5.9.1. References to EU legislation
In publications other than the Official Journal, act titles can be more loosely quoted.
Presentation of references
See Part I for information on the presentation of references to EU legislation in texts published in the Official Journal and on the numbering of acts.
In publications other than the Official Journal, act titles can be more loosely quoted. However, it should be noted that the different parts of the full title of an act (title, number, author, date and subject of the title) are not separated by commas, and the subject of the title is not followed by a comma:
Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 provides that …
Regulation (EU) No 1204/2009 provides that …
Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 of 16 November 2009 on setting up a Community system of reliefs from customs duty provides that …
Council Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 on setting up a Community system of reliefs from customs duty provides that …
Regulation (EC) No 1186/2009 on setting up a Community system of reliefs from customs duty provides that …
Of course, it is perfectly acceptable to use commas necessitated by syntax within the subject of the title:
Commission Regulation (EC) No 396/2004 of 2 March 2004 initiating an investigation concerning the possible circumvention of anti-dumping measures imposed by Council Regulation (EC) No 964/2003 on imports of certain tube or pipe fittings, of iron or steel, originating, inter alia, in the People’s Republic of China by imports of certain tube or pipe fittings, of iron or steel, consigned from Indonesia, whether declared as originating in Indonesia or not and making such imports subject to registration provides that …
In the case of amending acts, the subject of the title must also form a single block, without punctuation between the various parts of the modified acts:
Commission Regulation (EU) No 1204/2009 of 4 December 2009 amending Regulation (EC) No 968/2006 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 320/2006 establishing a temporary scheme for the restructuring of the sugar industry in the Community …
Use of ‘and’ and ‘to’
Where several regulations, articles, etc. are grouped together, use of ‘and’ and ‘to’ is determined in accordance with the following rules.
For two numbers, use ‘and’ and list the numbers:
Regulations (EU) 2015/17 and 2015/18
(acts with the same domain)Regulations (EU) 2015/17 and 2015/18 and (EU, Euratom) 2015/623
(acts with different domains)Articles 2 and 3
Thereafter:
Regulations (EU) 2016/52 to 2016/56
Articles 2 to 8
Where several articles, paragraphs or subparagraphs are mentioned, which are consecutively numbered, distinction has to be made between ‘Articles 2, 3 and 4’ (which excludes additional articles like Article 3a, 3b, etc.) and ‘Articles 2 to 4’ (which includes all articles added later). This also concerns paragraphs, points, etc.
To avoid any confusion, a hyphen should not be used to denote a range; a format such as ‘Regulations (EU) 2016/52-2016/56’ could mean either 2016/52 and 2016/56, or 2016/52 to 2016/56. For reasons of precision it is therefore necessary to use only ‘and’ or ‘to’.
References to the Official Journal
See Section 3.1.