Publications Office — Interinstitutional style guide — 1.2. L series

1.2.3. Contents

(a)

L I — Legislative acts

(a) Regulations

This section covers regulations adopted either jointly by the European Parliament and the Council (ordinary legislative procedure), or individually by one of the two institutions, with the participation of the other institution (special legislative procedure):

Regulation (EU) No 265/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council

Numbering

These acts are numbered as follows: abbreviation (in parentheses), followed by the sequential number and the year:

Regulation (EU) No 641/2010

NB:

The numbering of regulations has evolved over time. The various stages are:

—

from 1952 to 31 December 1962:

Regulation No 17

—

from 1 January 1963 to 31 December 1967 (the reference to the relevant treaty(ies) and the year are added to the number):

Regulation No 1009/67/EEC

—

from 1 January 1968 (the position of the treaty reference is changed):

Regulation (EEC) No 1470/68

Regulation (ECSC, EEC, Euratom) No 300/76

—

from 1 November 1993 (the abbreviation ‘EEC’ becomes ‘EC’ following the entry into force of the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty)):

Regulation (EC) No 3031/93

—

from 1 January 1999, the year is expressed in four digits:

Regulation (EC) No 2729/1999

—

from 1 December 2009 (the abbreviation ‘EU’ is used):

Regulation (EU) No 1178/2009

(b) Directives

This section covers directives adopted either jointly by the European Parliament and the Council (ordinary legislative procedure), or individually by the Council with the participation of the European Parliament (special legislative procedure):

Directive 2010/13/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council

Council Directive 2010/24/EU

Numbering

These acts are numbered as follows: the year, followed by the sequential number and the abbreviation:

Council Directive 2010/12/EU

These numbers are assigned by the General Secretariat of the Council. The number is assigned following adoption, unlike all other acts, which receive a number assigned by the Publications Office at the time of publication.

NB:

Some older directives have an ordinal number in the title:

First Council Directive 73/239/EEC

(c) Decisions

This section covers decisions adopted either jointly by the European Parliament and the Council (ordinary legislative procedure), or individually by the Council, with the participation of the European Parliament (special legislative procedure):

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

Numbering

These acts are numbered as follows: sequential number, followed by the year and the abbreviation:

Decision No 477/2010/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council

The sequential number precedes the year (whereas it is the opposite for non-legislative decisions: Council Decision 2010/294/EU).

Moreover, decisions adopted in accordance with a legislative procedure are assigned numbers from the same series as both legislative and non-legislative regulations (Decision No 646/2010/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council …, Council Regulation (Euratom) No 647/2010).

(d) Budgets

General budgets and amending budgets of the European Union, preceded by an act definitively adopting them, are published under this heading:

Definitive adoption of the European Union’s general budget for the financial year 2010

Definitive adoption of the European Union’s amending budget No 1 for the financial year 2010

NB:

Before 1 December 2009, the general budget of the European Union was published under Section L II, with the title ‘Final adoption of the general budget of the European Union’. Moreover, the statements of revenue and expenditure of the agencies which were published in the L series are now to be found in the C series.

Numbering

The definitive adoption of the general budget and of the amending budgets have a sequential number in the table of contents and on the title page (for example, ‘2010/117/EU, Euratom’).

The general budget itself does not carry any number, whereas amending budgets comprise a number assigned by the author (‘European Union’s amending budget No 2 for the financial year 2010’).

(b)

L II — Non-legislative acts

(a) International agreements

This section covers:

—

decisions relating to an agreement, and to which the text of the agreement is attached,

—

decisions relating to an agreement, and to which the text of the agreement is not attached,

—

information relating to the entry into force of agreements:

Council Decision 2010/412/EU of 13 July 2010 on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Union and the United States of America on the processing and transfer of Financial Messaging Data from the European Union to the United States for the purposes of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program

Agreement between the European Union and the United States of America on the processing and transfer of Financial Messaging Data from the European Union to the United States for the purposes of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program

Council Decision 2010/616/EU of 7 October 2010 on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Union and Japan on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters

Protocol extending to customs security measures the Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Economic Community and the Principality of Andorra

Information relating to the entry into force of the Agreement between the European Community and Barbados on the short-stay visa waiver

‘International Agreements’ in this context include agreements concluded by the European Union and/or the European Atomic Energy Community, conventions signed by the Member States, agreements, conventions and protocols established by the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting within the Council, internal agreements between Representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting within the Council, agreements in the form of Exchanges of Letters, etc.

Numbering

Agreements, as defined above, do not have a number.

(b) Regulations

This section covers certain Council regulations (regulations based directly on the Treaties and implementing regulations), Commission regulations (regulations based directly on the Treaties, implementing and delegated regulations) and regulations of the European Central Bank:

Council Regulation (EU) No 7/2010

Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 270/2010

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1062/2010

Regulation (EC) No 674/2010 of the European Central Bank (ECB/2010/7)

Numbering

These acts are numbered as follows: abbreviation (in parentheses), followed by the sequential number and the year.

(c) Directives

This section covers certain Council directives (directives based directly on the Treaties and implementing directives) and Commission directives (directives based directly on the Treaties, implementing and delegated directives):

Council Directive 2010/18/EU

Numbering

These acts are numbered as follows: year, followed by the sequential number and the abbreviation.

