EUR-Lex
MANUAL DE USO
Simple search quick start guide
Chapter 1 – Before you begin
1. SIMPLE SEARCH INTERFACE 2. EUR-LEX COVERAGE AND UPDATING 3. MULTILINGUAL FEATURES
1. SIMPLE SEARCH INTERFACE EUR-Lex is the result of merging the EUR-Lex site with the CELEX database on European law. The structure and layout of the Simple Search section of EUR-Lex is very similar to that of CELEX. Certain terms, such as ‘CELEX number’ or ‘CELEX sector’ are thus still used in the new site. There are two search interfaces in EUR-Lex - Simple search and Advanced search. The interface you choose to use will depend on your search and retrieval requirements, how familiar you are with European legislation and the time you will spend learning to use the system. While the advanced search interface provides a fuller range of search and display features, the simple search interface can accommodate most users' requirements. Even if you have little or no experience with EU legal databases you will find it easy to search, retrieve and display results without difficulty.
2. EUR-Lex COVERAGE AND UPDATING
EUR-Lex holds six principal groups of documents or files – treaties, international agreements, legislation, case-law, preparatory acts and parliamentary questions. A file may comprise one or more sectors and several types of document. As a general rule documents loaded in EUR-Lex are published in the Official Journal of the European Union and/or in the European Court Reports. The current trend is to extend coverage to documents
considered by the issuing institution to be public, regardless of their publication in the Official Journal. EUR-Lex contains some 400 000 documentary units in 20 official languages and is updated daily. Each document, accompanied with a limited number of analytical data can be loaded the very same day of its publication in the Official Journal; the complete analytical data is loaded within three working days.
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Chapter 1 – Before you begin
2.1 Treaties (sector 1) The basic treaties of the Union, including the amending and accession treaties are available in EURLex, where their articles, protocols, annexes and declarations are stored as separate documents; together, these constitute the legal framework of the European Communities. The following are therefore accessible: ¾ the Treaty on the European Union (Maastricht Treaty of 1992), the treaties establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (Paris Treaty of 1951), the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (Rome Treaty of 1957); ¾
the accession treaties;
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the Treaty on Greenland;
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treaties amending the basic treaties: the Merger Treaty (1965), the budgetary treaties (1970, 1975), the Single European Act (1986), the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997); the Treaty of Nice (2001);
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consolidated versions of the Treaty establishing the European Community and the Treaty on European Union, following the entry into force of the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties.
2.2 External relations (sector 2) EUR-Lex contains instruments generated by the European Union in the exercise of their international responsibilities: ¾
agreements concluded by the European Union with non-member countries or with international organisations in their specific areas of responsibility;
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Association and partnership agreements, e.g. Agreement on the European Economic Area and the ACP Convention and the Europe Agreements;
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decisions of bodies created by these international agreements.
2.3 Secondary legislation (sector 3) EUR-Lex provides access to instruments adopted by the European institutions pursuant to the provisions of the basic treaties: ¾ regulations, directives, decisions and ECSC recommendations and decisions. Each directive is accompanied by a document containing references to national implementing measures. This document is accessible from the directive by clicking on a hyperlink; ¾
instruments adopted under the common foreign and security policy or cooperation on justice and home affairs;
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statutes and rules of procedure of the institutions and Community bodies;
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documents with no binding force: opinions, recommendations and resolutions.
2.4 Supplementary legislation (sector 4) Supplementary legislation does not result from instruments adopted by Community institutions pursuant to the treaties but from agreements concluded between Member States. These satisfy the need for common rules in areas closely associated with Union activities and are instruments of international law in the traditional sense, generally falling outside the scope of specific Community law proper. They comprise: ¾ decisions of the representatives of the Member States meeting within the Council; ¾
international conventions concluded between Member States, e.g. the Schengen agreement, agreements implementing cooperation on justice and home affairs.
