Secondary Legislation
‘Secondary legislation’ is the third major source of Community law after the treaties (primary legislation ) and international agreements. It can be defined as the totality of the legislative instruments adopted by the European institutions pursuant to the provisions of the treaties (©EUR-Lex, 2011).
Secondary legislation comprises:
i) binding legal instruments (regulations
, directives and decisions )
ii) non-binding instruments (resolutions, opinions)
1. Official Journal of the European Union (OJ)
Secondary legislation can be accessed through the Official Journal of the European Union (prior called "Official Journal of the European Communities"). The OJ is individually numbered in an annual sequence.
The EDC has the complete collection of the Official Journal on paper on the top floor of the Library.
In print
Official Journal of the European Communities. L, Legislation: 1968-2003
Official Journal of the European Union. L, Legislation: 2003 -
The Directory of Community legislation in force is published as part of the OJ L series.
Online
The Official Journal of the European Union (L series)
The Directory of European Union legislation in force
2. Preparatory documents (COM & SEC)
The Commission produces a large number of preparatory documents that accompany its proposals to the co-legislators (the European Parliament and the Council of the EU). These are primarily COM and SEC documents.
COM documents contain the Commission's legislative proposals and other communications of general interest that are due to be transmitted to the other institutions. These also contain proposals for directives, regulations or decisions of the Council and/or European Parliament, Green Papers, White Papers, political communications, reports and working documents of the Commission (©European Commission, 2011).
Library holdings:
In print & microfiche (1987-2010)
Selected COM Documents related to the core research areas of the EUI are catalogued individually in the EDC collection.
COM documents online (1989 - )
SEC documents are internal documents, prepared by the Commission's Secretariat-General. The EDC doesn't receive them automatically, although some have been obtained after special request. These documents can be found in the library catalogue (©European Commission, 2011).
Selected SEC Documents related to the core research areas of the EUI are catalogued individually in the EDC collection.
If you need a SEC document, you can write or send an e-mail (sg-acc-doc@cec.eu.int ) to the Secretariat-General of the Commission or fill in the electronic form after using the Register of Commission documents.
SEC documents online (1999 - )