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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

12. The enacting terms of a binding act shall not include provisions of a non-normative nature, such as wishes or political declarations, or those which repeat or paraphrase passages or articles from the treaties or those which restate legal provisions already in force.

Acts shall not include provisions which enunciate the content of other articles or repeat the title of the act.

Provisions of a non-normative nature in binding acts

12.1. Legislative acts should go straight to the point. Binding acts should lay down rules, including provisions setting out the information (for example: scope, definitions) necessary to understand and apply the act correctly. Anything else is superfluous: desires, intentions and declarations do not belong in the enacting terms of a binding act. There is a contradiction between ‘desirable’ and ‘binding’.

Here is an example from a directive of a provision of a non-normative nature, which should be avoided:

‘In order to encourage the use of eco-labelled products, the Commission and other institutions of the Community, as well as other public authorities at national level should, without prejudice to Community law, set an example when specifying their requirements for products.’

This provision clearly expresses a desire which imposes no obligation on its addressees. It therefore belongs not in a binding act but in a communication or recommendation, to accompany the act in question.

Provisions which reproduce or paraphrase passages or articles of the Treaties or other acts

12.2. This is a pointless and dangerous practice. Let us take the example of an act based on Article 40 of the EC Treaty, which is duly referred to in the citations. It is pointless to draft a paragraph which repeats Article 39(1), according to which ‘Freedom of movement for workers shall be secured within the Community’. The author must indicate how he intends to implement that provision, and not repeat it. Furthermore, such repetition is dangerous, since any departure from the original wording may give the impression that a different result was intended, and even give rise to a sort of presumption to that effect.

Provisions which merely enunciate the content of other articles

12.3. Such provisions are commonly worded as follows:

"With a view to establishing that system, the Council shall adopt the measures provided for in Articles 3, 4 and 5."

They add nothing to the legislative text, since the articles in question themselves contain all the necessary information concerning their implementation. Furthermore, such a structure creates confusion as to the true legal basis for a future implementing measure: is it the article containing the reference, or the article to which reference is made?

Provisions which repeat the title of the act

12.4. Even when it is not possible to avoid using words forming part of the title of the act (for example, in the article which defines the subject matter and scope of the act), there must be some added value, with a more detailed definition of the parameters of the text. Otherwise, such provisions have no normative content and may, moreover, create confusion as to the rights and obligations established by the act.