Accessing the content, June 1998

It is generally fairly simple to navigate around the site. From the home page, links are offered to four points: Official Journal, treaties, consolidated texts of the legislation and case law. Potentially of most interest is the new facility offering the full text of the complete contents of the twenty latest issues of both the L series and C series of the Official Journal, updated on a daily basis Clicking on that link takes you to a calendar where the twenty active dates are highlighted. Also on that page are listed details of the latest updates. Further links offer a chronological list of available issues in reverse date order and a list of issues available by language, all again with active links, together with a connection to the document delivery service EUDOR for earlier issues. Selecting an issue brings up a colour image of the front cover showing the contents. Full text is displayed by selecting the appropriate highlighted page number thus launching Acrobat Reader. It is simple to switch to a different language version by clicking on the appropriate language button.

This service will not supersede the paper copy of the journal which will continue to be produced, nor is it likely to encourage most of those who stock the title and need to refer constantly to it to dispense with their hard copy. However, for those who make only a limited or infrequent use of it, this will offer a way of checking for material of potential interest. It will also help enable those who only take microfiche or CD-ROM versions to fill the currency gap, and if the speed of updating is maintained it may even on occasion fill the postal gap as well. It is especially worth noting that it offers the complete contents of both the L and the C series, including ephemeral material and the calls for proposals relating to EU programmes published in the C series, making its coverage more comprehensive than CELEX in this aspect.

It is worth noting for users of the consolidated texts of legislation that, though not new, there is a section of explanatory notes detailing how the amendments have been prepared and presented and stressing that the texts are for information only, not legally binding. All documents display this disclaimer note in the heading. Working in frames, texts can be identified via a chronological index or by the analytical structure which follows the Directory of Community Legislation in Force.

Other facilities of the site, in addition to the links to the treaties and to the Court of Justice case reports page, include a site map, a very basic search engine, on-line help, a feedback option and copyright information. The user registration feature still present at the time of writing is not now required and was only used before the official launch. It should disappear shortly. Users are advised to check the on-line help facility regularly to find out about changes and new developments. The FAQ section of on-line help is currently under construction, so ask those questions and send any constructive feedback using the form provided on screen.

Internet address
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/