Sources of European Union Law


	Sources of European Union Law CRMR 3
	This guide is intended as a reference tool to sources of EC law in Crookesmoor Library. It is not a general introduction to EC legal sources. Further guidance can be obtained from the Enquiry Desk. If viewing this guide on the network, anything in blue and underlined is a hypertext link to another relevant document. Simply click on the line to be taken into that document. History The European Community was created by the founding of three Communities - the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Committee (Euratom). For simplicity, all three Communities were known, until 1993, as the European Community, sharing the same institutions and following the same legislative procedures. In 1993, the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty) introduced the concept of the European Union, consisting of three pillars: the European Communities, dominated by the former EEC co-operation on Foreign and Security policy co-operation on Justice and Home Affairs Pillars 2 and 3 are not yet the subject of internal European legislation, but of inter- governmental negotiation. The European Union is a "virtual body" and is not yet involved in the legislative process: legislation is still the prerogative of the European Communities. Institutions The European Commission The Commission consists of 19+ commissioners appointed by the Member Governments. It initiates most European Community legislation by issuing a proposal. The Council of the European Union (formerly the Council of Ministers of the European Communities) The Council consists of ministers of the Member Governments responsible for a policy area under discussion. It cannot propose legislation, but reacts to proposals and issues legislation. The European Parliament The European Parliament is directly elected by the electorate of the European Community countries. It has little direct legislative power (though it's powers were enhanced by the Maastricht Treaty) but it has to be consulted before certain legislation can be adopted. The Court of Justice of the European Communities and the Court of First Instance The Court of Justice has the power to challenge, interpret and enforce Community law through cases brought before it and through preliminary rulings requested by national courts. Judges are appointed by the governments of the Member States. The Court of First Instance deals with cases relating to competition, certain aspects of the European Coal and Steel Commmunity and staff disputes. Consultative committees The Economic and Social Committee (ESC) and the Committee of the Regions (COR) both have advisory roles and are consulted, or can offer their own opinions on certain matters. Their views can also be ignored. Membership of the European Union The European Union was created as follows: 1952 Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands 1973 Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom 1981 Greece 1986 Portugal, Spain 1995 Austria, Finland, Sweden. Primary legislation All legislation is located in the European Reference Centre (prefixed ERC on *Star) which is on the Ground Floor of the Library. The text of major pieces of European legislation can also be found on the Internet (see below). Treaties The Treaties are considered to be the "constitution" of the European Communities. They created, gave authority to and imposed restrictions on the power of the institutions. They imposed binding obligations on the signatory states particularly with regard to the supremacy of the Treaties and enacted European Community legislation over national laws. The Treaties form part of the national law of each member state. Founding Treaties and Amending Treaties Library copies are all at shelfmark ERC 349.401 and are arranged in date order. European Coal and Steel Community Paris 1951 European Economic Community Rome 1957 European Atomic Energy Community Rome 1957 Treaty establishing a Single Council and a Single Commission (Merger Treaty) Brussels 1965 Single European Act Luxembourg 1986 Treaty on European Union Maastricht 1992 Treaties of accession* Library copies are all at shelfmark ERC 349.4011 and are arranged in date order. Bilateral agreements Library copies of agreements between the EC and ACP countires (Lomé Conventions) are all at shelfmark 349.40125. Other agreements between the EC and third countires, e.g. the Agreement on the European Economic Area are at ERC 349.4012. They are arranged in date order. Other documents Agenda 2000 - this is the Commission's detailed strategy for strengthening and widening the European Union in the early years of the 21st Century. As well as being available on the Internet, it is published in several volumes as a supplement to the Bulletin of the European Union. Secondary legislation Major policy-making legislation is issued by the Council itself or in conjunction with the European Parliament. Legislation begins with a Commission proposal which is submitted to the Council. The European Parliament is consulted, as may the Economic and Social Committee, and both institutions can issue Opinions on the proposals. The Commission also issues legislation in its own right to implement or regulate existing policies on the basis of authority given by the Treaties. There are three types of legislation: Regulations - these