On 7 March 2013 the EU released the Regulation on the electronic publication of the Official Journal of the European Union. This regulation states that “The Official Journal shall be published in electronic form”, which unofficially it has been accessible for quite a long time, “in the official languages of the…European Union.” Currently there are 23 languages used in the EU. The Official Journal is similar to the Federal Register that is published in the US. The printed version of the Official Journal has been the only legally binding version of EU law until the recent release of this Regulation. The logistics for the printing and distribution of the daily edition must be a logistical nightmare to be in so many languages and in a very timely manner too. Being the EU is so environmentally conscious it is surprising it took so long to get to this point.
The Regulation states that “only the Official Journal published in electronic form…shall be authentic and shall produce legal effects.” What is nice about this Regulation is they are making access to the Official journal free to all that want to use it and that it won’t become obsolete either as the Regulation states: “The electronic edition of the Official Journal shall be made available to the public on the EUR-Lex website in a non-obsolete format and for an unlimited period. Its consultation shall be free of charge.” The Regulation is anticipated to take effect around July 2013.
You can access the Regulation on the electronic publication of the Official Journal of the European Union here.
To access the electronic version of the Official Journal on the Euro-lex website (part of the europa website) choose this link to see EU law.