AGLC4 Rule 14.2.1: Official Journal of the European Union

Documents of the EU, the EC and their predecessors are cited to the Official Journal (OJ) where possible: italic title, year of publication in the OJ, OJ with its series, issue number and starting page, then a pinpoint. Electronic-only C series documents add E after the issue number, and documents published before 1 January 1974 add a parallel citation to the English Special Edition where possible.

AGLC4 page 194

Format

Quoted from the Guide, page 194
Document Title [Year] OJ C Issue Number E/Starting Page, Pinpoint.
[Year] OJ Spec Ed Starting Page, Pinpoint.

A boxed element is filled in with the source's details; everything outside a box is written exactly as shown.

Formatting

  • The title is italic, copied from the document with no full stops in abbreviations (rule 1.6) and capitalisation under rule 1.7; no comma follows it.
  • The year is the year of publication in the OJ, in square brackets, one space after the title.
  • OJ is roman; from 1 January 1968 a space and the series letter follow it (L for legislation, C for information and notices, S for invitations to tender, and the sub-series LI, CI and CA introduced in 2016).
  • The issue number and starting page are joined by an unspaced slash, with a space between the series letter and the issue number.
  • The S series has no starting page, so it ends with the issue number and has no slash.
  • An electronic-only C series document has a space, then E, directly after the issue number, then an unspaced slash and the starting page.
  • For documents published before 1 January 1974, a semicolon and a space follow the OJ citation, then the year in square brackets, OJ Spec Ed and the starting page.
  • The pinpoint is preceded by a comma and comes after any Special Edition citation; it may be to pages, paragraphs, articles or other divisions using rule 3.1.4 abbreviations.

Examples

Quoted from the Guide, page 194
  1. 6
    Commission Decision of 18 December 2002 Relating to National Provisions on Limiting the Importation and Placement on the Market of Certain NK Fertilisers of High Nitrogen Content and Containing Chlorine Notified by France Pursuant to Article 95(5) of the EC Treaty [2003] OJ L 1/72, 79.
  2. 7
    Notice for the Attention of Ghuma Abd’rabbah concerning His Inclusion in the List Referred to in Articles 2, 3 and 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 Imposing Certain Specific Restrictive Measures Directed against Certain Persons and Entities Associated with Usama bin Laden, the Al-Qaida Network and the Taliban [2009] OJ C 230/29, paras 3(a), 4, 6.
  3. 8
    Parliament and Council Directive EU/2015/1535 of 9 September 2015 Laying Down a Procedure for the Provision of Information in the Field of Technical Regulations and of Rules on Information Society Services (Codification) [2015] OJ L 241/1, art 3(2).
  4. 9
    European Parliament — 2008–2009 Session — Sittings of 20 to 23 October 2008 — Strasbourg — Minutes — Proceedings of the Sitting [2009] OJ C 3 E/1.
  5. 10
    Regulation (EEC) No 2005/70 of the Commission of 6 October 1970 on the Classification of Vine Varieties [1970] OJ L 224/1; [1970] OJ Spec Ed 623, art 2(1), annex.
  6. 11
    Contract Notice — Switzerland-Chur: Engineering Services [2016] OJ S 240.

Forms in the rule

Quoted from the Guide, page 194
  • ‘OJ’
  • ‘OJ L’
  • ‘OJ C’
  • ‘LI’
  • ‘CI’
  • ‘CA’
  • ‘OJ S’
  • ‘22/34’
  • ‘OJ Spec Ed’

Elements of a citation to the Official Journal

Quoted from the Guide, page 194
ElementExample
Document TitleCouncil Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts
Year[1993]
Official JournalOJ
SeriesL
Issue Number95
Starting Page/29
Pinpoint, art 3(1)

See also

Check your footnotes against these rules

Paste your paper into the free AGLC4 checker and each footnote is graded against the Guide, with the rule it breaks. To write a citation from scratch, use the AGLC4 citation generator.

Formats, examples, passages, tables and the forms marked Not are quoted from the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th ed, Melbourne University Law Review Association, 2018), with the page of the Guide they appear on. Titles, summaries and explanations are our own.