Publication

The Acquis Communautaire is the accumulated body of EU law and obligations from 1958 to the present day. It comprises all the EU's treaties and laws, declarations and resolutions, international agreements and the judgments of the Court of Justice. It also includes action that EU governments take together in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice and under the Common Foreign and Security Policy. New EU Member States must accept all the existing acquis - some elements of it during a transitional period - and put in place mechanisms to adopt future elements of the acquis. The Court of Justice has ruled that the EU acquis takes precedence over national law if there is a conflict, and that the acquis may have direct effect in the Member States.