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International Law

This guide is intended to help researchers find international treaties, cases, and commentary. For foreign law (i.e. the law of other countries) please visit the Foreign Law guide..

Guide to Finding Official Journal in the Legal Research Center

This guide focuses on locating Official Journal documents using resources in the Legal Research Center. For this guide we will use example citations from The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (18th ed.) (2005) Rule 21.8.2: European Union and European Community Materials.

What is the Official Journal?

The Official Journal, often abbreviated "O.J.", is the official daily gazette of the EU. Government gazettes such as the Official Journal are often useful as primary source documentation in research. The Official Journal is the preferred source for all legal enactments of the EU.

  • L series – Publishes all EU legislation of any significance.
  • C series – Publishes important information, notices, and also some legal enactments.
  • Annex – Publishes the debates of the European Parliament.
  • CE series – Publishes Commission proposals since July 1999.
  • S Series - Publishes information about public supply contracts.

Bluebook Official Citations

An Official Journal citation in Bluebook form may look like any of these:

RULE     TYPE OF DOCUMENT EXAMPLE CITATION
21.8.2 (a)(ii)        Legislative Acts 1975 O.J. (L 337) 7.
21.8.2 (a)(ii)        Regulations, Directives,              and Decisions Council Directive 66/45, art. 15, 1965-1966 O.J. SPEC. ED. 265, 268 (Euratom).
21.8.2 (b)(i)       Other Publications Council Common Position (EC) No. 57/2003 of 25 June 2003, art. 2, 2003 O.J. (C 277) 1, 2.
21.8.2 (c)       Debates of the European     Parliament Remarks of President Ortoli, 1975 O.J. (Annex 193) 123 (July 9, 1975).
21.8.2 (e)       Founding Treaties Treaty of Amsterdam Amending the Treaty on European Union Treaties Establishing the European Communities and Certain Related Acts, Oct. 2, 1997, 1997 O.J. (C340) 1.
21.8.2 (e)      Reports, Green Papers, and   White Papers Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the 'CoR Proposals for the Intergovernmental Conference,' 2004 O.J. (C 32) 1, 2.

Note that each citation specifies the series (e.g. L 337 for the L series) or the part of the Official Journal where the document is published (e.g. Annex)

Official Journal In Print

Where can I find the Official Journal in print?

This depends on the series or part of the Official Journal cited.

  • Official Journal of the European Communities: Legislation (L series)(1973-present)
    • LRC Lower Level Microforms KJE908 .O4
  • Official journal of the European Communities. Information and notices (C series) (1973-present)
    • LRC Lower Level Microforms KJE908 .O4
  • Official Journal of the European Communities: Special Edition (for documents published before January 1, 1974)
    • Available at UCSD for local use only
  • Official Journal of the European Communities: Debates of the European Communities (Annex)
    • Available at UCSD for local use only
  • Official Journal of the European Communities (CE series)
    • C-E series documents are listed with "C" issues in the Official Journal and are only available online in EurLex, Westlaw, or Lexis ™

Official Journal Online

Where can I find the Official Journal online?

The Official Journal is also available online in the following databases:

  • EurLex
    • Journals from January 1, 1998 forward are available on the Web.
    • Some recent documents are in PDF
  • LexisNexis
    • Coverage from 1952 to the present
  • Westlaw
    • L Series - overage from 1952 to the present
    • C Series – Coverage from 1992 to present
    • Documents published after 1997 are available in PDF