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Joint Practical Guide of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission for persons involved in the drafting of legislation within the Community institutions

	7.	Standard structure of acts

	8.	Title

	9.	Citations

	10.	Recitals

	11.	Numbering of recitals

	12.	Normative nature

	13.	Subject matter and scope

	14.	Definitions

	15.	Standard structure of enacting terms

13. Where appropriate, an article shall be included at the beginning of the enacting terms to define the subject matter and scope of the act.

13.1. The ‘subject matter’ is what the act deals with, whilst ‘scope’ refers to the categories of situations of fact or of law and the persons to which the act applies.

13.2. A first article, defining the subject matter and scope, is common in international agreements and is also often found in Community acts. Whether or not it is useful should be determined on a case-by-case basis.

13.3. It is certainly not useful if it merely paraphrases the title. In contrast, it may provide the reader with information which was not included in the title in the interests of brevity but enables him to determine, from the outset, whether or not he is concerned by the act. For precisely that reason, care must be taken not to mislead the reader.

For example, if such an article states that the act applies ‘to vehicles having a maximum speed of 25 km/h or more’, the act in question may certainly contain some provisions which apply only, for example, to vehicles having a maximum speed of 50 km/h, since such vehicles do in any event fall within the defined scope. By contrast, there must be no provision relating to a vehicle with a maximum speed of, for example, 20 km/h, since, having read the article on scope, the manufacturer or owner of such a vehicle might not read the remainder of the enacting terms.

13.4. Sometimes the distinction between scope and definition is not clear. In the following example, the definition given also states the scope of the act:

"Article 1 — For the purposes of this Directive, ‘‘vehicle’’ means any motor vehicle intended for use on the road, with or without bodywork, having at least four wheels and a maximum design speed exceeding 25 kilometres per hour, and its trailers, with the exception of vehicles which run on rails, agricultural or forestry machinery, and public-works vehicles."

That article could just as easily read ‘Article 1 — This Directive applies to any motor vehicle intended [remainder unchanged] …’, with the sentence ending with the words ‘hereinafter ‘‘vehicle’’ ’. This solution is normally to be preferred. It makes it possible to state the scope more clearly and more directly.