European Union: Secondary law

EU secondary legislation is made by the EU institutions and include unilateral secondary law and conventions and agreements.

Unilateral acts can be divided into two categories:

1. those listed in Article 288 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU:
   • regulations^info
     
     Binding legislative acts that must be applied in its entirety across the EU

      

   • directives^info
     
     Legislative acts that set out a goal that all EU countries must achieve. However, it is up to the individual countries to decide how.

      

   • decisions^info
     
     Decision are binding on those to whom they are addressed (e.g. an EU country or an individual company) and are directly applicable.

      

   • opinions^info
     
     Opinions are instruments that allow the institutions to make a statement in a non-binding fashion, in other words without imposing any legal obligation on those to whom it is addressed.

      

   • recommendations^info
     
     Recommendations are not binding. A recommendation allows the institutions to make their views known and to suggest a line of action without imposing any legal obligation on those to whom it is addressed.

      

2. those not listed in Article 288 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, i.e. "atypical" acts such as communications and recommendations, and white^info
   
   documents containing proposals for EU action in a specific area

    

   and green papers^info
   
   Documents published by the European Commission to stimulate discussion on given topics at European level. They invite the relevant parties (bodies or individuals) to participate in a consultation process and debate on the basis of the proposals they put forward.
   .

Convention and Agreements group together:

• international agreements, signed by the EU and a country or outside organisation;
• agreements between Member States; and
• interinstitutional agreements, i.e. agreements between the EU institutions

Secondary legislation is published in the Official Journal of the European Union. You will find the Official Journal in the European Documentation Centre from 1992 - 1997.

EUR-Lex contains electronic copies of all Official Journals since the first edition. Effective 1 July 2013, the electronic edition of the OJ (e-OJ) is authentic and produces legal effects.

EU legislation is freely available on EUR-Lex. Search or navigate through the EU legal collections

• Official Journal of the European Union
• Search in legislation
• Directory of European Union legislation (browse by subject to find EU legislation currently in force)
• Search for consolidated legislation
• Directory of European Union consolidated acts
  Browse by subject to find the latest:
  • consolidated version of an act (or the basic act if never amended) and

  • amendments/corrigenda to it.

When you have found legislation a lot of extra information is available, e.g. National Implementing Measures (National transposition) communicated by the Member States concerning.