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European Union Law: Books and Other Sources

This guide contains tips and resources for researching the laws of the European Union.

European Union Law Sources

Web Sources

Archive of European Integration

The Archive of European Integration (AEI) is an electronic archive for research materials on the topic of European integration and unification. The AEI collects two types of materials: certain types of independently-produced research materials and official European Community/EU documents.

Council of the EU

This website includes EU Council press releases, a register of internal documents (with links to the full text in many instances) and general information about the work of the EU Council and the European Council.

Curia 

The official website of the EU courts. This website includes an extensive database of cases and numerical case indexes. Also provides the new official electronic-only European Court Reports, the Statute of the Court of Justice, procedural rules, annual reports, news and other information.

Europa 

Is the official website of the EU is a great foundation for acquiring knowledge of the EU and its integral institutions. This website is available in English.

EUR-Lex Access to European Union Law

Provides free access, in the 24 official EU languages, to: the Official Journal of the European Union; EU law (EU treaties, directives, regulations, decisions, consolidated legislation, etc.); preparatory acts (legislative proposals, reports, green and white papers, etc.); EU case-law (judgements, orders, etc.); international agreements; European Free Trade Association documents; and other public documents. This source also allows one to remain abreast of legislative procedures. This sources is updated daily and contains more than 3 million items with some texts dating back to 1951.

European Commission

This website includes the Commission's Work Programme; sections covering the work of each Directorate-General (department); the Comitology Register (information about the work of committees involved in the implementation of EU legislation); and a register of internal documents.

European Commission Press Release Database

This database contains European Commission's press releases.

European Competition Network

This website delivers pertinent legislation and links to the website of each EU member state’s national competition authority.

European Parliament (EP)

This website provides information about the work of the EP and its committees; EP minutes and legislative reports; parliamentary questions; press releases; the Legislative Observatory, which monitors the progress of legislation; the Legislative Train Schedule (another information tool concerning legislation in progress);  a register of internal documents; and a large collection of reports, briefings and studies produced by the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), the EP Think Tank.

European Parliament Legislative Observatory

The EP's database for monitoring the EU decision-making process.

European Union Newsroom

The EU's news website, with press releases from all the EU institutions and agencies, plus factsheets and a calendar of events. 

European Union Treaties Database

This database contains all the bilateral and multilateral international treaties or agreements concluded by the EU, the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC) and the former European Communities (EC, EEC, ECSC). Agreements signed but not yet in force are identified by an asterisk (*). The Database does not include the “founding treaties” of the European Community and European Union or other agreements concluded between the Member States of the European Union.

Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) EU Libguide

A LibGuide to researching the law of the EU, created by the IALS, a member institute of the School of Advanced Study, University of London.

N-Lex

This website offers a single entry point to national law databases in individual EU countries.

Tenders Electronic Daily (TED)

The online version of the 'Supplement to the Official Journal' of the EU, dedicated to European public procurement.

The ABC of European Union Law

Professor Klaus-Dieter Borchardt furnishes a detailed review of the EU, its history, current structure, and operational procedures.

The European Commission's Competition website

Provides thorough details of individual competition cases, together with competition legislation, official guidelines and the annual Report on Competition Policy. 

The European Union's entry in the CIA's The World Factbook

Provides a synopsis of the EU's governing structure, along with some basic geographic, demographic, and economic data.

BREXIT and the European Union

Brexit refers to the United Kingdom's ongoing withdrawal from the EU under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.  On June 23, 2016, UK voters opted to leave the EU in a national referendum.  On March 29, 2017, the Government of the UK invoked Article 50, which triggered a 2-year process for negotiating and concluding the member state's departure from the EU.  Although Britain was scheduled to depart the political union on March 29, 2019, this deadline was subsequently extended to October 31, 2019.  The departure of the UK has numerous legal implications, which are the subject of ongoing debate and academic research. 

Other International Law Sources

Image of International Legal Research book cover

The LSU Law Foreign Legal Research Guide is a great place to start researching EU Law.




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