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Chapter 1 – Before you begin
2.5 The preparatory acts file (Sector 5) Preparatory acts are usually understood to mean all the documents corresponding to the various stages of the legislative or budgetary process, including documents in which the institutions express an opinion on a question of general Community interest. They therefore include: ¾
Commission proposals (available since 1984; from1995 to 2002 full texts are found in the OJ C series) and Commission programmes, reports and communications;
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Legislative, budgetary and own-initiative resolutions of the European Parliament (available since 1974);
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Opinions of the European Economic and Social Committee (available since 1975 and with full text for opinions published in the C series of the OJ since 1995);
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Opinions and resolutions of the Committee of the Regions (all available in full text);
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Opinions and reports of the Court of Auditors (available since 1977);
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Council common positions (since 1985 and with full text for the positions published in the C series of the OJ since 1995) and various preparatory documents specific to the European Coal and Steel Community (Council assents, ECSC Consultative Committee opinions).
2.6 The Case-law file (Sector 6) The Court of Justice is the judicial authority of the European Communities. It ensures the implementation of the treaties and the interpretation and application of Community law. Since 1989, a Court of First Instance is attached to the Court of Justice, which is not an institution in itself, but operates under the responsibility of the latter. The Court of First Instance deals with all direct actions against Community legal acts brought by natural or legal persons. The Court of Justice serves as a court of appeal for its decisions. The Case-law file includes: ¾
Judgments, orders and third-party proceedings concerning cases brought before it by the institutions, the Member States, or any legal or natural person against the Community institutions and the European Central Bank, on disputes between institutions, and on cases against Member States, concerning a failure to implement an obligation under the Treaties;
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Preliminary rulings, interpreting Community law on the request of national courts and tribunals;
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Decisions in staff cases, concerning disputes between the Community and its servants;
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Opinions of the Advocate General;
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Opinions of the Court on agreements between the Community and non-member States or international organisations.
2.7 National measures implementing directives (Sector 7) A directive is binding on Member States as regards the objective to be achieved but leaves to national authorities the choice of form and methods used to attain the objective. EUR-Lex aims to reflect some aspects of this interaction between Community law and national law by providing publication references to Member States' national provisions enacting Community directives and ECSC recommendations. The creation of a directive or ECSC recommendation in the database is systematically followed by the addition of the corresponding Sector 7 document. Each Member State is responsible for supplying references to its own implementing legislation to the Commission.
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Chapter 1 – Before you begin
2.8 The parliamentary questions file (Sector 9) The questions addressed by the members of the European Parliament to the institutions are loaded in EUR-Lex once answered by the institution concerned. They may be: ¾ worded with a request for a written answer published in the Official Journal (written questions); ¾
raised during sessions and published in the Debates of the European Parliament (oral questions);
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raised during question time and published in the Debates of the European Parliament (questions raised at question time).
2.9 The consolidated documents file (Sector 0) Sector 0, available in 2003, covers consolidated texts, i.e. non-official documents integrating basic instruments of Community legislation with their amendments and corrections. Texts provided in this sector are intended for use as documentation tools only. They have no legal value. In view of the ongoing nature of consolidation of legal instruments, there is no guarantee that a consolidated text incorporates the latest state of an act. 2.10 The EFTA documents file (Sector E) Sector E, introduced in 2002, covers the full text of acts adopted by the EFTA institutions (Surveillance Authority, Standing Committee, Court) and published in the Official Journal within the framework of the Agreement on the European Economic Area of 1994 (Official Journal L 1, 3.1.1994). Coverage extends to all documents from 1994 onwards. 2.11 The Official Journal C series documents file (Sector C) Sector C is a default sector for all documents that are published in the Official Journal C series that do not have a direct legal interest and, therefore, are not classified as a traditional CELEX document. These documents contribute to providing complete coverage of the Official Journal within the framework of the development of the EU law portal and the integration of CELEX, EUR-Lex and EUDOR. Texts are offered in TIF and PDF (from 1998 onwards) formats.
3. MULTILINGUAL FEATURES The content of EUR-Lex is available in 20 official languages of the European Union, namely Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian,Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovene,Spanish and Swedish. You can change languages from almost every page of the website. To do so select the language of your choice from the language bar displayed on the right of the screen. Note that the language of the content of the database and the language of the search interface are not independent and cannot be changed separately. You can however use terms in a language different from the language of the screen when searching by search terms or by author; documents will be displayed in the language of the search interface.
