Merged EUR-Lex/CELEX system goes live, September 2004

Although not yet completed, the new system merging the EUR-Lex and CELEX services and providing a single access point to EU law, has gone public and was featured as Site in Focus in the Europa Newsletter. Development is still taking place and some further translation of search screens is needed, but the site gives a flavour of how it will look. When it first went live, the banner showed the joint title EUR-Lex/CELEX but agreement has now been reached on the name and this has been amended to simply EUR-Lex. Currently it is possible to browse the Treaties and the Official Journal, look at the latest issues of the OJ, and search for legislation. As well as using the Simple Search option, legislation can be found under the heading Collections where there is also the possibility of doing a search limited just to legislation. Other categories are still being loaded and the timescale seems to have slipped, though eventually the system will contain considerably more documents that CELEX where it had been impossible to transfer some older material.

Full text is there for the most of the treaties, though in some cases TIFF files will have to be requested (free of charge), but for the legislation only the bibliographic details are available at time of writing. Search results appear somewhat erratic at the moment with frequent error messages, but this may be due to work being done on the site. Users have expressed concerns too that links to OJ issues do not change colour when accessed, making it hard for those who check the site regularly to know what they have looked at already and what has been added subsequently, particularly when issues are added out of sequence.

The old EUR-Lex and CELEX services continue to be updated meantime, but here too concerns have been voiced about inconsistencies and delays in the updating. There have been examples too of difficulty in finding material that was previously there. Following enlargement, the increased pressure on the existing EUR-Lex site and on CELEX now that it is available free of charge is no doubt causing problems. However, when encouraging users to move to relying solely on electronic sources, it is vital that the integrity of the system is maintained and that it is consistently updated, particularly where legal information is concerned.

The overall impression of the new site is that the screens look clear and straightforward to use and the additional functionality will be very useful. Expectations have been high and users have been keen to see the new product - which is perhaps one of the reasons that it has been opened up as it is. It is unfortunate however that it has gone live in this state as it is vital that users have confidence in the service and that is not possible at present. Some more patience is required before what appears to be a very promising system is able to meet its potential.