European Union Information

Council of the European Union, the main decision-making body of the European Union.

In general, it is the European Commission that proposes new legislation, but it is the Council and Parliament that pass the laws. The main forms of EU law are directives and regulations. The rules and procedures for EU decision-making are laid down in the treaties.

Access to European law

The European Parliament is the only directly-elected body of the European Union. Parliament plays an active role in drafting legislation which has an impact on the daily lives of its citizens

the European Parliament has established an electronic Register of documents. Intended as a search aid, it contains the references of documents drawn up or received by the European Parliament since 2001. The Register provides direct access to the majority of European Parliament documents via a search form. The documents are directly accessible in electronic format

This page provides information on Regulations, Directives and other EU legislative acts.

Central source to national law databases on individual EU countries

Legislative Observatory of the European Parliament, a database for monitoring the EU decision-making process.

This site contains electronic copies of all Official Journals since the first edition. Full-text keyword searching available.

The Special Edition of the Official Journal contains the secondary law in force on the date of accession of the given Member State. Browse only.

Short, easy-to-understand explanations of the main legal acts passed by the EU – intended for a general, non-specialist audience.