Interinstitutional Agreement of 22 December 1998 on common guidelines for the quality of drafting of Community legislation
Date: 1998-12-22
Institutions: Council of the European Union, European Commission, European Parliament
Subjects: EU act, drafting of EU law, quality standard

17.3.1999

EN

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

C  73/1

I

(Information)

EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT
COUNCIL
COMMISSION

INTERINSTITUTIONAL  AGREEMENT

of  22  December  1998

on  common  guidelines  for  the  quality  of  drafting  of  Community  legislation

(1999/C  73/01)

THE  EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT,  THE  COUNCIL  OF
THE  EUROPEAN  UNION  AND  THE  COMMISSION  OF
THE  EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES,

each  institution  adopting  the  relevant  measures  for
its  own  use;

Having  regard  to  Declaration  No  39  on  the  quality  of
the  drafting  of  Community  legislation  adopted  on  2
October  1997  by  the  Intergovernmental  Conference  and
annexed  to  the  Final  Act  of  the  Treaty  of  Amsterdam,

(5)(cid:217)the  role  played  by  the  institutions’  legal  services,
including  their  legal/linguistic  experts,  in  improving
the  quality  of  drafting  of  Community  legislative  acts
should  be  strengthened;

Whereas:

(1)(cid:217)clear,  simple  and  precise  drafting  of  Community
legislative  acts  is  essential  if  they  are  to  be  trans(cid:220)
parent  and  readily  understandable  by  the  public  and
economic  operators.  It  is  also  a  prerequisite  for  the
proper  implementation  and  uniform  application  of
Community  legislation  in  the  Member  States;

(2)(cid:217)according  to  the  case(cid:220)law  of  the  Court  of  Justice,  the
principle  of  legal  certainty,  which  is  part  of  the
Community  legal  order,  requires  that  Community
legislation  must  be  clear  and  precise  and 
its
application 
individuals.  That
requirement  must  be  observed  all  the  more  strictly  in
the  case  of  an  act  liable  to  have  financial  conse(cid:220)
quences  and  imposing  obligations  on  individuals  in
order  that  those  concerned  may  know  precisely  the
extent  of  the  obligations  which  it  imposes  on  them;

foreseeable 

by 

(3)(cid:217)guidelines  on  the  quality  of  drafting  of  Community
legislation  should  therefore  be  adopted  by  common
accord.  These  guidelines  are  intended  as  a  guide  for
the  Community  institutions  when  they  adopt  legis(cid:220)
lative  acts,  and  for  those  in  the  Community  insti(cid:220)
tutions  who  are  involved  in  formulating  and  drafting
such  acts,  whether  at  the  stage  of  the  initial  text  or
that  of  the  various  amendments  made  to  it  in  the
course  of  the  legislative  procedure;

(4)(cid:217)these  guidelines  should  be  accompanied  by  measures
to  make  sure  that  they  are  applied  properly,  with

(6)(cid:217)these  guidelines  complement  the  efforts  being  made
by  the  institutions  to  make  Community  legislation
understand,
more 
particularly  by  means  of  the  official  codification  of
legislative  acts, 
simplification  of
recasting  and 
existing  texts;

accessible 

easier 

and 

to 

(7)(cid:217)these  guidelines  are  to  be  regarded  as  instruments  for
internal  use  by  the  institutions.  They  are  not  legally
binding,

ADOPT  THESE  GUIDELINES  BY  COMMON  ACCORD:

General  principles

1.(cid:217)Community  legislative  acts  shall  be  drafted  clearly,

simply  and  precisely.

2.(cid:217)The  drafting  of  Community  acts  shall  be  appropriate
to  the  type  of  act  concerned  and,  in  particular,  to
whether  or  not  it  is  binding  (Regulation,  Directive,
Decision,  recommendation  or  other  act).

3.(cid:217)The  drafting  of  acts  shall  take  account  of  the
persons  to  whom  they  are  intended  to  apply,  with  a
view  to  enabling  them  to  identify  their  rights  and
obligations  unambiguously,  and  of 
the  persons
responsible  for  putting  the  acts  into  effect.

C  73/2

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17.3.1999

4.(cid:217)Provisions  of  acts  shall  be  concise  and  their  content
should  be  as  homogeneous  as  possible.  Overly  long
articles  and 
sentences,  unnecessarily  convoluted
wording  and  excessive  use  of  abbreviations  should  be
avoided.

5.(cid:217)Throughout  the  process  leading  to  their  adoption,
draft  acts  shall  be  framed  in  terms  and  sentence
structures  which  respect  the  multilingual  nature  of
Community 
terminology
legislation;  concepts  or 
specific  to  any  one  national  legal  system  are  to  be
used  with  care.

6.(cid:217)The  terminology  used 

in  a  given  act  shall  be
consistent  both  internally  and  with  acts  already  in
force,  especially  in  the  same  field.

Identical  concepts  shall  be  expressed  in  the  same
terms,  as  far  as  possible  without  departing  from  their
meaning  in  ordinary,  legal  or  technical  language.

