{{Short description|EU's accumulated law and legal precedent}} {{Use British English|date=October 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}} {{More citations needed|date=August 2008}} {{Politics of the European Union}} {{Italic title}} The '''Community acquis'''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-11 |title=EuroVoc: Community acquis |url=https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/concept/-/resource?uri=http://eurovoc.europa.eu/5411 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240718121506/https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/concept/-/resource?uri=http://eurovoc.europa.eu/5411 |archive-date=2024-07-18 |access-date=2024-07-18 |website=Eurovoc.europa.eu}}</ref> or '''''acquis communautaire''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|k|iː|_|k|ə|ˈ|m|juː|n|ə|t|ɛər}}; {{IPA|fr|aˌki kɔmynoˈtɛːʁ|lang}}),<ref name="Collins">{{cite web |title=acquis communautaire |website=Collinsdictionary.com |author=Collins English Dictionary |url=http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/acquis-communautaire |access-date=5 August 2012}}</ref> sometimes called the '''EU acquis''', and often shortened to '''acquis''',<ref name="Collins"/> is the accumulated legislation, legal acts and court decisions that constitute the body of [[European Union law]]. The term is French, "acquis" meaning "that which has been acquired or obtained", and “communautaire” meaning "of the community".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rudolf|first1=Uwe Jens|last2=Berg|first2=Warren G.|date=2010|title=Historical Dictionary of Malta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nwuUOVkaMB0C&pg=PA22|page=22|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810873902}}</ref>
==Chapters== During the process of the [[enlargement of the European Union]], the acquis was divided into 31 chapters for the purpose of negotiation between the EU and the candidate states for membership for the fifth enlargement (the ten that joined in 2004 plus [[Romania]] and [[Bulgaria]] which joined in 2007).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-06-06 |title=Chapters of the acquis - European Commission |url=https://neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu/enlargement-policy/conditions-membership/chapters-acquis_en |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu |language=en}}</ref> These chapters were:
{{div col begin}} #[[Free movement of goods]] #[[Free movement of persons]] #[[Freedom to provide services]] #[[Free movement of capital]] #[[Company law]] #[[European Union competition law|Competition policy]] #Agriculture #[[Fishery|Fisheries]] #Transport policy #Taxation #[[Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union|Economic and Monetary Union]] #Statistics #Social policy and employment #[[Energy policy of the European Union|Energy]] #[[Industrial policy]] #Small and medium-sized enterprises #Science and research #Education and training #Telecommunication and information technologies #Culture and audio-visual policy #[[Regional policy]] and co-ordination of structural instruments #Environment #Consumers and health protection #Cooperation in the field of [[Justice and Home Affairs]] #[[Customs union]] #External relations #[[Common Foreign and Security Policy]] (CFSP) #Financial control #Financial and budgetary provisions #Institutions #Others {{div col end}}
Beginning with the negotiations with [[Croatia]] (which joined in 2013), the acquis is split up into 35 chapters instead, with the purpose of better balancing between the chapters:{{cn|date=June 2022}} (dividing the most difficult ones into separate chapters for easier negotiation, uniting some easier chapters, moving some policies between chapters, as well as renaming a few of them in the process)
{{div col begin}} #Free movement of goods #[[Freedom of movement for workers]] #Right of establishment and freedom to provide services #Free movement of capital #Public procurement #Company law #[[:Category:Intellectual property law of the European Union|Intellectual property law]] #Competition policy #Financial services #[[Information society]] and media #Agriculture and rural development #Food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy #Fisheries #Transport policy #Energy #Taxation #Economic and monetary policy #Statistics #Social policy and employment <small>(including anti-discrimination and equal opportunities for women and men)</small> #Enterprise and industrial policy #[[Trans-European networks]] #Regional policy and co-ordination of structural instruments #Judiciary and fundamental rights #Justice, freedom and security #Science and research #Education and culture #Environment #Consumer and health protection #Customs union #External relations #Foreign, security and defence policy #Financial control #Financial and budgetary provisions #Institutions #Other issues {{div col end}}
Correspondence between chapters of the 5th and the 6th Enlargement:{{cn|date=June 2022}}
