

Administrative body
• European Commission (EC)
Hypo
Does this
agreement fall
foul of EU law?
Two leading low-cost carriers, Scaryair
(based in Dublin) and Skeezyjet
(based in the UK) currently have an estimated 35% of
the market share of the total UK and Ireland domestic
routes.
Scaryair approach SkeezyJet about the
possibility of coming to some sort of agreement
whereby Scaryair would agree to
drop some of its UK domestic routes
that SkeezyJet also operates in
return for SkeezyJet agreeing not
to start a new service from UK-Ireland.
Hierarchy of EU Law
Treaties
(Primary Legislation)
Regulations, directives,
decisions
(Secondary Legislation)
General
Principles
of Law
Case Law
Treaties
between
Member States
Where to start?
Europa – EU’s main info portal
 http://www.europa.eu
 Provides
a gateway for locating EU
information
• Use this page to access various EU legal
information portals
• Search by Policy Area if you know what
subject matter you’re looking for
• Do a site-wide search if you’re not sure
where to begin
– Press releases are required to contain links to
relevant docs
LOCATING INFORMATION
ON A TOPIC - Europa
If you are starting from
scratch, try browsing
EU by Topic for
relevant links
Search function is not
very good, but
remember that press
releases are now
required to link to
primary source
documents referred to,
If you have a citation, so they may be useful
you can locate it
through the links under
EU Law
LOCATING INFORMATION
ON A TOPIC - Europa
Links to relevant
other sites, i.e. DG
Comp
Links to relevant
LOCATING INFORMATION ON A
TOPIC - European Commission:
http://ec.europa.eu/policies/index_en.
htm
LOCATING INFORMATION
ON A TOPIC - Commission
Example #1

I’m looking for legislation that deals with
Bathing Water quality. I don’t have a
cite, and don’t know how exactly it’s
regulated or by whom.
• When you are looking for general policy, try
starting with Europa
• Remember that press releases are now
required to contain links to the relevant
documents, so try searching the site
• Also, you can browse the “Policy Areas” to
try and locate the relevant DG for that topic
From the main Europa page, you can either
search the site for relevant hits, or browse
through the policy areas to locate the
relevant DG for this area
If you can only find
press releases, at the
bottom of the press
release are links to the
documents
mentioned—which
show that the relevant
DG is Environment—
and also the citations
to the relevant
legislation
This is the relevant DG
for bathing water
quality—you can now
browse for links to
relevant legislation and
other policy document
Where do we find EU legal information?
EUR-Lex

Best way to access authentic versions
of EU treaties, legislation, cases and
international agreements
• http://eur-lex.europa.eu
• NOTE: be aware that “treaties” are EU
founding/accession treaties (i.e. the
“constitution” of this IGO) between
members of the EU, and “international
agreements” are agreements (i.e. treaties)
that have been entered into with other
countries on behalf of the EU as an entity
To browse different types of
documents, click here
Primary legislation: Treaties
 Source
of primary legislation
 Current treaties in force:
• Consolidated Treaty on European Union
(TEU)
• Consolidated Treaty on the Functioning of
the European Union (TFEU)
• Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU

All treaties can be found here:
• http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eulaw/treaties.html
A good place to find
the pinpoint citations to
relevant sections of a
treaty is to use the
Europa Policy Areas
page (discussed above
in slides 13-15)
Full text of treaties can
be found on EUR-Lex
BB translation:
2012 O.J. (C 326) 88
Official Journal

The OJ has been published since 1967
• two main series:
– L (Legislation)
– C (Communication = Information and Notices).
• published daily in 22 of the 23 official languages.

Available on Eur-Lex
• You can now get PDFs back to 1973 in English,
1968 for original EC languages
• “Certified” PDF version available—on the way to
becoming “authentic” versions
• E-only since July 1, 2013 – click on “Official
Journal” icon to get the e-journal with “legal
value”
Example #2