Different  parts  of  the  act

7.(cid:217)All  Community  acts  of  general  application  shall  be
drafted  according  to  a  standard  structure  (title  -
terms  -  annexes,  where
preamble  -  enacting 
necessary).

8.(cid:217)The  title  of  an  act  shall  give  as  succinct  and  full  an
indication  as  possible  of  the  subject  matter  which
does  not  mislead  the  reader  as  to  the  content  of  the
enacting  terms.  Where  appropriate,  the  full  title  of
the  act  may  be  followed  by  a  short  title.

9.(cid:217)The  purpose  of  the  citations  is  to  set  out  the  legal
basis  of  the  act  and  the  main  steps  in  the  procedure
leading  to  its  adoption.

10.(cid:217)The  purpose  of  the  recitals  is  to  set  out  concise
reasons  for  the  chief  provisions  of  the  enacting
terms,  without  reproducing  or  paraphrasing  them.
They  shall  not  contain  normative  provisions  or
political  exhortations.

Acts  shall  not  include  provisions  which  enunciate  the
content  of  other  articles  or  repeat  the  title  of  the  act.

13.(cid:217)Where  appropriate,  an  article  shall  be  included  at  the
beginning  of  the  enacting  terms  to  define  the  subject
matter  and  scope  of  the  act.

14.(cid:217)Where  the  terms  used  in  the  act  are  not  unam(cid:220)
biguous,  they  should  be  defined  together  in  a  single
article  at  the  beginning  of  the  act.  The  definitions
shall  not  contain  autonomous  normative  provisions.

15.(cid:217)As  far  as  possible,  the  enacting  terms  shall  have  a
standard  structure  (subject  matter  and  scope  -  defi(cid:220)
nitions  -  rights  and  obligations  -  provisions
conferring 
implementing  powers  -  procedural
provisions  -  implementing  measures  -  transitional
and  final  provisions).

The  enacting  terms  shall  be  subdivided  into  articles
length  and  complexity,
and,  depending  on  their 
sections.  When  an  article
titles,  chapters  and 
contains  a 
list  should  be
item  on  the 
list,  each 
identified  by  a  number  or  a  letter  rather  than  an
indent.

Internal  and  external  references

16.(cid:217)References 

to  other  acts  should  be  kept 

to  a
minimum.  References  shall  indicate  precisely  the  act
or  provision  to  which  they  refer.  Circular  references
(references  to  an  act  or  an  article  which  itself  refers
back  to  the  initial  provision)  and  serial  references
itself  refers  to
(references  to  a  provision  which 
another  provision)  shall  also  be  avoided.

17.(cid:217)A  reference  made  in  the  enacting  terms  of  a  binding
act  to  a  non(cid:220)binding  act  shall  not  have  the  effect  of
making  the  latter  binding.  Should  the  drafters  wish
to  render  binding  the  whole  or  part  of  the  content  of
the  non(cid:220)binding  act, 
its  terms  should  as  far  as
possible  be  set  forth  as  part  of  the  binding  act.

11.(cid:217)Each  recital  shall  be  numbered.

Amending  acts

12.(cid:217)The  enacting  terms  of  a  binding  act  shall  not  include
provisions  of  a  non(cid:220)normative  nature,  such  as  wishes
or  political  declarations,  or  those  which  repeat  or
paraphrase  passages  or  articles  from  the  Treaties  or
those  which  restate  legal  provisions  already  in  force.

18.(cid:217)Every  amendment  of  an  act 

shall  be  clearly
expressed.  Amendments  shall  take  the  form  of  a  text
to  be  inserted  in  the  act  to  be  amended.  Preference
shall  be  given  to  replacing  whole  provisions  (articles
or  subdivisions  of  articles)  rather  than  inserting  or
deleting  individual  sentences,  phrases  or  words.

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C  73/3

An  amending  act  shall  not  contain  autonomous
substantive  provisions  which  are  not  inserted  in  the
act  to  be  amended.

19.(cid:217)An  act  not  primarily  intended  to  amend  another  act
may  set  out,  at  the  end,  amendments  of  other  acts
which  are  a  consequence  of  changes  which 
it
introduces.  Where  the  consequential  amendments
are  substantial,  a  separate  amending  act  should  be
adopted.

Final  provisions,  repeals  and  annexes

20.(cid:217)Provisions 

time 

down 

dates, 

laying 

limits,
exceptions,  derogations  and  extensions,  transitional
provisions  (in  particular  those  relating  to  the  effects
of  the  act  on  existing  situations)  and  final  provisions
(entry 
into  force,  deadline  for  transposition  and
temporal  application  of  the  act)  shall  be  drawn  up  in
precise  terms.

Provisions  on  deadlines  for  the  transposition  and
application  of  acts  shall  specify  a  date  expressed  as
day/month/year.  In  the  case  of  Directives,  those
deadlines  shall  be  expressed  in  such  a  way  as  to
guarantee  an  adequate  period  for  transposition.

21.(cid:217)Obsolete  act  and  provisions 

shall  be  expressly
repealed.  The  adoption  of  a  new  act  should  result  in
the  express  repeal  of  any  act  or  provision  rendered
inapplicable  or  redundant  by  virtue  of  the  new  act.