(d) Decisions

The decisions published under this section are:

—

decisions of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, decisions of the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States and decisions taken by common accord between the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States:

Decision 2010/400/EU of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States of the European Union

Decision 2010/465/EU of the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States of the European Union, meeting within the Council of 24 June 2010 on the signing and provisional application of the Protocol to Amend the Air Transport Agreement between the United States of America, of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part

Decision 2010/349/UE taken by common accord between the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States

—

certain decisions of the European Parliament:

Decision 2010/86/EU, Euratom of the European Parliament

—

decisions of the European Council:

European Council Decision 2010/594/EU

—

certain decisions of the European Parliament and of the Council:

Decision 2010/340/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council

—

certain Council decisions (decisions based directly on the Treaties, including CFSP decisions, and implementing decisions):

Council Decision 2010/73/EU

Council Implementing Decision 2010/99/EU

Council Decision 2010/199/CFSP

—

Commission decisions (decisions based directly on the Treaties, delegated and implementing decisions):

Commission Decision 2010/269/EU

—

European Central Bank decisions:

Decision ECB/2010/17 of the European Central Bank

NB:

Before 1 December 2009, there were two types of decision (for which certain languages used different terms): on the one hand, decisions which comprised an article mentioning the addressee(s) at the end of the enacting terms and a notification number in the title; on the other hand, sui generis decisions whose enacting terms were introduced by ‘has/have decided as follows’ (and not ‘has/have adopted this decision’). This distinction lapsed with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty.
However, in certain cases, decisions without an addressee are used in the same way as with sui generis decisions.

Numbering (decisions, recommendations and guidelines)

These acts are numbered as follows: year, followed by the sequential number and the abbreviation (for example, ‘2010/361/EU’).

ECB texts, which are also assigned a number by the institution (‘BCE/2010/5’), are published with two numbers (see Section 1.2.2 ‘Double numbering’).

(e) Recommendations

This section covers Council recommendations pursuant to Articles 121, 126, 140 and 292 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Commission recommendations (Article 292) and recommendations of the European Central Bank (Article 292):

Council Recommendation 2010/190/EU

Commission Recommendation 2010/379/EU

Other recommendations are published in the C series.

Numbering

See above ‘Numbering (decisions, recommendations and guidelines)’.

(f) Guidelines

This section covers guidelines of the European Central Bank:

Guideline ECB/2010/1 of the European Central Bank

Numbering

See above ‘Numbering (decisions, recommendations and guidelines)’.

(g) Rules of procedure

This concerns the rules of procedure of the institutions and bodies; the rules of procedure of the offices and agencies are published in the C series.

Rules of Procedure of the Committee of the Regions

Amendment to the Rules of Procedure of the General Court

Amendments to the Instructions to the Registrar of the General Court

Where the rules of procedure are annexed to an act, they are published in the same section as the act:

Commission Decision 2010/138/EU, Euratom of 24 February 2010 amending its Rules of Procedure

Numbering

Rules of procedure are not numbered.

(h) Acts adopted by bodies created by international agreements

This section covers decisions of bodies created by international agreements, as well as the regulations of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE).

Decision No 2/2010 of the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors of 19 March 2010 on the appointment of the Director of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA)

Decision No 1/2010 of the Joint Community/Switzerland Air Transport Committee set up under the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on Air Transport of 7 April 2010 replacing the Annex to the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on Air Transport

Regulation No 28 of the Economic Commission for Europe of the United Nations (UN/ECE) — Uniform provisions concerning the approval of audible warning devices and of motor vehicles with regard to their audible signals

Numbering

These acts, with the exception of regulations of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE), have two numbers (see also Section 1.2.2 ‘Double numbering’).

(c)

L III — Other acts

European Economic Area

This section covers acts adopted within the framework of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), as well as the rules of procedure of the EFTA Court:

—

decisions adopted within the framework of the European Economic Area (EEA):

Decision of the EEA Joint Committee No 38/2010

—

acts adopted within the framework of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA):

Decision of the EFTA Surveillance Authority No 02/10/COL

Decision of the Standing Committee of the EFTA States No 1/2010/SC

Numbering

These acts are numbered by the author only.

In acts originating from the EFTA Surveillance Authority, the year mentioned in the number of the act comprises only two digits: 302/08/COL (‘COL’ being the College of the Surveillance Authority).

L IV — Acts adopted before 1 December 2009 under the EC Treaty, the EU Treaty and the Euratom Treaty

This section is temporarily maintained for the publication of acts adopted before 1 December 2009, under the EC Treaty, the EU Treaty and the Euratom Treaty.

Council Decision 2010/16/CFSP/JHA of 30 November 2009 on the signing, on behalf of the European Union, of the Agreement between the European Union and the United States of America on the processing and transfer of Financial Messaging Data from the European Union to the United States for purposes of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program

Corrigenda

Corrigenda always come last in the Official Journal, since they may appear only in certain linguistic versions and they may differ in length and content from one language version to another. This is the only section of the Official Journal which is not synoptic. They are not numbered:

Corrigendum to Commission Regulation (EC) No 555/2008 of 27 June 2008 laying down detailed rules for implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 479/2008 on the common organisation of the market in wine as regards support programmes, trade with third countries, production potential and on controls in the wine sector