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Chapter 2 – Document structure
1. ABOUT TEXTUAL INFORMATION 2. ABOUT VALUE-ADDED INFORMATION ¾ DATES ¾ DESCRIPTORS ¾ CROSS REFERENCES 3. OTHER INFORMATION 4. ABOUT BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION As explained in coverage and updating, EUR-Lex comprises many types of legal documents issued by the European Union's institutions and bodies. This diversity of sources and types of document, together with the dynamic nature of law and legislative procedures, are all factors that contribute to the structure of EUR-Lex documents. While you do not need a detailed understanding of document structure to use the Simple search interface, having some background knowledge on the types of data fields that are found in the database will assist you with understanding your results and better formulating your queries. Every document in the database has a variable number of data fields. A field is simply a classification heading where specific kinds of data are indexed. Fields may contain bibliographic information (e.g. the document number and publication reference), the title and/or text of the document, or value-added data such as descriptors, dates or references and links to related legal acts.
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1.
Chapter 2 – Document structure
ABOUT TEXTUAL INFORMATION
Most documents in EUR-Lex contain the full text of the document as well as a separate title. This allows you to restrict your search to the titles of documents or to broaden your search to both titles and texts. The principal text fields that are displayed in your results are listed below. ¾
Title: official title of the document
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Text: full text of the document
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Parties: variable information depending on the nature of the procedure. In a direct procedure it provides the number of the case, the names of the parties and their legal representatives. In a request for a preliminary ruling, this field also provides information on the national court seeking the ruling.
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Grounds: contains the full text of the grounds of a Court decision as published in the European
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Decisions on costs: contains the full text of the Court's decision on costs
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Operative part: provides the orders of the Court after the judgement
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Opinion of the Advocate General: text of the opinion of the Advocate General
Court Reports
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Chapter 2 – Document structure
ABOUT VALUE-ADDED INFORMATION
Value-added information is the result of documentary analysis. EUR-Lex documents contain three broad categories of value-added data fields.
¾ DATES ¾ DESCRIPTORS ¾ CROSS REFERENCES DATES Legal acts contain varied date information. There may be dates that indicate when a document enters into force, when it ceases to be valid, when it was published or signed or adopted, and more. In EURLex a specific date field has been assigned to hold each type of date information. The Simple search interface provides for searching on 4 individual date fields - date of adoption, date of publication, date of entry into force and date of end of validity. There is also an all types search option that groups all 13 individual date fields under one search heading. Below is a list of the date fields that are found in EUR-Lex documents.
Searchable from the Simple search interface Date of document: the date of adoption of an act or delivery of a court decision. Date of publication: the publication date in the Official Journal of the European Union formerly the Official Journal of the European Communities or the European Court Reports. ¾ Date of effect: the date on which the act enters into force or becomes operative followed by a comment specifying the nature of the date (entry into force, implementation, takes effect). ¾ End validity date: the date on which an act ceases to be valid. 99999999 indicates an indefinite end of validity date. 00000000 indicates that the end of validity is not yet known. ¾ All types: offers cross searching of all date fields. ¾ Displayed date fields ¾ Date of signature: the date on which an agreement was signed and in some cases a reference to the place of signing. ¾ Date lodged: indicates when the case was lodged with the Registrar of the European Court of Justice or the Court of First Instance. ¾ Deadline: contains various intermediate deadlines relating to the document. ¾ Date of dispatch: indicates the date of transmission of: Commission proposals to the Council; European Parliament resolutions to parties concerned; Economic and Social Committee opinions to the Council and the Commission. ¾ Date of notification: date of notification of directives and European Coal and Steel Community recommendations. ¾ Date of reply: used in parliamentary questions where it indicates: the date of receipt of a reply to the European Parliament for written questions; for other questions, the date of the debate or written reply. ¾ Date of transposition: contains the date(s) by which member states must comply with a directive or European Coal and Steel Community recommendation. ¾ Date of debate: used to reference European Parliament resolutions where it indicates the date of debate. This field may also be present for Economic and Social Committee opinions and resolutions where it gives the date of the debate or the session and, in the case of the Economic and Social Committee opinions, the number of the session. ¾ Date of vote: date of vote on a European Parliament resolution or ESC opinion. ¾ ¾
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Chapter 2 – Document structure
Dates: all date fields grouped together for display purposes and formatted for easy viewing.