22.(cid:217)Technical  aspects  of  the  act  shall  be  contained  in  the
annexes,  to  which  individual  reference  shall  be  made
in  the  enacting  terms  of  the  act  and  which  shall  not
embody  any  new  right  or  obligation  not  set  forth  in
the  enacting  terms.

Annexes  shall  be  drawn  up  in  accordance  with  a
standardised  format,

Done  at  Brussels,  22  December  1998.

HEREBY  AGREE  ON  THE  FOLLOWING
IMPLEMENTING  MEASURES:

The  institutions  shall  take  such  measures  relating  to  their
internal  organisation  as  they  deem  necessary  in  order  to
ensure  that  these  guidelines  are  properly  applied.

In  particular,  the  institutions:

(a)(cid:217)shall  instruct  their  legal  services  to  draw  up,  within
one  year  after  the  publication  of  these  guidelines,  a
joint  practical  guide  for  persons 
in  the
drafting  of  legislation;

involved 

(b) shall  organise  their  respective  internal  procedures  in
such  a  way  that  their  legal  services,  including  their
legal/linguistic  experts,  may,  each  for  their  own
institution,  make  drafting  suggestions  in  good  time,
with  a  view  to  applying  these  guidelines;

(c) shall  foster  the  creation  of  drafting  units  within  those
bodies  or  departments  within  the  institutions  which
are  involved  in  the  legislative  process;

(d) shall  ensure  that  their  officials  and  other  servants
receive  training  in  legal  drafting,  making  them  aware
in  particular  of  the  effects  of  multilingualism  on
drafting  quality;

(e) shall  promote  cooperation  with  the  Member  States
with  a  view  to 
improving  understanding  of  the
particular  considerations  to  be  taken  into  account
when  drafting  texts;

(f) shall  encourage  the  development  and  improvement
of  information  technology  tools  for  assisting  legal
drafting;

(g) shall  foster  collaboration  between  their  respective
departments  responsible  for  ensuring  the  quality  of
drafting;

(h) shall  instruct  their  respective  legal  services  to  draw
up  periodically,  each  for  the  institution  to  which  it
belongs,  a  report  on  the  measures  taken  in  pursuance
of  points  (a)  to  (g).

For  the
European  Parliament

The  President

For  the  Council
of  the  European  Union

For  the  Commission
of  the  European  Communities

The  President

The  President

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17.3.1999

Declaration  by  the  European  Parliament

The  European  Parliament  considers  that  Community  legislative  acts  must  be  self(cid:220)explanatory
and  that  the  institutions  and/or  Member  States  must  not  adopt  explanatory  statements.

No  provision  is  made  for  the  adoption  of  explanatory  statements  in  the  Treaties  and  it  is
incompatible  with  the  nature  of  Community  law.

Council  Statements

Like  the  European  Parliament,  the  Council  is  of  the  opinion  that  legislative  acts  should  be
comprehensible  in  themselves.  Recourse  to  statements  interpreting  legal  acts  should  therefore
be  avoided  where  possible  and  the  content  of  possible  statements  should,  as  appropriate,  be
included  in  the  text  of  the  act.

It  should  however  be  noted  that  insofar  as  they  do  not  contradict  the  legislative  act  concerned
and  they  are  made  public  (as  provided  for  in  Article  151(3)  of  the  EC  Treaty  as  it  will  be
amended  by  the  Amsterdam  Treaty),  such  interpretative  statements  adopted  by  the  Community
legislator  are  compatible  with  Community  law.

The  Council  finds  it  desirable  that  the  general  principles  of  good  drafting  which  may  be  drawn
from  the  "Common  guidelines  on  the  quality  of  drafting  of  Community  legislation’  serve,
where  appropriate,  as  an  inspiration  for  the  drafting  of  acts  adopted  pursuant  to  Titles  V  and
VI  and  of  the  Treaty  on  European  Union.

The  Council  considers  that,  in  order  that  the  transparency  of  the  Community  decision(cid:220)making
process  may  be  improved,  it  would  be  desirable  for  the  Commission  to  provide  in  future  for  the
statements  of  reasons  accompanying  its  legislative  proposals  to  be  widely  circulated  to  the
public  by  the  most  appropriate  means  (for  example,  publication  in  the  "C’  series  of  the  Official
Journal  of  the  European  Communities,  electronic  distribution,  or  other).

The  Council  takes  the  view  that,  in  addition  to  the  adoption  by  the  legislator  of  official  codifi(cid:220)
cation  of  legislative  acts,  the  Office  for  Official  Publications  of  the  European  Communities
should,  with  a  view  to  improving  access  to  Community  legislation  when  the  latter  has  been
subject  to  frequent  or  substantial  amendments,  intensify  its  work  of  informally  consolidating
legislative  acts  and  should  improve  the  advertising  of  the  availability  of  these  texts.  It  would
also  be  useful  to  examine  with  the  other  institutions  the  appropriateness  of  possible  measures
aimed  at  facilitating  a  more  structured  use  of  the  recasting  technique  which  combines  the
codification  and  the  modifications  of  an  act  in  a  single  legislative  text.