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 its 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 its official web site, Europa (http://europa.eu/);
other electronic resources such as unofficial databases and relevant academic and intergovernmental or NGO web sites;
its 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 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 on European Union (TEU) (November 1993) (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:11992M/TXT:EN:HTML), as amended by the Treaty of Amsterdam(October 1997) (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/treaty/pdf/amst-en.pdf )
and the Treaty of Nice (February 2003),(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/treaties/dat/12001C/pdf/12001C_EN.pdf )comprises three spheres of operation (but subject to a merger of these elements under the draft constitutional treaty): 1) economic institutions and activities, enforced by its 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 Establishing The European Economic Community*
Original treaty setting up a common market, itself amended 1) by a Merger Treaty (1967) to give it and the other two treaties a common set of institutions, and 2) a Single European Act (SEA) for European Political Cooperation in foreign policy
Council with direct Member representation;
Commission which initiates and executes Council decisions;
A Court of Justice and Assembly of European Parliament (EP).
SEA introduces a co-operation procedure, enlarging role of EP in legislative process
As amended to date, still the “First Pillar” of economic union and trade relations for what has since become the European Union
Maastricht
Treaty on European Union, 1993
Treaty Establishing The European Communities
• Brought into being the European Union, *founded on the European Communities, supplemented by intergovernmental co-operation formalized as • a common foreign and security policy and • a common justice and home affairs (crime) policy • subsidiary principle
• free movement of workers since 1993 enhanced with closer cooperation on security and crime, drug control, corruption, and terrorism • common borders (passport control) under incorporated Schengen Agreement • Co-decision for parliament and 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
In force but subject to amendment by Nice Agreement
Nice
Treaty of Nice
Treaty on European Union (as amended by Amsterdam)
• Looking to enlargement of member states, 30 new treaty article areas of concern open to qualified majority voting of the Council • Co-decision: 7 new areas
In force as of 1 February 2003
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 under “EU at a Glance” the portal “Treaties and Law,” (http://europa.eu/abc/treaties/index_en.htm) presents an excellent overview of the treaty texts (though written for the public), links to the treaty texts, Comprehensive Guides to the Treaty of Nice and the Treaty of Amsterdam, and complete consolidated texts of the TEU, Amsterdam, and Nice as well as the original Constitutional Treaty.
B. The Treaty of Lisbon: the EU Reform Treaty and Its Process
A Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:C:2004:310:SOM:EN:HTML ) was the draft text was adopted after a Convention on the Future of Europe and an Intergovernmental Conference by the European Council, that is, the council of Heads of States and Governments, in October 2004. Referenda in France and the Netherlands resulted in a rejection of this text, and as the Europa “Treaties and Law” portal cited above announces, the next steps are that “(After) …a two year reflection period, on the 23rd of June 2007 the EU leaders agreed on a mandate for a new Intergovernmental Conference. The task of this Intergovernmental conference will be to draw up a new Treaty on Institutional reform by the end of 2007.”
Europa (http://europa.eu/) now contains a separate page for the process, “Institutional Reform of the European Union” at (http://europa.eu/institutional_reform/index_en.htm) with separate links to the IGC (http://www.consilium.europa.eu/showPage.asp?id=1297&lang=en) and a calendar (http://europa.eu/institutional_reform/chronology/index_en.htm)of the reform. 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.
The previous texts of the Reform Treaty finalized in Lisbon October 18-19, 2007 are posted at the Europa web page (http://www.consilium.europa.eu/cms3_fo/showPage.asp?id=1317&lang=en&mode=g). 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 Treaty at a Glance (http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/glance/index_en.htm) and the Delegation provides updates to the Reform Treaty process via RSS feed; subscribe (http://www.eurunion.org/news_rss/Subscribe.aspx?subscribe=rss) and the timetable (http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/gena/95456.pdf#page=8).
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.
[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 composition of the European Parliament and 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/pdf/12001C_EN.pdf ), specifically TEU Art. 43 and it is 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. The TEU Art. 43(b) ( http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2006/ce321/ce32120061229en00010331.pdf) limits this ability in several ways by stating 10 conditions which must be met; at least 8 member states must be involved, trade and competition may not be distorted, nor the internal market undermined. Basically, the arrangements must respect the acquis communautaire.
What is the acquis communautaire?
Under TEU Art. 3(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2006/ce321/ce32120061229en00010331.pdf ) it refers to everything agreed upon and also done without objection, in short, the rules and practices which were “acquired” by the Communities; however, Prof. P. Mathijsen notes that the decisions taken under enhanced cooperation do not become part of the acquis. (P. Mathijsen, A Guide to European Union Law (London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2007) at 5, 7.