Can I get a full text version of the
following cite: 1990 O.J. (L 180) 26
• Since you already have the OJ cite, use
Eur-Lex to search by OJ reference and
simply fill in the relevant information:
– Year: 1990
– OJ Series: L
– OJ Number: 180
– Page: 26
Now locate the
page number in
your cite
PDF of official
version in all
official
languages –
you want “EN”
Secondary Legislation
 Regulations
• binding legal force throughout every Member State
 Directives
• lay down certain end results that must be achieved in
every Member State
• national authorities have to adapt their laws to meet
these goals, but are free to decide how to do so.
• may concern one or more Member States, or all of
them.
 Decisions
• Binding in entirety but only to those Member States or
entities to whom addressed
 Recommendations/Opinions
• No binding force
How to Find EU Legislation
(without a cite)
• Summaries of EU Legislation
– Allows you to browse through topical areas
• http://eur-lex.europa.eu/browse/summaries.html
• Europa
– Through EU Policy Areas (discussed in slides
13-15)
• Through the relevant Commission group’s
website
– List of relevant DG sites:
• http://ec.europa.eu/about/ds_en.htm
SUMMARIES OF EU
LEGISLATION
SUMMARIES OF EU
LEGISLATION
SUMMARIES OF EU
LEGISLATION
The new interface via Eur-Lex can be kind of
confusing – once you choose your area of
interest in the previous page, you are now
brought to a Eur-Lex page that looks like
you’re selecting documents but in reality
you’re choosing a “guide”
SUMMARIES OF EU
LEGISLATION
Again, this page closely resembles the page
for a primary source document, but be aware
it is SECONDARY – helps you determine what
the relevant legislation is for a particular topic
How to Find EU Legislation (witha
cite)
• Eur-Lex
– http://eur-lex.europa.eu/
– Simply go to the main page box entitled “Find
Results by Document Number” and fill in the
required fields
• Lexis & Westlaw also have legislation
RETRIEVING LEGISLATION
ON EUR-LEX
Easiest way to
retrieve legislation
by citation—by
document number.
You will still retrieve
to the OJ version
RETRIEVING LEGISLATION
ON EUR-LEX
Unfortunately you often get
lots of irrelevant results, even
when searching by citation –
the first two links are not at
all relevant to our query – the
final result is the one we want
RETRIEVING LEGISLATION
Select PDF for
official full text
version from OJ
Select “Linked
documents” for
annotations like you
would see in West o
Lexis’ annotated US
code—if this were a
directive, always sele
this feature to locate
national implementin
legislation
“LINKED
DOCUMENTS”
Affected by case:
Case law that litigates
this particular piece of
legislation – like Notes
of Decisions for USCA
CELEX numbers
“6” stands for
Sector 6, which is
case law
Example #3

Locate Directive 2011/7/EU. What is it
about?
• Since you have the document number
already, simply go to Eur-Lex and search
by document number

Is it published in an official source?
• The Official Journal is the official source for
all EU legislation
Click here to
find national
implementing
measures
Official citation info
Select the version
in the language you
want
Official full text
version—to create
cite, note data
above: year 2011,
journal series: L,
journal volume 48,
page 1.
“LINKED
DOCUMENTS”
Click here to find out info on
domestic legislation that has been
passed to implement this directive
For countries which are not English-speaking,
click on the hyperlink anyways and it will give
you the name of the legislation in that language
– follow up using N-lex (see below) or other
foreign law finding aid
Tracking EU legislation
 To
track pending/proposed legislation
(similar to Congress.gov in the US), use
these sources which have the same
information, just organized by two
different groups
• EUR-Lex
– http://eur-lex.europa.eu/collection/eu-law/preacts.html
• Legislative Observatory
– http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/index.jsp?la
European Commission – COM docs
 The
EC is the only body who can
propose legislation, and they do this in
the form of a COM document
 There is usually a lengthy period of
consultation and amendment before
COM Documents become public, and
only the final version is published.
Consequently, they are cited in the
format:
• COM (year) running number, final
Where to find EC documents
 Registry
of Commission Documents
 Legislative Observatory
 Eur-Lex
• All of the above sources allow for retrieval
by citation
 If
you do not know what you are looking
for but prefer to browse, try the
Commission page for the policy area
http://ec.europa.eu/about/ds_en.htm
Tracking
History on
COM
DocsLegislative
through PRE-LEX
Legislative Observatory
Use “Search by
Reference” if you
already have a cite
Finding ECJ cases
Court of Justice of the European Union

Three main competencies:
• reviews the legality of the acts of the
institutions of the European Union,
• ensures that the Member States comply
with obligations under the Treaties, and
• interprets European Union law at the
request of the national courts and tribunals

Consists of three courts:
• the Court of Justice
• the General Court (created in 1988)
• the Civil Service Tribunal (created in 2004).
Where to find EU cases & decisions

