European Union Law

Legal Service of the European Commission

The Legal Service of the European Commission is the in-house legal adviser to the Commission. Its functions include drafting legislation and representing the Commission in the courts. The Legal Service is also responsible for coordinating the official codification of Community legislation. The website gives background information about the role and structure of the Legal Service, including an organisation chart and links to official documents and related organisations. It is available in English, French and German.

Justice and Home Affairs Council

The Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) brings together justice and interior ministers from the EU member states to make collective decisions on justice and home affairs policy; it is one of the configurations of the Council of the European Union. This page of the Council of the European Union's website introduces the JHA and provides links to information about important current policy areas. Dates of forthcoming meetings are also listed.

Directorate General for the Environment

Website of the European Commission's Directorate-General for the Environment. The Directorate's main role is to develop and monitor the EU's environment policy. The Policies and Resources sections provide a large amount of information and documentation concerning the work of the D-G, in areas including climate change, land use, nature and biodiversity, sustainable development, waste and water. Materials provided include legislation, reports, conference papers, newsletters, speeches and statistics.

Summaries of EU legislation

This section of the EU's Europa portal provides summaries of EU legislation in all policy areas. The information is arranged by subject, including agriculture, competition, employment and social policy, human rights, the internal market, regional policy and transport; these subjects are further sub-divided by specific area of law. Each section has an introduction to the policy, an outline of the legislation, details of relevant policy documents and information about future developments. Links are provided to the legal texts and official documents mentioned.

CVCE (Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l'Europe)

The CVCE website brings together resources relating to the history of European integration. Based at the University of Luxembourg, the CVCE website covers key events in the history of Europe and the development of the European Union, Western European Union, Council of Europe, European Free Trade Association and Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Primary source documents, treaties, papers, cartoons, photographs and multimedia clips are provided. The section "ENA and Education" includes online textbooks, courses and lectures.

European Judicial Atlas in Civil Matters

The European Judicial Atlas in Civil Matters is an EU website providing information for those involved in cross-border litigation in Europe. The site includes contact details for courts in EU member states and guidance relating to the service of documents, taking of evidence and the recognition and enforcement of judgments. There is a collection of forms that can be completed online. Although the site is concerned with civil and commercial litigation, there is also a link to information about compensation for victims of crime.

Sussex European Institute

Sussex European Institute (SEI) is a research centre based at the University of Sussex and a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence. It specialises in teaching and research in the broad areas European integration, representative politics and the politics of ethnicity, citizenship and migration, taking an interdisciplinary approach. The website provides detailed information on the aims and activities of the Institute. It includes access to SEI working papers (mid-1995 to date), SEI seminar papers (2006 to date) and the in-house newsletter 'Euroscope' (2000 to date).

vLex Justis

Website of vLex Justis a subscription service providing online legal information including legislation, case law, administrative materials, books, journals and legal news. Content covers the United Kingdom, United States, international law and a wide range of other jurisdictions.

Legal Framework of the European Central Bank

The European Central Bank (ECB) makes available on its website a collection of documents which constitute its legal framework. Included in the collection are the relevant EU primary legislation (EC Treaty, EU Treaty and so on); the Statute of the ECB and the Statute of the European System of Central Banks; the ECB rules of procedure and other institutional provisions; and legal provisions relating to the ECB's operations (monetary policy, payment and settlement systems, banknotes and coins, foreign exchange etc.). In addition, all the ECB's legal opinions are provided.

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