Publications Office — Interinstitutional style guide — 1.2. L series

1.2.2. Numbering of acts

The Publications Office provides the numbering (except in the case of directives, which have been numbered by the General Secretariat of the Council since 1 January 1992).

Numbering

The number of an act is made up of three parts:

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the sequential number,

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a reference to the year of publication, or year of adoption in the case of Directives,

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one of the following, ‘EU’ for the European Union, ‘Euratom’ for the European Atomic Energy Community, ‘EU, Euratom’ for the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, ‘CFSP’ for the common foreign and security policy:

Decision No 862/2010/EU

Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1296/2009

Decision 2010/1/EU

Decision 2010/212/CFSP

NB:

The abbreviations have changed over the years as new treaties and amendments to the Treaties have been adopted:

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Before 1993: the abbreviations used are ‘EEC’, ‘ECSC’, ‘Euratom’.

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As of 1 November 1993 (date of entry into force of the Treaty of Maastricht): ‘EEC’ becomes ‘EC’. The abbreviations ‘JHA’ are added (for Justice and Home Affairs), ‘CFSP’ (for the common foreign and security policy) and ‘CMS’ (for conventions signed between Member States).

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Since 24 July 2002 (the date on which the ECSC Treaty expired), ‘ECSC’ is no longer used.

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On 1 December 2009, following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the abbreviation ‘EU’ is introduced. The abbreviation ‘EC’ is no longer used. Amongst the abbreviations created following the entry into force of the Treaty on European Union, ‘CFSP’ is maintained, whereas ‘JHA’ and ‘CMS’ are no longer used.

General principles

In the numbering of acts, two general principles are followed:

(a)

when the sequential number precedes the year, the abbreviation ‘No’ is used:

Commission Regulation (EU) No 16/2010

Decision No 284/2010/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council

However, when the year precedes the sequential number, the abbreviation ‘No’ is not used:

Commission Decision 2010/300/EU

(b)

the year comprises four digits (two before 1 January 1999):

Commission Regulation (EC) No 23/1999

Council Decision 2010/294/EU

Council Regulation (EC) No 2820/98

Double numbering

Certain acts may have two numbers:

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the sequential number (for example, ‘2011/23/EU’) assigned by the Publications Office,

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a number assigned by the author (for example, ‘No 1/2010’, ‘No 110’, ‘ECB/2010/34’, ‘BiH/17/2011’ etc.).

This is the case with European Central Bank acts, decisions of the various Councils and committees created by international agreements (such as, for example, the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors).

NB:

Currently, the following rules apply when acts of the ECB are quoted:

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regulations are quoted with the number assigned by the author at the end and between parentheses:

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1745/2003 of the European Central Bank of 12 September 2003 on the application of minimum reserves (ECB/2003/9) (¹),

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decisions, guidelines and recommendations are cited only with the number assigned by the author:

Eesti Pank has already paid up part of its share in the ECB’s subscribed capital, pursuant to Article 1 of Decision ECB/2010/28 of 13 December 2010 on the paying-up of the European Central Bank’s capital by the non-euro area national central banks (¹)

Having regard to Recommendation ECB/2010/6 of the European Central Bank of 1 July 2010 to the Council of the European Union on the external auditors of Národná banka Slovenska (¹),

Numbering assigned by the author

Acts relating to the European Economic Area (EEA) and regulations of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE-UN) only have a number assigned by the author:

Decision of the EEA Joint Committee No 58/2010

Regulation No 23 of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE)

Unnumbered acts and other texts

Some acts and other texts are not numbered, such as:

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primary legislation (treaties, acts of accession),

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international acts (for example agreements, conventions, protocols and additional protocols attached to a decision),

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information pertaining to the date of entry into force of an agreement or a primary act (this is the only information published in the L series),

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rules of procedure and practical instructions relating to direct appeals to the Court of Justice,

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resolutions of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget,

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corrigenda.