The Gazette 1992

APRIL 1992

GAZETTE

Eurlegal Library

The Law Society library has a large European Community law collection and the volume of requests for this material is increasing all the time - for textbooks, journal articles, regulations, directives and other secondary legislation, decisions of the European Court and the Court of First Instance. In this article, Margaret Byrne, Librarian, gives an outline of the material held and the services available. Members are welcome to consult the library in person or to phone, fax or post their enquiries to us. While most material requested is located using our own resources, when necessary, we also seek information from other agencies, such as the Dublin Office of the European Commission, the information service of the European Court, and Government Departments. In some cases, we may advise members to contact these agencies directly. Legislation The library holds copies of all the primary legislation, comprising treaties and accession documents, the secondary legislation which includes, among other material, the regulations, directives, Commission decisions, recommendations and opinions under the EEC Treaty. Legislation is published in the Official Journal L series which we have from 1973 to date, together with the retrospectively published special English language edition covering the period 1952-72. We also hold the Official Journal C series from 1973 which contains selected proposed legislation, opinions of the Economic and Social Committee, summaries of Court cases, written parliamentary questions and answers

Margaret Byrne

and other official information. A number of indexes are available to locate this material - the Official Journal's own Indexes, the annual Directory of Community Legislation in Force and Butterworths European Communities Legislation: Current Status - which enable the following kinds of everday requests to be dealt with - • "Have you got Council Directive 88/627 on company law? • Where will I find a recent directive on computer software? • Can you supply copies of Milk Quota Regulations per list supplied, and are there any more recent Regulations?"

Case law of the ECJ and the Court of First Instance The European Court Reports, which is the official series, the Common Market Law Reports and European Community Cases are held in the library. We also subcribe to the transcripts of the judgments of the Court and the opinions of the Advocates General which are usually available 6 - 8 weeks after a decision or opinion is given. Examples of requests received for case law are - • "I need a copy of the " H a g " case CIO/89 • Have you got the "Groener" case relating to discrimination in employment on grounds of language? • Can I have copies of competition cases T69/89, T70/89 and T76/89? • Where can I find a list of all cases on the Lomé Conventions?"

Secondary Legislation Implemented in Ireland Directives are implemented either by statute or, more usually, by statutory instrument, all of which are available in the library.

Various indexes and other sources are used to locate this material -