Getting Started - European Union - LibGuides at Duke University

Documentation Research Tools

EUR-Lex provides free access to European Union law and other documents considered to be public. The website is available in 23 official languages of the European Union. The contents of the site amount to some 2 815 000 documents with texts dating back to 1951. The database is updated daily and every year around 12 000 documents are added.

PreLex

Database for monitoring the decision making process between EU institutions. Difficult to use - important for tracking the history process of EU legislation.

Official Journal of the European Union

The Official Journal was published for the first time on 30 December 1952 as a single series (A). In April 1958 the A series was replaced by the P series. The P series existed from 1958 until 1967. Since January 1968 the OJ has been published in two separate series, L (Legislation) and C (Information and Notices). Since 1998, an electronic version has been made available on EUR-Lex with every printed edition. All Official Journals are now being scanned and gradually uploaded to EUR-Lex in PDF format.

Debates of the European Parliament

The verbatim report of proceedings of each sitting (often referred to by its French abbreviation, CRE) is published and contains the speeches made in plenary, in the original language.

Register of Documents (European Parliament)

The European Parliament’s Register of Documents has references to documents produced or received by the European Parliament since 3 December 2001, the date on which Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 came into effect.

Legislative Observatory (OEIL)

Database with references for procedures and documents of institutions involved in the inter-institutional legislative procedure relating to the work of the European Parliament.

InfoCuria: Case Law of the EU Court of Justice

>> EU Databases by topic

Noteworthy

EU at a glance - Maps

Books & Articles about EU Politics & Legislation

Reference

Encyclopedia of the European Union

Books

The following subject headings are good starting points to search for books on EU legislation in the online catalog. Use the facets on the left-hand side of the results page to narrow down large listings.

Books about:	European Union Countries European Union Politics European Union Enlargement EU - Emigration & Immigration
Books by:	European Union Agencies

Articles

Search for articles on EU-related topics in the follwing databases:

Archival Resources

Robert Schuman Papers

EU Institutions

European Union Home Page: europe.eu

EU Who-is-who

Council of the European Union: This is the main decision-making institution of the EU. It is made up of ministers from each member state. The Council passes laws jointly with the European Parliament. The council also negotiates international agreements and makes decisions on foreign and economic policy measures.

European Commission. This institution proposes legislation to Parliament and the Council, administers and implements Community policies, enforces Community law (jointly with the Court of Justice) and negotiates international agreements.

EC Document Register
President of the European Commission
Members 2010-2014
Departments and Services. The Commission is divided into departments known as Directorates-General similar to government ministries. Each Directorate-General is supervised by a civil servant who reports directly to the Commissioner. In addition, there are other services and offices within the commission that perform various administrative functions.
Committee of the Regions

European Parliament. The EU's parliamentary body is made up of of directly elected citizens of EU member states. Together with the Council, it constitutes the legislative branch of the institutions of the Union.

Organization

European Economic and Social Committee is a consultative body of the European Union.

Delegation of the European Union to the US

Historical Documents, Microfiche, etc.

Official journal of the European Communities. Debates of the European Parliament.: Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Perkins/Bostock Library - Bound Periodicals O32JD

Official journal of the European Communities. Information and notices.: Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Library Service Center O32JI

Official journal of the European Communities, Legislation.: Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Library Service Center O32JL

Official journal of the European Communities. Special edition.: Luxembourg : Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1972-1976.
1952-1958--31 Dec. 1972; 2nd ser., 1-10.
OCLC Number: 21590226
Perkins Public Documents/Maps Microforms S8

Official journal of the European Communities: Information and notices.: Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
v. 16- Jan. 1, 1973-
OCLC Number: 04186296
Perkins Public Documents/Maps Microform S6024

Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe.: Luxembourg : Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2005.
OCLC Number: 57713294
Perkins/Bostock Library Reference KJE4443.32004 .A2 2005
Perkins/Bostock Library KJE4443.32004 .A2 2005
Notes:"This publication contains the text of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe as signed in Rome on 29 October 2004 and published in the Official journal of the European Union on 16 December 2004 (C series, No 310)"

Subject Librarian

Christof Galli

Duke University Libraries
Box 90195
Durham, NC 27708-0195
Office: inside 227 Bostock Library
P: (919) 660-5850
Fax: (919) 668-3134
christof.galli@duke.edu