III. COMMUNITY ACTS AND SOURCES OF LAW
A. In the hierarchy of norms governing the EU, the treaty texts are followed by 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://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/JOIndex.do) about which more follows);
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 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 Eur-lex or European law portal of Europa (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm) under
>About EU Law > “process and players” (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/droit_communautaire/droit_communautaire.htm)
1. Locating EU Legislation in force
An easy way to locate legislation by topic is through Summaries of Legislation, (http://europa.eu/scadplus/scad_en.htm) under the “Documents” tab on the Europa home page; it is the last bulleted choice under “European Law.” Citations and links to full text through to the OJ database(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOIndex.do?ihmlang=en) (and its bibliographic aids) is provided in one click from an overview page. For example, the Summaries page linked above lists pre-selected topics. Under “food safety” one is taken to a page with an overview of all EU activities, the acts described and summarized, and then the link.
The OJ database (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOIndex.do?ihmlang=en )provides the simple or advanced searches, which may be queried. When the item is located, a bibliographic record provides language choices, PDF or HTML formats, and there are ways to provide stable links to text. The overall “simple search” template (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/RECH_menu.do?ihmlang=en) is sufficient for most queries. The general advanced search seems cumbersome and in some browsers performs erratically. File category (meaning type of legislation), authoring body, search terms (in title or title/text), and document number are common approaches.
Example: To find the original product liability directive, begin in the simple search template linked above, choose file category legislation and on the next page after that click, one radio button should be on directive and another on further options, search terms (to add specific terms). Then fill out the template that will come up by putting terms product WITH liability (included that way in the search form), radio button on “title and text” and hit search button.
Seven pages of results are returned. With fair ease one can survey this list and especially 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 the last page to find
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/repert/index.htm) gathers all legislation in force under 20 top level rubrics for the areas or treaty provisions which provide authority for the legislation.
Finally, dossiers (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/dossier/index.htm) are provided for another set of topics which vary from those listed in the Summaries section. These also list and link to full text legislation in the area.
2. Directives: effects
Of these 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, notwithstanding the requirement. Direct effect creates individual rights which national courts must protect (P. Mathijsen, A Guide to European Law (London: Sweet & Maxwll, 2007) at 28 and cases cited in fn. 20.
Therefore, simply locating the text of a directive may be accomplished using the EU Document Location Chart provided below (and with step-by-step illustrations at (http://www.llrx.com/features/eulaw2.htm). However, while regulations clearly both pre-empt national law as supranational legislation and create rights by direct effect, only certain directives can have direct effect and in certain circumstances. This is a matter of researching case law from the European Court of Justice with regard either to the particular directive at issue or cases addressing directives of 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 very simplistically, a directive deemed to have some form of direct effect may be effective as follows:
As fully implemented, it may effect 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
These effects are known as “vertical direct effects”
Additionally, if private entities try to claim any rights under a directive in their relationship with each other, this “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. 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 the rights, the language doing so is present in the directive, and the cause of the damage was this breach of a state obligation. The leading case is Francovich v. Italy, ECJ 19.11.91 C6,9/90, [1991] ECR I-5357. (See section V. A. below; cases from 1954 but prior to 1997 may be searched at the EUR-Lex case-law site list of latest documents made available(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JURISIndex.do?ihmlang=en), however not all are linked there; this one is not. 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).
3. Researching directives
Researching directives, then, can be a matter of researching the European Union case law (see section V of this chapter). There are monographic studies of leading cases in the area that outline the parameters of this research and which may serve as a short-cut in need only of updating, using 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. 2d ed. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. (http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780198268321&view=lawview) and note: Oxford EC Law Library, General Editor: F. G. Jacobs, Advocate-General, Court of Justice of the European Communities. He is the author of several books on EC law and was the founding editor of the Yearbook of European Law.
In the product liability search example above, a bibliographic record is obtained by clicking on “bibliographic notice” (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/Notice.do?val=65181:cs&lang=en&list=129365:cs,115911:
cs,65181:cs,&pos=3&page=7&nbl=63&pgs=10&hwords=product~liability~) under the correct directive.
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 to reveal the list of member states and citations (in the vernaculars to vernacular sources) to their national implementing laws. See (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:71978L0660:EN:NOT).
