Brussels, 09/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - The Publications Office of the EU is completing the consolidation of the secondary legislation, also known as the “acquis communautaire”, in 19 of the 20 official languages prior to the 2007 enlargement. Making Community law both transparent and accessible is part of the European Commission's “Better Regulation” action plan. With this aim in mind the laws applicable in the EU have now been consolidated into fewer than 3000 acts. They are not legally binding, but give a continually updated picture of the EU legislation in force. “Consolidation of the legal acts - integrating the provisions of the original instrument together with all subsequent amendments - is fundamental in order to keep the EU legislation up-to-date, more legible and user friendly,” said European Commissioner for multilingualism. The consolidated acts should be a major benefit to citizens, businesses and administrations alike, giving a clear summary of the law in an instantly usable form. It is available in 19 languages with Maltese in construction and already includes some Bulgarian and Romanian texts.
The consolidated texts are available on EUR-Lex (http: //eurlex.europa.eu/en/legis/avis_consolidation.htm). This lists all the acts used for the consolidated texts, accompanied by data identifying the original and amending acts. Contacts and references of the Publications Office: Publications Office/Dissemination: Heli Lehtimäki, tel. (352) 29 29-44194, email: diffus-marketing@publications.europa.eu (hb)