European Documentation Centre

The Official Journal of the European Union is the official gazette and principal source of information on EU affairs.

The Official Journal is the formal source of legislative information in the EU and is published daily in each of the official EU languages.

It is published in several parts:

• L series: Legislation (text of adopted EU legislation)
• C series: Communication (Committee opinions, notices, case reports and information about judgements)
• S series: Supplement (public tenders associated with EU public procurement legislation, also available electronically on the TED database)

Each issue of the series is numbered sequentially, and begins at no.1 at the start of each calendar year.

How to find the Official Journal

Issues published after 1998 are available online. You can find the full text of all issues in the L and C series in EUR-Lex.

The full text of L series legislation are also available via the Westlaw Database.

Print copies of the journal up to 1998 and volumes of the C series published from 1972 to 1989 are shelved in the Library store

You can request them in Library search by selecting “In Store – Request here” in the item record. Requests take a minimum of two working days to process.

All volumes published in 1972 are in French.

The EDC also has the special editions of the Official Journal published from 1952–1972, which include all the legislation in force at the time of the UK’s accession. These are also shelved in the Library store.