European information: a guide to official sources. 4th ed.

This book is intended as a practical guide for anyone who needs to find official information, whether printed or online, about the European institutions and their activities. For the benefit of librarians, references to series and journals include an ISSN, where it is available.

Publication details are given for books; the publisher is normally the Office for Official Publications in Luxembourg, unless stated otherwise.

References are given throughout to official documents published in the Official Journal, COM document series
and press releases, which are mainly available online from the databases discussed. Earlier publications not
available online can normally be found in the collections of European Documentation Centres. All official documents published since 2004 should normally be available online as part of the EU Bookshop. All internet links were checked in April 2010.

The text includes comprehensive coverage of developments up to the end of April 2010, with some developments in early May also noted. This guide thus reflects changes to the Union’s legal basis, institutions and decision-making processes made by the Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force on 1 December 2009.

It also includes details of the ‘new’ European Commission (‘Barroso II’), following hearings and a vote in the
European Parliament in February 2010.