EU legislation includes treaties and protocols. Legislation is published in the L series.
Format: Title of the legislation including amendments if necessary | [year] | OJ series | issue/first page
Examples: Protocol to the Agreement on the Member States that do not fully apply the Schengen acquis-Joint Declarations [2007] OJ L129/35.
Consolidated Version of the Treaty on European Union [2008] OJ C115/13.
As of 1 Jan 2015 the numbering of EU legislation has changed and EU legislation now has a unique sequential number.
Regulations, Directives, Decisions, Recommendation and Opinions
Format: Legislation type | number | title | [year] | OJ L issue/first page
Example of directive: Council Directive 2002/60/EC of 27 June 2002 laying down specific provisions for the control of African swine fever and amending Directive 92/119/EEC as regards Teschen disease and African swine fever [2002] OJ L192/27
(Note the year comes before the running number in citations to Directives.)
Example of a regulation: Council Regulation (EC) 1984/2003 of 8 April 2003 introducing a system for the statistical monitoring of trade in bluefin tuna, swordfish and big eye tuna with the Community [2003] OJ L295/1.
(Note the year follows the running number in citations to regulations).
Example of legislation from 2015 onwards: Decision 2019/326 on Measures for Entering the Data in the Entry/Exit System [2019] OJ L057/5.
There is no difference between footnotes and the bibliography except that there is a full stop at the end of the citation in the footnote.
Regulations, Directives, Decisions, Recommendation and Opinions
Format: Legislation type | number | title | [year] | OJ L issue/first page
There are five types of legal acts that the EU institutions can adopt. They are listed in Article 288 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU):
Regulations – EU regulations are immediately enforceable as law in all EU countries once they are ratified by Brussels.
Directives – Directives also apply to all EU countries but it is up to each individual country to incorporate it into their own legal system.
Decisions – Decisions are EU laws which are directed towards a specific country/company organisation and are only binding (legally enforceable) on them.
Recommendations – Recommendations are suggestions from EU institutions (e.g. European Commission/ Parliament/Council) as to what actions they would like member states to take. They are non-binding (do not have to be followed).
Opinion – Opinions are given by the EU in response to a very specific situation and details what actions should be taken by the member state/organisation. They are non-binding.