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GAZETTE
FEBRUARY
1989
Sources of European
Community Law:
Where to find them
PART I
By Margaret Byrne, Librarian, The Law Society
This article, in two parts, is a guide to the literature of European
Community Law. Part I covers the sources of the European
Community's legal sys t em-
the primary legislation: the treaties establishing the
European Communities;
the secondary legislation: the regulations, directives,
decisions and other acts made by the Community
institutions as provided for in the treaties;
the international agreements concluded between the
European Communities and non-member states or other
international organisations;
together with the case law of the European Court of Justice.
Part 2, which will be published in the next issue of the
Gazette,
will deal with the secondary literature including EC
and commercial publications.
Primary Legislation
The European Communities com-
prise three separate Communities
each established by a separate
treaty:
the European Coal and Steel
Community, established by the
ECSC Treaty (Treaty of Paris,
1951);
the European Economic Com-
munity, established by the EEC
Treaty (Treaty of Rome, 1957);
the European Atomic Energy
Community, established by the
EAEC or Euratom Treaty (Treaty
of Rome, 1957).
The principal amending treaties
to these three foundation treaties
are:
the Convention on Certain
Institutions common to the
European Communities (Rome,
1957);
the treaty establishing a Single
Council and a Single Commission
of the European Communities
(the Merger Treaty) (Brussels,
1965);
the Treaty of Luxembourg of 22
April, 1970, and the Treaty of
Brussels of 22 July, 1975, on
budgetary matters;
the Act of the Council concern-
ing direct elections to the
European Parliament (1976);
the Single European Act and Final
Act, 1986;
and the three accession treaties:
the first Treaty of Accession and
its Annexes (1972) (accession of
UK, Ireland and Denmark);
the second Treaty of Accession
and its Annexes (1979) (acces-
sion of Greece);
the third Treaty of Accession and
its Annexes (1985) (accession of
Spain and Portugal).
The current official edition of the
treaties published by the Office for
Official Publications of the EC is the
1987 edition in 2 vols.
Vol. 1 -
Treaties establishing the
European Communities; treaties
amending these treaties; Single
European Act.
Vol. 2 -
Accession documents.
These volumes contain all the
treaties and their annexes in force
on 1 July, 1987.
The text of treaties and
amendments are published in the
Official Journal
L Series. (See
below for details of OJ.)
Publications of the Office for
Official Publications of the EC,
including Catalogues of EC Publi-
cations, can be purchased directly
or ordered through the Government
Publications Sales Office, SunAlliance
House, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.
The treaties and amendments
thereto have been implemented in
all the member states by national
legislation following, where
necessary, amendments to national
Constitutions. In Ireland, following
a referendum, a new Article 29.4.3
was inserted in
Bunreacht na
hEireann
by the Third Amendment
of the Constitution Act, 1972. This
was followed by the enactment of
the European Communities Act,
1972, which came into effect on 1
January, 1973.
European Communities (Amend-
ment) Acts were enacted to provide
for the second and third treaties of
accession as well as for other
amendments to the treaties, the
most recent being the European
Communities (Amendment) Act,
1986, and the Tenth Amendment of
the Constitution Act, 1987, to
incorporate into Irish law the
changes effected by the Single
European Act. A full list of the EC
legislation enacted can be found in
the
Index to the Statutes 1922-85
and subsequent annual lists.
In addition to the official texts of
the treaties published by the EC
there are various commercially pub-
lished editions with annotations,
including Rudden & Wyatt,
Basic
Community Laws,
2nd Ed., 1986,
and Sweet and Maxwell's
Encyclo-
paedia of European Community
Law,
B volumes, and Sweet and
Maxwell's
EC Treaties,
4th Ed., 1980.
Secondary Legislation
Secondary legislation comprises
the legal acts made by the Council
and the Commission of the EC in
implementing the powers granted
to them in the Community treaties.
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