The following is a guest post by Micaela DelMonte, a lawyer from the European Parliamentary Research Service who volunteered at the Law Library of Congress during May 2017.
News about Brexit and the so-called Article 50 procedure have dominated the news about the European Union (EU) lately. If you are interested in researching these or other EU-related topics, then you have come to the right place. This Guide to researching EU law provides concise information about EU law sources and where to retrieve them.
I. What is EU Law?
On March 25, 1957, the governments of France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg signed the “Treaties of Rome”, thereby establishing what would later become the EU. The body of common rights and obligations that is binding on the EU Member States is known as the “acquis communautaire.” Within the acquis, the Treaties are considered primary law while the body of law stemming from the principles and objectives established in the Treaties is known as secondary law.
Primary Law