become part of the National law of the Member States Directives - these have to be implemented by National laws Decisions - these address a specific problem and can apply only to specified states For information on how to find pieces of EU legislation, see the guide Tracing European Union Law. Enacted legislation All enacted legislation is published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. This is in several series and the Library holds two of these: L Series - contains all primary and secondary legislation C Series - contains preparatory documents for secondary legislation and a wide range of other documents containing information or policy statements Until 1973 the Official Journal was published in French as this was the official language of the European Communities. There are several "Special Editions" of the Official Journal, containing selected documents from pre-1973 issues in English. N.B. The Internet version of the Official Journal is only available for a period of 20 days following publication. There is an Alphabetical index and methodological table to the Official Journal. The alphabetical index uses (since 1983) subject headings from EUROVOC and the methodological table has 3 sections: Regulations Other acts (ie. Directives and Decisions) Court of Justice documents In addition, the Directory of Community Legislation in Force, can be used to trace published Official Journal references. Proposed legislation Commission Proposals - these are issued as COM Documents and are usually referred to by the year and reference number, e.g. COM (89) 306. Crookesmoor does not have a complete set of COM Docs, but some can be found at ERC 349.40211/COM along with an index. Sheffield Hallam University has a full set. Some COM Documents are also published in the C series of the Official Journal, but there is no index for them. European Parliament Opinions - an issue of the Official Journal C Series is devoted to the minutes of the proceedings of each session of the European Parliament. Opinions on proposals are also included. Economic and Social Committee Opinions - an issue of the Official Journal C Series gives the text text of the opinions of the Economic and Social Committee issued during each session. General Report on the Activities of the European Union - an annual publication, this describes all enacted and proposed legislation, consultative documents and any other developments during the year with relevant Official Journal references. It is arranged by subject with a detailed contents page but no index. The Library has a complete set at ERC 349.40213/GEN. Bulletin of the European Union - similar to the General Report, but describes events and documents in more detail. The Bulletin is arranged by subject with an index, but is less likely to have Official Journal references than the General Report. The Library has an almost complete set at ERC 349.40213/BUL. Official Journal C Series - this is called Information and Notices, and contains a wide range of documents other than the preparatory documents for proposed legislation. 'C' series documents are not binding - they are documents relating to proposed legislation, expressing an opinion or giving information. Case law Case Law consists of Judgments given in cases brought before the European Court of Justice and in response to requests for preliminary rulings on European matters raised in cases before the national Courts. An important element of the judicial process is the Opinion of the Advocate-General which is a summary of the legal issues of the cases for the advice of the judges. The Court of First Instance was set up in 1990 to relieve the Court of Justice, and deals with cases involving natural and legal persons. A high proportion of these are competition cases. Each case is given a number when it is first presented to the Court. It retains this number throughout its life, unless it is appealed or transfered from the Court of First Instance to the Court of Justice. For example: Court of Justice C-123/90 or Court of First Instance T-123/90 Where 123 is a running number for the case, and 90 is the year. Transcripts - the Courts have published an immediate report in English of Judgments and Advocate-Generals' opinions. They can be found in Crookesmoor from 1995 at ERC 349.40312/COU. Proceedings of the Court of Justice of the European Communities - this is a weekly summary of cases brought before the Court, and Opinions, Judgments and Preliminary rulings given. They are kept in the Library at ERC 349.40314/PRO. Official Journal C Series - this gives a brief summary of Judgments of the Court, Advocate-Generals' Opinions and cases recently brought before the Court. Report of Cases before the European Court of Justice (European Court Reports) - these are the official reports of Judgments in cases brought before the Court and on requests for preliminary rulings from National Courts. The Judgments are published in chronological order of date of Judgment, so the volume for 1994 contains Judgments from Jan-Dec 1994: you can therefore locate a Judgment very quickly if you know its date. There are 2 series I is the Court of Justice and II is the Court of First Instance. They are kept in the Library at ERC 349.4031/COU. Common Market Law Reports - these contain cases before the National Courts of the Member States involving European Community