Help

Countries menu

The main menu on the homepage lists the countries whose legal databases you can search.

To select a country, click on its flag (or on the map) – this will bring you to the search screen.

The menu on the left side gives you 4 options:

  • About the national database
    This explains how the national database is structured and what types of legal documents it contains.


  • Search
    You can search in at least 1 database, depending on what is available for that country (original or consolidated legislation, the country's law gazette, legal publications, etc.).
    Languages available – sometimes the content is available in more than one of the country’s official languages. The Belgian law gazette, for instance, is available in French, Dutch and German.


  • Direct links
    The first link leads you to the homepage of the country's national legislation website.
    The other links lead you to other pages on that site, for example: translated legislation, terminology database etc.


  • National Law in EUR-Lex
    These links lead you to lists of specific acts for the chosen country that are available on EUR-Lex.
    Examples: National transposition measures, National case-law etc.

Search

The search form is broadly the same for all countries, regardless of how national databases are structured.

However, as the search functions on the underlying databases vary between countries, only the available search criteria/fields will be displayed.

Search hints

  • For help and examples, check the hints displayed on the right hand side.
  • To find a term in a language you don't know, start typing the word in the language of the interface (e.g. if you are viewing the interface in French, type in French).
    Once you've entered 3 characters, the EUROVOC thesaurus will suggest some terms in that language, together with their equivalent terms in the language of the database you want to search in.
    If the word you've typed in can't be found in the thesaurus, it will be automatically translated into the language of the database.

Tweaking the results

  • No hits, or none that are relevant?
    Remove entries from one or more fields and try again (this widens the scope of the search).
  • Too many hits? 
    Make entries in more fields and try again (to get more precisely targeted results).

Search results

Each results page recaps your search criteria and allows you to:

  • delete criteria from your original search, or add further criteria
  • search again with new criteria.

Differences in search results display

During the transitional period when the connection technologies are being aligned, you may notice some differences (display, translation options available, etc.), depending on the country:

  • Belgium, Czechia, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal and Slovakia
    • Results are displayed differently for each country - essentially using the display and navigation options of the national database concerned.
    • Some information (‘number of pages shown’, ‘go to the next page’, etc.) is provided in the national language(s) only.


  • Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK​ (an EU country until 31.01.2020)
    • Standard display and navigation through N-Lex.
    • Translation option available for search results in these databases.
    • Multi-country search available (simultaneous search in more than 2 databases).

Automatic translation

You can use this feature to translate your search results (including titles, reference, summaries and texts) into any official EU language.
The option is currently available only for the databases listed below:

Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK (an EU country until 31.01.2020).

How to use the tool

It takes about 1 minute to translate a full page of results (the speed depends on the amount of text displayed).

If your results take up more than 1 page, you will have to repeat the translation process for each page.

Once the titles are translated, you may ask for the entire underlying document to be translated.


Multi-country search

Use this if you want to search in several countries at the same time.

It is currently available only for the following countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK (an EU country until 31.01.2020).

The search can be carried out simultaneously in 2-19 countries.

The only search criterion common to all these countries is the search by word(s) in the title/text.

Select the countries you are interested in from the left-hand menu. Then enter the word(s) in the dedicated fields, in the interface language.

Once you have entered 3 characters, the EUROVOC Thesaurus will suggest a term or terms. If the word you enter is not in the Thesaurus, automated translation will be used to translate the term you entered into the language of the database in question.

Search results are presented by country, on the same page. You can use the automatic translation tool to translate the results.


Browsing sites of non-EU countries

You can also browse the legislation websites of a large number of non-EU countries.

Click the tab 'NON-EU COUNTRIES'.

The page has been originally drafted in English. The other language versions are the result of an automatic translation.