Press and Information Division

PRESS RELEASE No 57/99

30 July 1999

FOLLOWING THE RENUMBERING OF THE TREATIES PRESCRIBED BY THE TREATY OF AMSTERDAM, THE COURT OF JUSTICE AND THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE SET OUT THEIR SYSTEM FOR THE UNIFORM CITATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE TREATIES

Since the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam on 1 May 1999, the articles of the Treaty establishing the European Community (the EC Treaty) and of the Treaty on European Union (the EU Treaty) have been renumbered.

In that context, the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance have decided, with a view to ensuring clarity and consistency, to introduce a uniform system of citation of the provisions of the four Treaties (ECSC, Euratom, EC, EU) in judgments and in the opinions of the Advocates General. In the light of the experience gained since 1 May 1999, those rules of citation, which were previously circulated in a press release (No 74/98) of 2 December 1998, have now been supplemented and modified in one particular respect.

Full details of that system are set out in the attached Note, which will be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (C Series) in September 1999 and will be available on the Court's Internet website on the same date.

Judgments and opinions delivered after 1 May 1999 which are not entirely in accordance with the system of citation as laid down will be corrected prior to publication in the European Court Reports. The versions of those documents currently available on the Court's Internet website will likewise be corrected as soon as possible.

This release is an unofficial document issued for use by the media and is not binding on the Court of Justice. It is available in all the official languages.

For additional information, please contact Fionnuala Connolly: tel: (00 352) 4303 3366; fax: (00 352) 4303 2731.

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

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:

  EU for the Treaty on European Union
  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.

• 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)".

For example:

• "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 K.9 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 K.2 of the Treaty on European Union (Articles K to K.9 of the Treaty on European Union have been replaced by Articles 29 EU to 42 EU)".