Most secondary legislation is found within the Official Journal (OJ). Like many aspects of the EU, the OJ is huge and complex. Imagine cramming the U.S. Statutes-at-Large, the Treaty Series, CFR, Federal Register, and Congressional Record into one large publication—you would have a U.S. equivalent of the OJ. However, once you understand how to use it, the OJ is an invaluable resource.
The Official Journal (OJ), the official gazette of the EU, is published daily. It is divided into five main parts:
The L and C series are the most commonly used parts of the OJ.
The OJ is available on EUR-Lex (the official database for documentation of European Community law) from 1998 forward. As the EUR-Lex website is constantly being tweaked, direct links may not always work. EUR-Lex is still good for finding preparatory documents, case law, parliamentary questions, and citations to national provisions which implement EC directives.
You can also access the OJ through Westlaw and Lexis (coverage varies).
| Official Journal | 1993 OJ L 95/29 | 1993 year L95 issue in L Series 29 page # in Issue L95 |
| Regulations | (EC) 2913/92 | EC Community initials 2913 number of regulation (numbered consecutively) 92 year |
| Other Legal Acts | 93/13 (EC) | 93 year 13 number of decision or directive EC Community initials |
Note that directives, commission decisions, and recommendations can have the same citation. For example, 93/13 (EC) could be a directive or a decision.