DESCRIPTORS Depending on the type of act and its source a EUR-Lex document may be indexed under one or more classification systems. These are: ¾
directory classification code;
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Eurovoc descriptor;
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subject matter.
The Directory classification code is a listing of numerical codes taken from the Directory of Community legislation in force. It is found in legislative documents and preparatory acts. The main chapter headings of the directory, each covering a specific area of Community activity, are listed below.
01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
Main chapter headings of the Directory of legislation in force General, financial and institutional matters Customs Union and free movement of goods Agriculture Fisheries Freedom of movement for workers and social policy Right of establishment and freedom to provide services Transport policy Competition policy Taxation Economic and monetary policy and free movement of capital External relations Energy Industrial policy and internal market Regional policy and coordination of structural instruments Environment, consumers and health protection Science, information, education and culture Law relating to undertakings Common Foreign and Security Policy Area of freedom, security and justice People's Europe
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Chapter 2 – Document structure
CROSS REFERENCES A valuable feature of the EUR-Lex database is its comprehensive cross-referencing of related documents. Related legal acts, e.g.subsequent modifications, proposals to amend, citations and references to national measures implementing directives, are accessible through hypertext links. This feature allows you to reconstruct timelines for families of related acts. The CELEX document number is used to index the cross-reference fields. ¾
Legal basis: legal basis of a document.
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Instruments cited: acts referred to other than the legal basis of affected acts.
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Preparatory works: contains references of the preparatory acts resulting in the act in question.
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Earlier related instruments: instruments issued prior to the act's adoption. For Commission proposals this field indicates legal acts that the proposal seeks to modify.
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Subsequent related instruments: instruments issued subsequent to the decision process, e.g. all proposed modifications of a legal act.
National implementing measures One of the ways in which the Community and national legal orders supplement each other is the directive. The directive fixes the result to be achieved by the Member State and leaves to national authorities the decision on the means they will use to implement a measure. The link between Community law and national implementing measures is provided in sector 7 of EURLex where the official publication references to national provisions are indexed in the National implementing measures fields. ¾
Amendment to: references and links to earlier related acts.
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Amended by: references and links to subsequent related acts.
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Instruments cited in case-law: references and links to acts cited in the grounds of a Court decision or in the text of the opinion.
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Affected by case: references and links to Court decisions substantively affecting the act.
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Case affecting: references and links to acts cited in the operative part of Court decisions.
Note: Cross-reference fields are not searchable in Simple search mode. However, references and links to related acts are fully implemented as part of the EUR-Lex display feature. To search cross-reference data you must use the Advanced search interface.
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Chapter 2 – Document structure
OTHER INFORMATION
A selection of other useful value-added information headings are listed below. In many cases these fields are not searchable from the Simple search interface but are displayed when you view your results.
¾ Type of procedure: a descriptor referring to the nature of and where possible,
outcome of the proceedings. This field is only used to index documents of the caselaw file and is offered as a search option when selecting case-law from the initial search menu.
¾ Additional information: general miscellaneous information that varies according to the type of document. This field is used to index a range of information not provided for in other fields. Noteworthy examples are references to joined cases for decisions of the European Courts, the European Parliament's legislative referral code (COD, AVC, SYN...), remarks such as EEA relevance and the NACE classification code in Merger Task Force decisions.
¾ Keywords: keywords describing the content of a Court decision. For users familiar
with the printed version of the European Court Report', the keywords are printed in italics at the beginning of a court decision.
¾ Judge-Rapporteur: name of the Judge-Rapporteur for the case. ¾ Observations: institutions, bodies or member states that have presented observations on the case.
¾ National court: references of previous and current orders or decisions in case of a preliminary ruling.
¾ Notes relating to the decision: contains references to related articles published in legal journals.
¾ Authentic language: indicates the authentic language version(s) of an act, or language of the case.
¾ Political group: indicates the political group and nationality of a Member of the European Parliament.
¾ Addressee: indicates the Member State, institutions or private individuals to which an act is addressed.
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4.
