The OJ isn’t what it used to be! The EU has a new Official Journal format
Everyone who needs to find an EU law is familiar with accessing the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ).
Published daily, the OJ has traditionally been a short collection of either (a) laws (L series) or (b) information documents (C series). So, typically, each issue contained several documents which had been collated over time – for example, there might be half a dozen or more items published in a single issue.
Since 1 October 2023, the OJ has changed. Now, each law or document is published individually. Each document is its own OJ. It has its own “European Legislation Identifier” (ELI) so it can be tracked and cited.
In essence, the OJ is now published “act-by-act”.
The new OJ is;
- Therefore more timely as measures are published in the OJ as soon as they become available. There is no more waiting for documents to be collected and published in bulk.
- Easier to search and can be displayed in more ways. It is simply more timely and user-friendly with more search options and filters.
- Accessed online through the eur-lex home page: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/homepage.html. Individual L and C series OJs are available on that site.
There is a useful EU video on how to access and use the new OJ format: see link.
Overall, this is a welcome change which makes EU law more accessible and easier to find for all.
For more information on this post, please contact Dr Vincent Power, Partner or any member of A&L Goodbody's EU, Competition & Procurement team.
Date published: 3 October 2023