Hester,

I am working on this for the next issue of EIA Focus.  Hopefully next week I will have all the elements of an answer.

Barbara Sloan
Manager, Public Inquiries and Library
Delegation of the European Commission
2300 M St, NW
Washington DC 20037
Tel. (202) 862-9542
Fax  (202) 429-1766
www.eurunion.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Hester Swift [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 9:55 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Authentic legal texts

We have been asked by a solicitor where exactly it is stated that the authentic version of an EC legal instrument is the printed Official Journal (i.e. for use in court he'll need a copy from the printed OJ, not a print-out from a database). This is what I have always been told and have found stated in numerous books, but nowhere is a reference given to any legislation, case law or official guidance document backing this up.  S. 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 says the OJ "shall be admissible as evidence of any instrument..." but I can find no commentary on this explaining whether it actually restricts this to the printed OJ.

Is it just that electronically produced documents are not admissible in court, or it there a specific requirement for EC legislation?

On a side-issue: is the microfiche version of the OJ seen as equally authentic? We may possibly be forced to ditch our bound volumes for space reasons and would need to know for sure whether the fiche is an acceptable equivalent.

Grateful for any help on this.

Hester Swift
European Union Librarian

The Law Society Library
113 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL
Tel: 020 7316 5721
Fax:  020 7831 1687

Email:  [log in to unmask]

This email is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient then you must not copy it, forward it, use it for any purpose, or disclose it to another person. Instead please return it to the sender immediately and copy your communication to [log in to unmask] Please then delete your copy from your system. Please also note that the author of this email is not authorised to conclude any contract on behalf of the Law Society by email. Thank you.