A Network for Legislative Cooperation

A Resolution of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, on the establishment of a Network for legislative cooperation between the Ministries of Justice of the European Union has been published in OJ C 326, 20.12.2008. The Resolution acknowledges that obtaining information about foreign law may prove unpredictable and complicated; therefore, a network for legislative cooperation should be set up to give effective access to the national legislation of other Member States. Unfortunately, although the Council’s Resolution bears in mind the “objective of providing [European] citizens with an area of freedom, security and justice”, she addresses the problem mainly regarding Ministries of Justice concerns (first Whereas: “Knowledge of the legislation of other Member States or even of certain third countries is an essential tool for the Ministries of Justice of the Member States of the European Union, in particular for drafting legislation and for transposing lawof the European Union”). They (the Ministries of  Justice) will be the senders and addresses of the requests for information.

To build the net, each Member State should designate a correspondent -or a limited number of other correspondents if this were considered necessary because of the existence of separate legal systems or the domestic distribution of competences. The Network should in particular provide its members with coherent and up-to-date information on legislation, and with case-law on selected  subjects; make accessible the results of comparative law research carried out by or for the Ministries of Justice of each State in fields of law falling within the sphere of competence of those Ministries, including in the context of reforms carried out by the Member States or of transposition of law of the European Union; and be aware of major legal reform projects.

The Resolution does note indicate any closing date (not even an approximated one) for the creation of the network.