Chapter 2 – Document structure
ABOUT BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Bibliographic fields are common to all documents in EUR-Lex and include the document's title, publication reference (source) and document number. The CELEX document number Every document in EUR-Lex has a unique identification number known as the CELEX document number. It is composed of four elements: ¾
the sector (one digit/character);
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the year (four digits);
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the type of document code (one or two-character code);
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a sequential number representing the original reference number of the act where possible.
Understanding the document number The CELEX document number is structured as follows: SyyyyT(T)nnn(n) S
- sector number refers to file level indexation, i.e. legislative file, case-law file, preparatory acts file, etc.
yyyy
- the year in four digits
T(T)
- type of legal act represented by a one- or two-character letter code
nnn(n)
- reference number usually based on the act's natural number
Example: The CELEX document number of Commission Regulation (EC) No 612/97 of 7 April 1997 is 31997R0612.
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Chapter 2 – Document structure
Source and publication reference As a general rule EUR-Lex content is the online version of Community law as published in the L and C series of the Official Journal of the European Union and the European Court Reports. Publication references are provided as part of the bibliographical notice when displaying results in EUR-Lex. They are also widely used as the basis for forming a query. The principal printed sources of EUR-Lex content are listed below. ¾
The L series of the Official Journal of the European Union EUR-Lex covers the entire content of the Official Journal L series including the documents of dayto-day management.
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The C series of the Official Journal of the European Union Only part of the Official Journal C series is covered by the EUR-Lex database. The C Series has 3 sections: communications, preparatory acts and information. From the first section, communication, users will find the acts from the Council, the Court of Auditors, the European Parliament, and the written parliamentary questions. EUR-Lex offers complete coverage of the second section, preparatory acts and the third section, information, is not available in the database.
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The European Court Reports All case-law from the Court of Justice and Court of First Instance is contained in the European Court Reports. The European Court Reports are divided into three volumes which may be selected individually. Volume I is the default option and contains all Court Reports from the Court of Justice since the beginning of this European institution in 1952. ¾ Volume II is dated from 1990 and contains all Court Reports from the Court of First Instance. ¾ Volume III is dated from 1994 and contains public staff cases treated by the Court of First Instance.
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Chapter 3 – Getting started
1. THE MAIN SEARCH SCREEN 2. GENERAL SEARCH (a) Search using search terms (b) Search by date (c) Search by author (d) Search by classification headings (e) Search using keywords (Eurovoc) 3. SINGLE-FILE SEARCHING 4. DOCUMENT NUMBER SEARCHING 5. PUBLICATION REFERENCE SEARCHING 6. SEARCH TIPS 7. STORED QUERIES EUR-Lex offers the simplicity of full-text searching as well as the precision offered by a wide range of searchable value-added fields. How you begin your search depends on many factors including the information you have on hand, your search skills and your individual preferences. Remember that there is usually more than one way to arrive at a correct result!
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Chapter 3 – Getting started
1. THE MAIN SEARCH SCREEN The main search screen is the starting point for every search. To begin a search choose a search path from the options on the main screen.
2. GENERAL SEARCH The distinguishing feature of general search criteria is that it allows you to search across the entire content of the database. For example, if you are searching for all documents mentioning genetically modified organisms, the result may include preparatory acts, enacted legislation, judgments of the European Courts and even parliamentary questions. Similarly, if you need to locate all acts published during a specified month your results are likely to include a wide range of document types emanating from different institutions. If you search by author, you will get all types of acts adopted by the institution or body in question. Classification headings are only indexed in enacted legislation. A query based on classification headings will be limited to sectors 2, 3 ,4 and 5 of EUR-Lex. The Eurovoc thesaurus is used to index legislation (sectors 2, 3 and 4), preparatory acts (sector 5) and parliamentary questions (sector 9).
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(a) Search using search terms This screen provides an entry point for text searches. Your query can be restricted to the titles of documents or can include both titles and texts. Enter a term or phrase in the search for text box. Use the comma or the WITH or EXCEPT operators and the * and ? wildcards for more precision. You can search the database using terms in a language different from that of the interface. Use the scroll down menu to choose the language of the query. Documents will be displayed in the language of the screen. See also Guidelines for good results for more information.
