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In 2006 several feedback sessions with LexisNexis UK customers, namely magic circle law firms, made it obvious that our customers needed better information on EU legislation than the back then market had to offer. Especially the implementation of Directives turned out to be an area where it was difficult if not impossible to retrieve reliable information in a convenient and timely manner.

EUR-Lex was the main source of information on Directive’s implementation in the Member States. Besides this standardized database, the EU or more specifically different Directorates offer own information platforms on the transposition of key Directives from their practice area. But only few initiatives are monitored more closely and frequent updates are provided. However, even these examples show that there might be a considerable delay and the provided information is quite often rather general than detailed and most of the time focuses on certain Practice Areas.¹

Comparable services can be found on websites of universities in different countries and languages, however mostly with a focus on the transposition in a single Member State.²

All these services however have in common several shortcomings and leaving a lack of information still to be acquired in individual research.

Although EUR-Lex, comprehensive in the coverage of Directives and Member States’ languages, does even provide national implementation measures there still remained a problem. It became obvious that it was generally possible to retrieve information on national implementing legislation, however the information was scattered, published with delay and most of all it lacked a reliable quality check.

The information provided by the EU’s Publication Office results from a data feed stemming form the DG’s database to which all Member State’s transposition information is submitted. This data feed submitted to EUR-Lex is not validated against the Member States. Also, where a Member State has not or not yet reported national transposition legislation and in cases where a Member State does not consider national implementation necessary, no further information is provided as to the reason.

Even if the information is accurate and published without delay it only shows the picture after the Directive’s implementation is completed. No information is given about the state of play between the publication of a Directive in the EU’s Official Journal and the reporting of national implementation by the Member States.

From the perspective of LexisNexis’ clients this left a time window of sometimes over two years without access to instant, up-to-date and reliable information about the status of implementation. This period however is a vital time with regards to the consultation of clients and identifying business development opportunities. Thus, a reliable source of information was needed to close the gap.

In reaction to this situation and customer feedback LexisNexis Butterworth (UK) decided to create EU Tracker and one year later the EU Tax Cases Tracker.³

EU Tracker is the first Pan-European editorial product which gives comprehensive, reliable and up-to-date information on the transposition of important Directives in the key Member States. The information is provided by in-house legal experts from LexisNexis business units in the UK, France, Germany and Poland.

Launched in November 2007 it started with information on 40 Directives in 16 countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom).

In 2008 the editorial team commenced adding the content for four more countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia) and by May of 2009 tracks the implementation of more than 70 Directives in now 20 Member States.

Since the time of the launch EU Tracker has been constantly improved and further functionality had been added.

From the EU Tracker homepage the user can search for EU legislation by nickname, number, title or via a pre-selection based on Practice Areas. At the same time numerous national LexisNexis sources can be accessed via a bookshelf. Users in France, Germany and Austria using the national application will see local sources from their LexisNexis business unit. Also, the site contains a link to the EU Tracker Community Site (see below).

The search retrieves documents from the LexisNexis database including Directives, Regulations, Decisions, Recommendations and Preparatory Acts (COM documents etc.). In case of a search by number all documents with a corresponding celex number are listed.

From this results list, which can be further filtered by date, Practice Area or type of document, the user can either open single documents in full text or, if looking for a tracked Directive, proceed to the implementation information.

For all tracked Directives EU Tracker provides a comprehensive list of all Member States covered, with an easy to read traffic light system signaling the status of implementation in each country. All published implementing measures are listed with links to the full text from either the LexisNexis database or official (e.g. ministerial, governmental or parliamentary) websites. This page also offers further functionality such as setting a bookmark, prescribing for alert mails on developments of the implementation and a report builder, which allows to produce PDF or Word reports with information on selected Member States.

For each Member State EU Tracker provides a comprehensive and constantly updated summary of the current transposition situation. These summaries are divided into three parts. A ‘General Summary’ about the Directive’s regime, a ’National Summary’ about the state of play in the individual Member State and a ‘Developments Section’ which, in chronological order, lists all steps to implementation, from first drafts to final publication in the official journals or national gazettes.

EU Tax Cases Tracker is build on the same home page as the EU Tracker product allowing customers who subscribed to both products to simply switch from one to the other by choosing a tab. In addition, the Tax Cases Tracker application follows the same design as EU Tracker.

Access is provided via Practice areas and a Court Diary to alert users to forthcoming decisions. In addition, a Quick Find facility is available where a specific case name, key word or case number could be entered for quick retrieval.

The page provides links to the full text & digest of both the judgment & opinions along with case history, impact on Member States and links to related documents concerned with the case. All Inside Tracks are provided by a board of editors consisting of tax law experts from various Member States.

The EU Tracker team will constantly add new Directives to the product. At the same time our customers’ need for information on further Member States is currently evaluated.

With regards to Tax Cases Tracker, new members will be added to the editorial board. Also new practice area modules (e.g. Employment Law, Intellectual Property) for the Case Tracker are discussed based on customer validation.

Timo Völker, LexisNexis Deutschland GmbH, Feldstiege 100, 48163 Münster, Germany
Phone: 0049 2533 9300 249, timo.voelker@lexisnexis.de