Information from the Court of Justice - Note on the citation of articles of the Treaties in the publications of the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance
Date: 1999-08-28
Institutions: Court of Justice of the European Union
Subjects: Court of Justice of the European Union, EAEC Treaty, ECSC Treaty, European treaties, General Court (EU), Treaty on European Union

28.8.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 246/1

I

(Information)

COURT OF JUSTICE

Note on the citation of articles of the Treaties in the
publications of the Court of Justice and the Court of First
Instance

(1999/C 246/01)

Pursuant to the renumbering of the articles of the Treaty on
European Union (EU) and of the Treaty establishing the
European Community (EC), brought about by the Treaty of
Amsterdam, the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance
have introduced, with effect from 1 May 1999, a new method
of citation of the articles of the EU, EC, ECSC and Euratom
Treaties.

That new method is primarily designed to avoid all risk of
confusion between the version of an article as it stood prior to
1 May 1999 and the version applying after that date. The
principles on which that method operates are as follows:

— Where reference is made to an article of a Treaty as it
stands after 1 May 1999, the number of the article is
immediately followed by two letters indicating the Treaty
concerned:

— In addition, as regards the EC Treaty and the Treaty on
European Union, again where reference is made to an
article of a Treaty as it stood before 1 May 1999, the initial
citation of the article in a text is followed by a reference in
brackets to the corresponding provision of the same Treaty
as it stands after 1 May 1999, as follows:

— ‘Article 85 of the EC Treaty (now article 81 EC)’, where
the article has not been amended by the Treaty of
Amsterdam;

— ‘Article 51 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article
42 EC)’, where the article has been amended by the
Treaty of Amsterdam;

— ‘Article 53 of the EC Treaty (repealed by the Treaty of
Amsterdam)’, where the article has been repealed by the
Treaty of Amsterdam.

— By way of exception to the latter rule, the initial citation of
(the former) Articles 117 to 120 of the EC Treaty, which
have been replaced en bloc by the Treaty of Amsterdam, is
followed by the following wording in brackets: ‘(Articles
117 to 120 of the EC Treaty have been replaced by articles 136
EC to 143 EC)’.

EU for the Treaty on European Union

For example:

EC for the EC Treaty

CS for the ECSC Treaty

EA for the Euratom Treaty.

Thus, ‘Article 234 EC’ denotes the article of that Treaty
as it stands after 1 May 1999.

— Where, on the other hand, reference is made to an article
of a Treaty as it stood before 1 May 1999, the number of
the article is followed by the words ‘of the Treaty on
European Union’, ‘of the EC (or EEC) Treaty’, ‘of the ECSC
Treaty’ or ‘of the EAEC Treaty’, as the case may be.

Thus, ‘Article 85 of the EC Treaty’ refers to Article 85 of
that Treaty before 1 May 1999.

— ‘Article 119 of the EC Treaty (Articles 117 to 120 of the
EC Treaty have been replaced by articles 136 EC to 143
EC)’.

The same applies to Articles J to J.11 and K to K9 of
the Treaty on European Union.

For example:

— ‘Article J.2 of the Treaty on European Union (Articles J to
J.11 of the Treaty on European Union have been replaced by
Articles 11 EU to 28 EU)’;

— ‘Article K2 of the Treaty on European Union (Articles K to
K9 of the Treaty on European Union have been replaced by
articles 29 EU to 42 EU)’.