FIRST TIME USER

EUR-Lex offers several methods to access documents on EU law, via predefined lists ( Collections) or using search criteria.

To access the Official Journal

If you require an Official Journal issue dating from 1998 and after, you can access PDF versions by following the Official Journal hyperlink on the homepage. If you know the number, year and series, select these in the drop-down menus to search directly for your document. Otherwise, you can browse through any list and click on the year, the month and number.

Individual acts published in the OJ from its earliest issues are included in the database and can be accessed by the Simple search facility.

You have precise details about the document(s) you require

If you are looking for a specific document or selection of documents, and have precise details, such as the date, or date range, number(s), or type of document, it is best to use Simple search. Be as precise as possible. The results can be refined.

The list of results provides a bibliographic notice for each document. This includes analytical data about the document. To view the full text of the document, check the text box in the yellow tool bar and click on Go. The text can be viewed simultaneously in two languages. The yellow tool bar provides further facilities, such as sorting the results by directory chapter. By default, results are given in reverse chronological order.

The legislation in force is one of the database collections. It is classified in chapters of the Directory of legislation. Besides the title and the publication references, you will find all modifying acts, as well as the different consolidated versions of the act.

You are searching for a document or documents, but you do not have precise details

There are two options. One is to follow the Collections navigation menu on the left side of the homepage.

If you want to gather together documents on the acts of a specific author (an institution), the acts adopted during a certain period of time or a specific topic, go to Simple search and use the General search terms. Although a large number of hits may be returned initially, you will have the option of further refining.

Bibliographic notice

Each document obtained by Simple search comes together with a bibliographic notice, giving juridical information (such as date of adoption or date of effect), documentary data (indexation through the Eurovoc thesaurus, classification in the Directory), as well as links to all documents based on the document, and to all documents mentioning the document.

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01. General, financial and institutional matters

02. Customs Union and free movement of goods

03. Agriculture

04. Fisheries

05. Freedom of movement for workers and social policy

06. Right of establishment and freedom to provide services

07. Transport policy

08. Competition policy

09. Taxation

10. Economic and monetary policy and free movement of capital

11. External relations

12. Energy

13. Industrial policy and internal market

14. Regional policy and coordination of structural instruments

15. Environment, consumers and health protection

16. Science, information, education and culture

17. Law relating to undertakings

18. Common Foreign and Security Policy

19. Area of freedom, security and justice

20. People's Europe

 

SOURCES AND REFERENCES

© European Communities, 1998-2006

Reproduction for personal use or for further non-commercial dissemination to end-users (for educational purposes, research, private study or internal circulation within an organisation) is authorised subject to the conditions that appropriate acknowledgement is given to the European Communities and to the source, and that the following disclaimer is added: ‘Only European Union legislation printed in the paper edition of the Official Journal of the European Union is deemed authentic’.

Reproduction for commercial purposes or for mass redissemination by public services in whatever form is subject to the conclusion of a licence agreement issued on behalf of the European Communities by the Publications Office, to which applications should be addressed in writing.

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