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(b) Search by date The date search path allows you to base your query on date criteria. Examples of date searches are: -
find all acts published in the Official Journal between 1 September 2001 and 15 September 2001,
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find all documents entering into force on 24 December 2000.
A document may contain several date fields. There are date fields to indicate when a document was published, when it enters into force, when it ceases to be valid and many more. While there are 13 different date fields indexed in EUR-Lex, the "Simple search" interface only offers the 4 most commonly used of these. It also offers an all types of date option. Date search options: -
adoption date,
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publication date,
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entry into force date,
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end of validity date,
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all types of date.
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When searching on dates follow the guidelines provided on the screen. Search dates are structured Year (YYYY), Month (MM) and Day (DD). You can enter a single date or you can specify a time span by entering both a beginning and ending date. Hints 1. Always complete the year (YYYY) and optionally the month and the day. 2. Use all types of date sparingly. Its usage should be limited to specific dates or short time spans. (c) Search by author Searching by author allows the user to retrieve all acts adopted by one institution or body, regardless of their type. Searching using ‘European Commission’ provides for regulations, directives, decisions, opinions, proposals, recommendations, reports, etc. authored by the Commission.
(d) Queries based on classification headings Unlike the other general search options, a classification headings search is restricted to sectors 2, 3, 4 and 5. The Directory classification is a listing of numerical classification codes taken from the Directory of Community legislation in force. Each of its 20 chapter headings can contain up to four sub-division levels. You may browse through the different levels of the directory's classification headings via hyperlinks to select the descriptor that best matches your requirements. See also About value-added information
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(e) Search by keyword (Eurovoc) Eurovoc is a multilingual thesaurus covering the fields in which the European Communities are active. It is used to index legislation (sectors 2, 3 and 4), preparatory acts (sector 5) and parliamentary questions (sector 9). You can either enter directly a keyword Eurovoc, or select one keyword by browsing a list of terms from the thesaurus.
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3. SINGLE-FILE SEARCHING Single-file search paths allow you to limit your query to a sub-section of the database. For example, if you want to retrieve judgments of the European Courts the case-law file search path is a sensible way to begin. Single-file paths provide more immediate access to options that allow you to refine your query based on search terms, dates or descriptors.
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4. DOCUMENT NUMBER SEARCHING Document number search paths should be used when searching for a single act whose reference is known. The CELEX number is a unique document identifier. To search using the CELEX number you must be familiar with its structure. Alternatively you can use the natural number search screen. This screen option offers additional guidance for searches based on a document's reference but it only provides for 5 document types, i.e. regulations, decisions, directives, COM finals, European Court cases. It is also possible to search for ‘All legislation’.
You can also search consolidated texts by document number. Consolidation entails the integration of basic instruments of Community legislation, their amendments and corrections in single, non-official documents. These documents aim to provide more transparency and easier access to EU law.
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5. PUBLICATION REFERENCE SEARCHING Publication reference searching covers the two principal printed sources of EU law, i.e. the Official Journal of the European Union and the European Court Reports. For more information on these publications, see Chapter 2 – Document structure.
Use this option when searching for an act whose publication reference is known. The Official Journal publication reference is generally indicated as follows: Official Journal L 288, 27/10/1998 p. 0003 - 0004 Depending on how much detail is available to you, enter the publication year and optionally the month and day. After completing the date you may also complete the section for the reference to the Official Journal and the page number. Tips All series is the default setting. The L and the C Series options may be selected from the scroll box. You can also limit your search to the C A or to the C E Series.
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6. SEARCH TIPS BOOLEAN OPERATORS Boolean operators are little words that can make a big difference in the meaning of your query. The Simple search interface recognises three Boolean operators: •
WITH - Use the WITH operator to specify that you want all of the words in your multiple word query to appear in your search results,
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OR, represented by the comma - Use ‘,’ to retrieve results that contain one or all of the words in your multiple word query,
•
EXCEPT - Use EXCEPT to exclude from the search documents that contain certain words.