N-Lex, (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/n-lex/pays.html?lang=en) is an experimental portal for national implementing laws. There is a template imposed over national sites for vernacular searching. If this is not successful for reaching full text (and they warn that national sites must keep it updated), use the World Legal Information Institute(http://www.worldlii.org/) or Lexadin (http://www.lexadin.nl) sites to see if national legislation is identified as implementing EU directives, or if you already have the name of the law.
For English translations of an editorially selected number of commercially-related laws which mostly implement European community acts, consult
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.
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
Under current proposals being discussed in the IGC for the Reform Treaty negotiations, a procedure following the Co-decision procedure for the adoption of legislative acts will be the most commonly-used procedure. The steps are outlined below in text excerpted from the Draft Treaty(http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cmsUpload/cg00001re01en.pdf) amending TEU Art. 251, which even now applies in 22 areas, including 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. One may well ask, what is left out? For this reason it will become the main legislative procedure.
239) Article 251 shall be amended as follows: (b) as from the second subparagraph of paragraph 2, the wording of the Article shall be replaced by the following: 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, and 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. 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 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."
1. Preparatory Acts
European Commission green papers (policy discussion documents) (http://europa.eu/documents/comm/green_papers/index_en.htm )and white papers (proposals for action or legislation) (http://europa.eu/documents/comm/white_papers/index_en.htm ) are both usually issued at 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 at the White paper site( http://europa.eu/documents/comm/white_papers/index_en.htm) Most but not all are published in the Preparatory or C section of the OJ (http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-130100.htm#serieC ). Since the Commission initiates most legislation, 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 Co-decision Procedure may be tracked via a section of the portal for the Council of the European Union (http://www.consilium.europa.eu/cms3_fo/showPage.asp?id=435&lang=EN&mode=g). 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 procedure tracking page (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/search.jsp) is a good choice when you know that Parliament is involved as well as the Council; Council meeting results are given. Parliamentary questions, readings, conciliations are provided. Political party involvement is included.
Inter-institutional procedures beginning with 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 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 (http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/JOIndex.do ). As noted above regarding Preparatory Acts (insert jump up to that section), 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 (insert jump to section) ). 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/comm/competition/antitrust/cases/index.html ).
Acts enter into force on the 20th day following their publication unless a date is specified in the legislation.
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. Its portal(http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm#) links to the Directorates General 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. 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 and has been serving 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) which consists of Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the Union, but high level civil servants rather than cabinet-level ministers frequently represent them 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/showPage.ASP?lang=en).
C. European Parliament
The European Parliament(http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/default_en.htm) is an assembly of representative 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 electedfor a term of five years. Parliament now participates in the legislative process through committees (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/committees.do?language=EN.) Among other powers, Parliament puts questions to the Council, Commission, and President, participates in 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 Economic and Social Committee (ESC) (http://www.eesc.europa.eu/index_en.asp) The ESC 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 (http://www.cor.europa.eu/pages/HomeTemplate.aspx) has advisory status and consists of representatives of regional or local bodies which 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 decisions making as close as possible to the citizen. Reports on the process are on the CoR website (http://www.cor.europa.eu/pages/EventTemplate.aspx?view=folder&id=edb25d95-d57d-416c-bf4c-
df9427c75255&sm=edb25d95-d57d-416c-bf4c-df9427c75255) with links to more documentation in the navigation pane to the left.
V. EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE AND CASE LAW
A. The Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance
Information and case law of the courts of the European Union may be accessed via the major courts portal, Curia, (http://www.curia.europa.eu/en/index.htm). One may follow links from the first welcome page of the portal or from the left pane of any sub-portal.
As noted above, the case law of the European Court Justice ( http://curia.europa.eu/) stands alongside the treaty and acts as the major sources 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:
Arnull, Anthony. The European Union and its Court of Justice. 2nd ed. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. (http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Law/EuropeanLaw/?view=usa&ci=9780199258840) (other general works collected in library catalogs under Library of Congress subject heading Court of Justice of the European Communities – Cases ).
Edwards, Vanessa, "European Court of Justice-Significant Environmental Cases 2005" (2006). Journal of Environmental Law, Vol. 18, Issue 1, pp. 161-168, 2006 Available at SSRN (http://ssrn.com/abstract=914760) (a regular feature of issue 1 of the journal from (2004) onwards).
Gabel, Matthew., Carrubba, Clifford. and Hankle, Charles. "Do Governments Sway European Court of Justice Decision-making?: Evidence from Government Court Briefs" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Marriott Wardman Park, Omni Shoreham, Washington Hilton, Washington, DC, 2005-09-2007-10-30 (and similar articles collected at AllAcademic.com http://www.allacademic.com)(notes indicated peer-reviewed) .
