EU Legal Databases: an overview Ian Mayfield, University of Portsmouth

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EU Legal Databases an overviewIan Mayfield,
University of Portsmouth
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Overview of session

• Eur-Lex official legislative database
• Summaries of legislation SCADplus
• OEIL and Pre-Lex tracking progress of
  legislation
• Other useful sources
• A look at commercial sources

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Eur-Lex background

• Celex - 1967 - French only
• Public 1981 - English 1982 - web late 90s
• Mainly fee-based - source of commercial services
  e.g. Context, ILI
• Openness transparency - 2004 Celex free
• New EUR-Lex launched November 2004
• Celex not updated after 2004 - withdrawn December
  2006

Cobbetts 14/10/2008
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Eur-Lex Contents

• Official Journal L C (pdf 1998 ?)
• Proposed, current withdrawn legislation
• Directory of Legislation in Force
• COMdocs (1999 ?)
• Cases (1954 ? but incomplete)
• Parliamentary questions
• Background information / links

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Eur-Lex Functionality

• Chronological access to OJ, COM docs, cases
• Browse legislation via Directory of Legislation
  in Force
• Simple and advanced search
• Simple search by number, reference, sector or use
  general search
• Search histories and saved searches
• Bilingual display

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Eur-Lex still to come

• LexAlert (e-mail updates)
• Personal profile (saved searches)
• Search case law by party

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OEIL

• The EPs Legislative Observatory
• Covers procedures dating from start of 4th
  Parliamentary session in July 1994
• Tracks procedure through legislative stages
• Identifies actors
• Outlines background and history of the
  legislation
• Identifies documentation
• Personal alerts through Observatory tracker
• Simple and advanced search
• Now has fact sheets outlining financial,
  socio- economic and environmental impacts

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PreLex

• Commission website (now managed by Official
  Publications Office)
• Monitoring the legislative process
• Introduced in late 90s but has data back to 1976
• Similar to OEIL but has
• No histories or background material
• More links to documentation
• More search options relating to institutional
  structure

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Other useful sources

• SCADplus summaries of legislation
• Document registers
• Merger cases

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Why use commercial sources?

• Reliability
• Content
• Add-ins e.g. merger cases, press releases,
  register documents, EFTA docs, implementation
• Value added e.g. commentaries, notes, nicknames
  etc.
• Added functionality e.g. linking,
  cross-searching, profiles
• Support

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Commercial sources - examples

• OJ Online (Ellis), OJ Daily (Justis),
• Eurolaw (SAI Global), Celex (Justis),
• Lawtel, Westlaw (Ellis), Justis EU
• Caselex (Justis), EU Competition Law Online
  (Ellis)
• European Sources Online (Cardiff University)