ADJACENCY You can enter a string of words, such as abuse of a dominant position or genetically modified organisms, without linking them together using the WITH operator. TRUNCATION You will often need to search for both the singular and plural occurrences of a term. The wildcard or truncation signs recognised by EUR-Lex are ? and *. ? replaces one character, * replaces 0 to n characters. These two symbols can only be used in the middle or at the end of the chain, never in the beginning. Examples 1. label* will produce results with the terms labels, labelling... 2. wom?n will give both woman and women CORRECT TERMINOLOGY Like all specialised fields, EUR-Lex, as an official and authoritative information source on European Community law, uses a combination of legal jargon and European terminology. If your query results are not as you expect it may be due to incorrect terminology. •
search for motor vehicle+ rather than car+ or automobile+
HYPHENATED WORDS When searching EUR-Lex you must avoid using hyphenated words as search terms. Instead, you should enter the hyphenated word as two words separated by a single space or by using the WITH operator. •
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search for foot WITH mouth rather than foot-and-mouth.
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Chapter 3 – Getting started
7. STORED QUERIES (Search history) Queries entered during a search session are stored in a search log until you log off. The search log link is located in the main search screen and in the result lists. The search log allows you to review and return to earlier queries and results.
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Chapter 4 – A sample query
1. ENTER SEARCH TERMS 2. NARROW DOWN THE SEARCH 3. DISPLAY COMPLEMENTARY DATA 4. DISPLAY THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTICE 5. REVIEW THE SEARCH HISTORY 1.
ENTER SEARCH TERMS This sample query begins with a textual search restricted to the titles of documents. The search terms used are label* (labels, labelling...) and dangerous substance*. Both terms are truncated using the * sign. WITH is used to link the terms. Only documents containing both terms in their titles will be counted as hits.
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2. NARROW DOWN THE SEARCH Our initial search produces a result of 137 hits.
Narrow down the result by using type of document and selecting directive.
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This reduces the number of hits to 50. The summary list displays the document number, title, publication reference, links to the bibliographic notice (without or with text) and available display formats for each hit.
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Chapter 4 – A sample query
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Chapter 4 – A sample query
3. DISPLAY COMPLEMENTARY DATA The list of results can display additional information regarding each act. Select ‘Dates’, ‘Languages and formats available’ and/or ‘Classifications’ , and then click on GO. To hide these data, click again on the same cases, followed by ‘GO’. Dates: according to the document in question, indicates the date of adoption, the date of publication, the date of entry into force, the date of effect, the completion date of validity, etc. Languages and formats available: displays all language versions and formats wherein a document is available. Classifications: displays Eurovoc descriptors, classification headings of the Directory of Community Legislation and subject matter keywords used to index EUR-Lex documents.
Display results Results are displayed by reverse chronological order by default, but other display facilities are available: • by classification headings, • by Eurovoc keyword, • by subject matter, • by CELEX sector, • by consolidation form, • by legislative procedure.
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4.
Chapter 4 – A sample query
DISPLAY THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTICE Click on bibliographic notice on the forth document on the summary list. This display format, shown below, offers a selection of value-added and bibliographic data fields as well as cross-reference links for direct access to related documents. Further information on language versions and formats available can also be displayed by click on ‘Languages and formats available’ followed by ‘GO’. To display the full text of the document, click on ‘Text (bilingual display)’ and then ‘GO’. The text will appear at the bottom of the screen, so it is important to scroll down. On this screen, you will have the option of displaying the document simultaneously in two languages. This feature corresponds to the double visualization html which you may have known in CELEX.
You can reach the same result if you select the link ‘Bibliographic notice + Text (bilingual display)’ from the result list; the cursor will be placed directly on top of the text.
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Simple search quick start guide
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Chapter 4 – A sample query
August 2006
Simple search quick start guide
5.
Chapter 4 – A sample query
REVIEW THE SEARCH HISTORY The search history records your search steps. You can click number 1 to return to the initial search on titles that resulted in 137 hits. You could then narrow the result using other criteria such as dates or search terms. You can also combine search results using boolean operators such as AND, OR and AND NOT.
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Chapter 5 – Viewing results
quick start guide
1. SUMMARY LIST OF RESULTS 2. DISPLAY COMPLEMENTARY DATA 3. SINGLE DOCUMENT DISPLAY 4. CROSS-REFERENCE LINKS TO RELATED DOCUMENTS 5. BILINGUAL DOCUMENT DISPLAY
1.