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 Community acts is determined by the Community 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. “
Court of First Instance (http://curia.europa.eu/en/instit/presentationfr/index_tpi.htm) Actions regarding state aids, dumping, trademarks, and certain contracts come under the jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance. Its composition, jurisdiction, and Procedure is detailed at its portal, linked at the left navigation pane from (http://www.curia.europa.eu/en/instit/presentationfr/index_cje.htm)
EU Civil Service Tribunal
Article 225a of the EC Treaty (http://europa.eu/eur-lex/en/treaties/dat/C_2002325EN.003301.html) and Article 140b of the Euratom Treaty (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:12001C/TXT:EN:HTML) empower the Council to create judicial panels” attached to the Court of First Instance for areas within its jurisdiction. A European Civil Service Tribunal (http://curia.europa.eu/en/instit/presentationfr/index_tfp.htm) was created in 2004 under this authority by Council Decision of 2 November 2004, 2004/752/EC, O.J. L333/7 (9.11.2004) (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004D0752:EN:HTML) Its jurisdiction and rules of procedure are detailed via links in the left navigation pane at (http://www.curia.europa.eu/en/instit/presentationfr/index_cje.htm).
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 may be found via links posted on the ECJ website (http://www.curia.europa.eu/en/instit/presentationfr/index_cje.htm).
Searching for particular cases by topic using keywords or known citations
From the main page of Curia, (http://curia.europa.eu/en/transitpage.htm) choose an appropriate template for searching. NOTE: Tthe main page template searches cases from July 17, 1997 onwards BUT older cases from 1953 on up through the present via the left navigation link via the Court of Justice page at (http://www.curia.europa.eu/en/instit/presentationfr/index_cje.htm) (editorial note: leave the URL exposed here) and linked through to Eur-lex. This template enables the choice of date spans for full text for the earlier years. (!953 – 1988 and 1989 on for the Court of Justice, since 1989 for the Court of First Instance, and since 2005 for the Civil Service Tribunal. The Digest of Case-law and Alphabetical Table of Subject matter are not in English. The Information link is to treaty article citation and this is useful because of the re-numbering of the foundational treaties’ articles over time.
If you know the case number (e.g. for the ECJ, C-184/06) the simple portal (http://curia.europa.eu/en/content/juris/index.htm) is a proper starting point. If you want to specify the type of document, opinion of an Advocate-General versus a judgement, for example, use (http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=en)
Example: search the template with filling in the field blank from the drop-down menu, which are areas of the treaty such as “free movement of goods” and, after choosing that one, enter “bananas” for the Words in the text blank and as of this writing three texts are retrieved, two from the Michailidis case (Advocate-Generals’ opinions) and one from a new action dated 15 February 2007, Commission v. Spain, Case C-88/07.
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.
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.”
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- .
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 “Activities” tab at the main page of the Europa site(http://europa.eu/index_en.htm) are richly-populated portals for information on each of the topics listed below. In these templates, legal texts are featured in the lower right corner of the page.
In print and in sections linked at each of the portals listed below, monthly and annual reports on the topics and other sectors represented in the treaty are included in analyzed numbered sections of the Bulletin of the European Union Bulletin of the European Union. European Commission. Brussels: European Commission, Secretariat-General, 1994- (most recent series) ( http://europa.eu/bulletin/en/welcome.htm ), supplemented by the General Report on the Activities of the European Union. European Commission Imprint Brussels: The Commission, 1995- (http://europa.eu/generalreport/en/welcome.htm)
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 in the World(http://ec.europa.eu/world/index_en.htm) contains links at the left to major sub-portals for the principal related areas such as external relations (http://ec.europa.eu/world/what/external_relations/index_en.htm) and foreign policy, (http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/index.htm) along with trade policy(http://ec.europa.eu/trade/index_en.htm), security (http://ec.europa.eu/world/peace/index_en.htm) , and enlargement (http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/index_en.htm).
B. Competition Policy
There are several electronic and print avenues to researching EU competition law and policy. See (http://europa.eu/pol/comp/index_en.htm) In addition to sources cited above under commercial cases and statutory law for European jurisdictions (jump to paragraphs), 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 at (http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/index_en.html) 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/comm/competition/annual_reports/).
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.
C. Social Policy
The relevant “activities” portal for this topical area is “Employment and Social Affairs” (http://europa.eu/pol/socio/index_en.htm)
There is a separate link to the Social Agenda 2005-2010 (http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_policy_agenda/social_pol_ag_en.html), featuring a Report of the High Level Group on social policy in the enlarged EU.