Eur-Lex
• http://eur-lex.europa.eu/RECH_jurisprudence.do

Curia
• http://curia.europa.eu/\

European Court Reports (E.C.R.) [official]
• Part I contains the ECJ cases and AdvocateGeneral Opinions
• Part II contains the CFI/GC cases.
• Traditionally only print….
– HOWEVER….ceased printing in 2012. Read my
blog post for more info:
https://fcilsis.wordpress.com/2014/07/07/changes
-in-ecj-case-publishing-and-citation-methods/
FINDING CASE ON
EUR-LEX
FINDING CASE ON
EUR-LEX
This is the official reporter
citation---2008 ECR I-9275
FINDING CASE ON
CURIA
FINDING CASE ON
CURIA
This is the official reporter
citation---2008 ECR I-9275
Dockets
 There
are NO procedural documents
available for EU case law; if you want
them, you must apply to the Registry
and even then they might not release
them, especially if you are not an EU
citizen
Advocate General opinions
 The
advocates general assist the Court
in its task.
• They deliver, in open court and with
complete impartiality and independence,
opinions on the cases brought before the
Court.
• duties should not be confused with those of
a prosecutor or similar official--that is the
role of the Commission, as guardian of the
Community’s interests
 Use
Curia to search for AG opinions
SEARCHING ADVOCATEGENERAL OPINIONS
Be sure you are aware of which result is the
one that you want—for example, the OJ cite
“looks” official but is only a summary of the
judgment, not the actual full text. Also, be
aware of the difference between the judgment
and the Advocate Generals’ Opinion (which
precedes the actual judgment)
Example #5

“Would you please send me the ECJ
judgment in Kanal 5 (2008). Thanks.”
• When looking for a case, try starting with
Curia, the European Courts’ official
website. You can also search case law
using Eur-Lex

Is there an official version available?
• Eur-Lex provides ECR citations, but there
is no electronic version of the ECR version
as of yet
Curia’s simple search box on the front page makes it easy to
locate cases using basic data—in this instance, we know the
name of the party (Kanal 5—but only input “Kanal” incase the
decision spells out the number), the court (Court of Justice),
and the date (2008, although with the distinctive party name
we probably don’t even need the date)
This is the official reporter
citation---2008 ECR I-9275
Be sure you are aware of
which result is the one
that you want, especially
the difference between
the judgment and the
Advocate Generals’
Opinion (which precedes
the actual judgment)
Unofficial (but
reliable) full text of the
judgment – to check
and see if ECR is
available, try checking
Eur-lex – however, no
guarantee that either
Curia or Eur-lex will
have PDF
Example #6

Could you give me a list of all EU cases
that deal with free movement of goods
that have been decided in the past
year?
• You can easily search cases by topic using
Curia
To access
advanced search
features, click on
the tiny graphic with
the magnifying
glass
Limit your dates and
the subject-matter by
clicking on the little icon
next to the search box
– I haven’t been able to
get it to open on
Firefox, so try a
different browser if
you’re having trouble
Special note about competition cases

Competition law cases start as commission
investigations, which result in a decision
• Similar to US FTC decision

The DG Comp has a great database for
searching commission decisions taken in the
areas of:
•
•
•
•

Antitrust
Cartels
Mergers
State Aid
Many decisions also available through Eur-Lex
but much better interface and organization on
DG Comp page
• http://ec.europa.eu/competition
SEARCHING COMPETITION CASES ON
DG COMP PAGE
If you don’t already have
a cite, use Advanced
search to limit to relevant
topic/party
SEARCHING COMPETITION CASES
SEARCHING COMPETITION CASES
Commonly cited as:
Case COMP/39.596
Are we finished?
Primary
Article 101 of the TFEU
Secondary
Regulation 1/2003
Case
law
European Court cases
Commission decisions
Preparatory
DOMESTIC LAW!
Researching domestic law

Each Member State will have its own
domestic laws on any topic and will need
to be referenced together with EU law
• Use traditional foreign legal research
methods to locate EU laws
• If you are referencing a Directive, use the
National Implementing legislation link within
the bibliographic record
• Try using N-lex, especially if you are
unfamiliar with the Member State’s language
Researching domestic law

There is an excellent resource called EuroVoc
which is a multilingual, multidisciplinary
thesaurus covering the activities of the EU, the
European Parliament in particular.
• Allows users to search domestic law throughout all
EU countries without having to know the native
language
• contains terms in 23 EU languages (Bulgarian,
Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English,
Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek,
Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese,
Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian,
Spanish and Swedish), plus Croatian and Serbian.