References

The legal basis and the mandate are the main references for the purpose and management of the Interinstitutional Style Guide.

Legal basis

Decision 69/13/Euratom, ECSC, EEC of 16 January 1969 establishing the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities (OJ L 13, 18.1.1969), repealed and last replaced by Decision 2009/496/EC, Euratom of the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Court of Auditors, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions of 26 June 2009 on the organisation and operation of the Publications Office of the European Union (OJ L 168, 30.6.2009, p. 41):

‘Article 1

The task of the Publications Office of the European Union, which is an interinstitutional office, shall be to publish the publications of the institutions of the European Communities and the European Union under optimum conditions.’

*

The Consultative Committee on Publications of the Commission has defined a publication as ‘a duplicated text, intended mainly for external use, the production of which constitutes a budgetary expense’.

The Publications Office is required, among other tasks:

  • to standardise formats;

  • to harmonise the presentation of publications.

NB:

In accordance with the abovementioned decision, the name ‘Office for Official Publications of the European Communities’ has been changed to ‘Publications Office of the European Union’, with effect from 1 July 2009.

Mandate

The style guide is governed by the following entities:

  • the Interinstitutional Committee, designated by the Management Board of the Publications Office, comprising general representatives from the following institutions: European Parliament, Council of the European Union, European Commission, Court of Justice of the European Union, European Central Bank, European Court of Auditors, European Economic and Social Committee, European Committee of the Regions;

  • the general coordination section for the style guide, based at the Publications Office;

  • the interinstitutional linguistic groups (one per language), whose representatives are appointed by members of the Interinstitutional Committee.

The Interinstitutional Committee appoints official representatives to participate directly in the work of the linguistic groups. The committee can act as an arbitrator in the case of a major problem.

The general coordination section is responsible for the overall management procedure: organising the work, ensuring the coherence of decisions taken in the different groups, updating and developing the process. This section is also responsible for overall management of the style guide website and participates directly in its development.

The linguistic groups are responsible for the development and follow-up of their respective language versions, with guidance from the general coordination section. The Publications Office representatives in the groups coordinate the work and relay information back to the general coordination section. The groups comprise representatives from the various linguistic entities of the institutions: lawyer-linguists, translators, terminologists, proofreaders, etc.

Furthermore, various decision-making bodies – notably, in the Commission, the Secretariat-General, the protocol service and the services in charge of external relations – are consulted regularly according to the subject being dealt with. Close contact is also maintained with various international organisations, particularly with regard to standardisation (ISO).