Since 2001, several papers and articles have been posted to the Jean Monnet program (http://www.jeanmonnetprogram.org/ ) and SSRN (http://www.ssrn.com/) on EU employment policy and the European Social Model.
Just a 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 Activities and there is the Health and Consumer Protection DG site at (http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/index_en.htm) with links to different pages than the above for food and feed safety, (http://ec.europa.eu/food/index_en.htm) , consumer safety, (http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/index_en.htm), public health, (http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/index_en.htm).
There is a section on researching trade implications of health law regarding mainly the WTO but also the EU written by this author for the O’Neill Institute of Global Health of the Georgetown Law Center, “ Research Guide on Global Health Law (http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/intl/guides/globalhealthlaw.cfm).
E. Human Rights
The Presidency, the Council, and the Commission publishes jointly an Annual Report on Human Rights, (http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/human_rights/doc/report_06_en.pdf). As an aspect of external relations, the EU publishes its policies and efforts at (http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/human_rights/intro/index.htm). 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 the Charter of Fundamental Rights are linked in the “summaries of legislation” (jump to above ref) or the former “ScadPlus” section of the web site at (http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/s20000.htm). In light of terrorism and developments balancing rights with security, this framework database within Europa also presents another gateway to these links via the “justice, freedom, and security” summary at (http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/s22000.htm) .
VII. COMMENTARY AND DATABASES
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- .
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
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.
Westlaw Cases, legislation, Sweet & Maxwell and BNA commentary and journals. Two databases deserve highlighting:
Database Identifier: EU-CASELOC Coverage: Begins with 1891 for UK cases Begins with 1954 for EU cases Content Highlights: Case law locator for E.U. decisions reported in Sweet & Maxwell reporters and Lloyd's Law Reports. Case law locator documents summarize a court decision; list citations to reporters in which a case is reported and to cases and legislation cited in the decision; and include a history of the case (direct history, negative indirect history, and citations to the case). Coverage begins with 1961.
Human Rights overall topic area: European Human Rights Law Review (EHRLR) European Human Rights Reports (EHR-RPTS) Human Rights Case Law Locator (UKHR-CASELOC) Human Rights Law Reports (UK) (HRL-RPTS) UK Human Rights Law Reports All (HR-RPTS-ALL) United Kingdom Current Awareness - Human Rights Highlights (UKCA-RIGHTSHIGH) United Kingdom Human Rights - Legal Journals Index (UKHR-LJI) United Kingdom Human Rights - Treaties (UKHR-TREATIES)
Lexis Cases, legislation from EUR-lex official site detailed in this ASIL guide. Business guides. Two databases merit highlighting:
FILE-NAME: NATPRV EUR-Lex EU Law Database: National Provisions Implementing Directives. Easier than scrolling down in Eur-lex; can use terms and connectors. “Product liability” will retrieve the implementation of the directive notwithstanding British English in the original.
Commentaries and Treatises section contains business, competition, and copyright treatises as well as Smit & Herzog on the Law of the European Union (FILE-NAME: SHOLEU)
Lawtel, Sweet & Maxwell (Thomson) is focused on the integration of EU law into the UK legal system.
EU Competition Law Online, (http://www.ellispub.com/index.php?page_id=5) Ellis Publications promises enhanced news and documents on competition developments within twenty-four hours.
VIII. CONCLUDING REVIEW OF UPDATING AND CITATION TOOLS
The following should prove useful in preparing updated articles or guides on EU law:
EU Focus and Insights, and the Guide for Americans, at the Delegation for the European Commission to the USA under publications, (http://www.eurunion.org/) and one can subscribe to the EUNewsBrief at the site.
Intute: Social Sciences Law > International Law > European Union Law (http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/cgi-bin/browse.pl?limit=0&id=120759&type=%&sort=record.title&gateway=%) An extensive list of official and unofficial sites for European legal journals, working papers as well as the primary law reviewed in this ASIL chapter, from a British perspective, complete with general internet search tutorials for legal researchers.
Updated Research Guides
For additional details of the legal research process for the European Union, please refer to the following research guides and resources.
EISIL, Electronic Information System for International Law (An ASIL Research Tool) has an EU section at (http://www.eisil.org/index.php?sid=297648529&cat=41&t=sub_pages)
EU US delegation site has electronic publications, many of which are suitable for cataloguing as PDFs; some are just online versions of newsletters but free: (http://bookshop.europa.eu/eGetRecords)
Of particular interest: European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters (being promoted at “civil law at your fingertips” (http://ec.europa.eu/civiljustice/index_en.htm ).
