Bulletin and general report

15.12

Bulletin. References to Bulletin take the form:

Bull. 9-1980, point 1.3.4

Supplement 5/79 — Bull.

15.13

General Report. References to the General Report take the form:

Twenty-third General Report, point 383; 1994 General Report, point 12

Point 104 of this Report

1990 Annexed Memorandum, point 38

The form “Twenty-seventh (or XXVIIth) General Report” was used up to and including 1993. As from 1994, the title on the cover is “General Report 1994” and the reference style “1994 General Report”. The above forms of reference are standard for footnotes in official publications, but in less formal contexts it is quite acceptable (and clearer) to refer to e.g. “the 1990 General Report”.

15.14

Part-numbering conventions. Note that Première (Deuxième, Troisième) partie are rendered Part One (Two, Three), not Part I or Part 1.

16.

THE COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS

16.1

Title. The Commission of the European Communities (full title) owes its present form to the Treaty establishing a Single Council and a Single Commission of the European Communities of 1965 (also known as the Merger Treaty), as amended by the 1972, 1979 and 1985 Acts of Accession.

It is commonly referred to as the European Commission or the Commission. Either of these forms is preferable to the abbreviation CEC (FR: CCE).

16.2

Secretariat-General. The Commission has a Secretariat-General (FR: Sécrétariat-général), whereas the Council has a General Secretariat (see 16.11).

For rules of procedure, see OJ L 230, 11.9.1993 (amended OJ L 97, 29.4.1995).

16.3

Titles of Members. The word Commissioner and its equivalents in other European languages tend to be avoided in legal texts but are often acceptable in other contexts. The term is frequently used in less formal, journalistic-type texts, such as press releases and especially in headlines (where the more formal designations sound stilted). Mr Z, Commission Member, can also be used in less formal texts. The established forms are:

Mr X, President of the Commission, ...

Ms Y, Vice-President, ...

Mr Z, Member of the Commission with special responsibility for ...

Ms Z (Member of the Commission)

Usually Mr Z on its own is sufficient in English. Do not write Vice-President Y, Member of the Commission Z.

16.4

Cabinets. Each Commissioner has a private office or 'cabinet', headed by a Head of Cabinet. While 'cabinet' is now the official in-house term (and hence not to be regarded as a foreign word picked out in italics — see 7.1), bear in mind that private office will be a more familiar expression for the general public.

16.5

Commission meetings. The Members of the Commission have a meeting (réunion) every Wednesday, sometimes divided into sittings (séances). The Commission presents (or transmits or sends) proposals to the Council.

16.6

Names of Commission departments. The Commission's departments, Directorates-General or DGs for short, now no longer have numbers but just names. For example, what used to be known as DGV is now officially Employment and Social Affairs DG, with DG coming last. At the time of writing, however, the actual forms used by the DGs themselves are rather fluid. It is therefore possible that different forms will eventually prevail.

Of course, if you cannot expect your reader to know what a DG is, you should write out the name in full, at least to begin with: the Directorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs.

Note also that the new acronyms, e.g. EMPL or EMPL DG, are for the Commission's internal use only and should not be used in texts destined for the outside world.

16.7

The Commission. The term “the Commission” may refer either to the Members of the Commission, as the body ultimately responsible for Commission decisions, or to the Commission staff or departments (les services de la Commission — do not translate as the services of the Commission). Normally the context will show which meaning is intended, but sometimes a distinction must be made.

16.8

Other commissions. Guard against confusion with the UN Economic Commission for Europe (EN: ECE, FR: CEE) based in Geneva and the European Commission of Human Rights based in Strasbourg.

16.9

Lawyer revisers. The Legal Service's team of lawyer revisers is responsible for ensuring that the terminology of legal texts is correct in each of the Community languages and thus for the conformity of the Commission's official instruments across the languages.

16.10

Statistical Office. The Statistical Office of the European Communities is attached to the Commission. It should normally be abbreviated as Eurostat (which is interlingual) rather than as SOEC.

16.11

Official Publications Office. The Official Publications Office is attached to the Commission. Its full name is Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.