Historical Archives

Presentation

The European institutions, in accordance with the rules adopted in 1983, 2003 and 2015 on the opening to the public of the Historical Archives of the EU institutions, are required to create their historical archives and to ensure they are open to the public.
In that connection, the Court of Justice has decided to base its archives at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence and thus to make them available to university researchers, historians and, more generally, EU citizens.
The regulatory framework governing the transfer of the historical archives to the EUI in Florence and the arrangements for public access are defined in the  decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 10 June 2014 concerning the deposit of the historical archives of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the Historical Archives of the European Union (European University Institute).

Persons interested are also invited to consult the page of the Historical Archives of the European Union.

Documents included

The Historical Archives comprise documents produced or received by the institutions in the accomplishment of their task, provided that they have been selected to be permanently retained and date from more than 30 years ago.
The Court has decided to grant access not only to the administrative documents, but also to the judicial archives.  All the historical archives of the Court which are accessible are listed in the inventory of the Historical Archives of the European Union (HAEU).
All requests for access to the Historical Archives are, however, subject to prior examination.

Requesting access

To request access to one or more of the Historical Archives files, please send an e-mail to Historical Archives of the European Union.
The request for access will be examined carefully, having regard, for example, to the right to the protection of privacy, commercial interests and the secrecy of the deliberations.  As a result, the time taken to process the request may vary according to the complexity or size of the file.

How to consult the archives

If access is granted, the applicant may consult the documents, free of charge, at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence.
For more details on the arrangements for consultation, please refer to the abovementioned decision of the Court of 10 June 2014.

Information and contact

For any additional information, please send an email to the department of the Court of Justice of the European Union responsible for managing the historical archives.