SUMMARY LIST OF RESULTS The summary list is displayed following each query. It provides succinct bibliographic information (publication reference and CELEX document number) and document titles. It also indicates which display formats are available for viewing individual documents.
The summary list is multi-functional and allows you to: •
browse and/or print the list of hits displayed;
•
click a display icon to view a single document in one of its available display formats;
•
refine your query by returning to search mode.
Simple search
Chapter 5 – Viewing results
quick start guide
2.
DISPLAY COMPLEMENTARY DATA The list of results can display additional information regarding each act. Select ‘Dates’, ‘Languages and formats available’ and/or ‘Classifications’ , and then click on ‘GO’. To hide these data, click again on the same cases, followed by ‘GO’. Dates: according to the document in question, indicates the date of adoption, the date of publication, the date of entry into force, the date of effect, the completion date of validity, etc Languages and formats available: displays all language versions and formats wherein a document is available Classifications: displays Eurovoc descriptors, classification headings of the Directory of Community Legislation and subject matter keywords used to index EUR-Lex documents.
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Chapter 5 – Viewing results
quick start guide
3.
SINGLE DOCUMENT DISPLAY Up to five display icons may be available for viewing single documents. These are displayed just below the title of the document.
To assist you with selecting the format most suited to your needs a comparison of the content and features of the five formats is provided below. OVERVIEW OF DISPLAY FORMAT FEATURES Bibliographic notice
Bibliographic notice + Text
HTML
TIF
DOC (WORD)
Valueadded data
yes
yes
no
no
no
no
Full text
yes*
yes*
yes*
yes
yes
yes
Crossreference links
yes
yes
no
no
no
no
Bilingual display
yes
yes
no
no
no
no
File format
html
html
html
tif
word
* Currently no images or tables Bibliographic notice The bibliographic notice is an HTML format offering bibliographic details and a number of value-added information fields including dates, descriptors and cross-reference links. The bibliographic notice also includes the full HTML text of the document as well as access to the bilingual display. Full-text formats: HTML, PDF, DOC and TIF — The full text of documents may be available in up to four file formats - HTML, PDF, DOC (=WORD) and TIF. The HTML version of the full text is generated by EUR-Lex while PDF, DOC (=WORD) and TIF files are available through links to related source files. HTML — The HTML text file offers the title and full text of the document. PDF — The PDF file is sourced from Eur-Lex. The principal feature of the PDF format is that it offers an accurate reproduction of the original printed version of the document. It also includes graphic elements that may not be included in the HTML version of the text.
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Chapter 5 – Viewing results
quick start guide
TIF — The TIF format is available through a document delivery service. When you click the TIF icon a shopping cart is displayed in the margin next to the document title.
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Chapter 5 – Viewing results
quick start guide
4.
CROSS-REFERENCE LINKS TO RELATED DOCUMENTS Cross-reference links are widely available and provide easy access to earlier and subsequent related acts. Two kinds of links are provided: single document links, grouped document links. Single document links — These are implemented on all cross-reference fields.They allow you to link to a single document by clicking on a document number in any of the available cross-reference fields. These fields list related earlier acts and subsequent modifications, citations and more. Single document links take you to the same format of the related act. See also Chapter 2 - About value-added information Group cross-reference links —EUR-Lex also provides three types of group cross-reference links. These are listed below the document's title. They provide one-click access to a group of related acts and are powered by a search query on one or several cross-reference fields. Group links include the following: display the national implementing measures, select all documents mentioning this document, select all documents based on this document. EUR-Lex cross-reference links offer one-click access to groups of related acts.
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Chapter 5 – Viewing results
quick start guide
5.
BILINGUAL DOCUMENT DISPLAY The EUR-Lex Simple search interface offers a bilingual display feature that enables simultaneous display of any two language versions of a document. You must access the bilingual display function from the bibliographic notice. Please choose ‘Text (bilingual display)’, validate with GO and scroll down to view the result.
When you click on a language icon the document you are currently viewing changes to a two-column presentation. Your current working language is displayed to the left while your selected second language is shown in the right column
Simple search
Chapter 5 – Viewing results
quick start guide
In this example both English and French texts are displayed.