law as well as cases before the European Court. There are four volumes per year, each separately indexed. All England Law Reports. European Cases (1996-) London: Butterworths - the European section of the highly regarded reporting series. Textbooks Most textbooks are located on the upper floor of the Library, apart from material with the prefix ERC. These items can be found in the European Reference Centre on the ground floor. If you cannot find what you are looking for here, Sheffield Hallam University acts as the region's European Documentation Centre. Periodicals In Crookesmoor, the periodicals are arranged alphabetically by title around the outside walls of the Library, with letters A-H downstairs and I-Z upstairs. They are listed on *Star* under their title and in a printed listing known as What's Where in the Crookesmoor Library. In order to trace articles on various subjects or authors, you will need to use an index: Legal Journals Index This is available in electronic form via Westlaw See below for more information on electronic information sources Reference materials There are several publications in the European Reference Centre that are useful reference tools: Eurovoc (1987) Luxembourg: OOPEC - this consists of 2 volumes, I is an Alphabetical thesaurus, and and II is a Subject-oriented thesaurus. Both are easy to use and can provide valuable assistance when searching official documents. Europe in Figures (1995) 4th ed. Luxembourg: OOPEC. A comprehensive volume, giving factual information on all aspects of the EU including institutions, financing, the environment, standard of living, agriculture, industry etc. Europe Info. Directory of networks and other EU information sources (1995) Luxembourg: OOPEC. Gives information relating to specific EU programmes along with addresses and contact details. EU Brief - Handbook of EC Law, Practice and Policy (1993) Belfast:Lockley Press. This set of four loose-leaf volumes includes: I the legal order of the EU and details of institutions II free movement of goods/persons/ services and capital, monetary union, taxation, agriculture, company law III competition law, transport, labour law, environment, public health, consumer protection and IV funding. European Current Law Monthly Digest (1994-) London: Sweet and Maxwell - this is a comprehensive guide to all recent developments in law, providing comprehensive coverage of the latest legal developments, with the Current Law Yearbook revising and consolidating the monthly digests. Electronic sources Networked information services are only available to registered network users. Contact Corporate Information and Computing Services (CICS) to register. The key title for EU information is Eurolaw. Eurolaw contains the official full text legal database of the European Union (CELEX) plus DTI Briefings on the U.K's implementation of EU legislation and other additions to keep the database up to date. CELEX covers legislation, case law, preparatory documents, national provisions implementing directives and parliamentary questions. The main information sources include the Official Journal of the European Union, European Court Reports, debates of the European Parliament, COMDocs and the main European legal journals. A user guide for Eurolaw can be found through the Library Web Page, and there are paper copies at the Enquiry Desk in Crookesmoor Library. Legal Journals Index This is available in electronic form via Westlaw. LAWTEL (1987-) London: Context Computer File - Lawtel is an on-line legal database, updated every 24 hours. The databases include: Daily Update, Case Law, Articles, Personal Injury, Legislation, Practice Directions, plus others. This service is available over the campus network via the Databases: complete alphabetical table web page. A user guide is available - printed copies can be collected from the Enquiry Desk in Crookesmoor. For details of European Union information sources on the Internet, such as electronic journals and official institutional web pages, see the Library Guide European Union in the Library and on the Internet. A lot of useful information can be found on the Internet, particularly on institutional web sites. Current awareness As with any legal subject area, European Union information changes rapidly, and there are several printed current awareness tools available which may be of use when researching a specific topic. For example: SCAD Bulletin (1985-) Brussels: Commission of the European Communities - a weekly analytical bulletin which includes references to a large selection of articles dealing with Community affairs, the publications of the European institutions and to the main Community acts. The current and previous years are kept in the Library at ERC 349.4043/SCA. European Access (1989-1998) Cambridge: Chadwick-Healey - a current awareness guide to the policies and activities of the European Union, includes a chronology of events. European Current Law Monthly Digest (1994-) London: Sweet and Maxwell - this is a comprehensive guide to all recent developments in law, providing comprehensive coverage of the latest legal developments, with the Current Law Yearbook revising and consolidating the monthly digests. For further information contact Maria Mawson who is the appropriate Academic Liaison Librarian for this subject.

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