{| class="wikitable" |----- ! 5th Enlargement ! 6th Enlargement |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | rowspan="2" valign="middle" | 1. Free movement of goods | 1. Free movement of goods |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | 7. Intellectual property law |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | rowspan="2" valign="middle" | 2. Free movement of persons | 2. Freedom of movement for workers |----- | rowspan="2" | 3. Right of establishment and freedom to provide services |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | rowspan="2" valign="middle" | 3. Freedom to provide services |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | 9. Financial services |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 4. Free movement of capital | 4. Free movement of capital |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 5. Company law | 6. Company law |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | rowspan="2" valign="middle" | 6. Competition policy | 8. Competition policy |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | 5. Public procurement |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | rowspan="2" valign="middle" | 7. Agriculture | 11. Agriculture and rural development |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | 12. Food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 8. Fisheries | 13. Fisheries |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | rowspan="2" valign="middle" | 9. Transport policy | 14. Transport policy |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | 21. Trans-European networks '''(one half of it)''' |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 10. Taxation | 16. Taxation |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 11. Economic and Monetary Union | 17. Economic and monetary policy |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 12. Statistics | 18. Statistics |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 13. Social policy and employment | 19. Social policy and employment<br><small>(including anti-discrimination and equal opportunities for women and men)</small> |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | rowspan="2" valign="middle" | 14. Energy | 15. Energy |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | 21. Trans-European networks '''(one half of it)''' |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 15. Industrial policy | rowspan="2" valign="middle" | 20. Enterprise and industrial policy |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | 16. Small and medium-sized enterprises |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 17. Science and research | 25. Science and research |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 18. Education and training | rowspan="3" valign="middle" | 26. Education and culture<br>10. Information society and media |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | 19. Telecommunication and information technologies |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | 20. Culture and audio-visual policy |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 21. Regional policy and co-ordination of structural instruments | 22. Regional policy and co-ordination of structural instruments |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 22. Environment | 27. Environment |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 23. Consumer and health protection | 28. Consumer and health protection |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | rowspan="2" valign="middle" | 24. Cooperation in the field of Justice and Home Affairs | 23. Judiciary and fundamental rights |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | 24. Justice, freedom and security |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 25. Customs union | 29. Customs union |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 26. External relations | 30. External relations |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 27. Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) | 31. Foreign, security and defence policy |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 28. Financial control | 32. Financial control |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 29. Financial and budgetary provisions | 33. Financial and budgetary provisions |----- bgcolor="#efefff" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 30. Institutions | 34. Institutions |----- bgcolor="#efefef" | rowspan="1" valign="top" | 31. Others | 35. Other issues |}
Such negotiations usually involved agreeing transitional periods before new member states needed to implement the laws of the European Union fully and before they and their citizens acquired full rights under the ''acquis''.
==Terminology== The term ''acquis'' is also used to describe laws adopted under the [[Schengen Agreement]], prior to its integration into the European Union legal order by the [[Treaty of Amsterdam]], in which case one speaks of the ''Schengen acquis''.<ref name="Collins" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Acquis - EUR-Lex |url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=legissum:acquis |access-date=2025-06-12 |website=eur-lex.europa.eu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-31 |title=Acquis Communautaire / Community Acquis – westernbalkans-infohub.eu |url=https://westernbalkans-infohub.eu/glossary/acquis/ |access-date=2025-06-12 |language=en-US}}</ref> In relation to consumer law and consumer protection, the phrase "consumer ''acquis''" is also used.<ref>Jansen, N. and Zimmermann, R. (2018), [https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9780192508003_A35506234/preview-9780192508003_A35506234.pdf Commentaries on European Contract Laws], ''Preface'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, accessed on 8 August 2025</ref>
The term ''acquis'' has been borrowed by the [[World Trade Organization]] Appellate Body, in the case ''Japan – Taxes on Alcoholic Beverages'', to refer to the accumulation of [[General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade]] (GATT) and WTO law ("''acquis gattien''"), though this usage is not well established.{{Citation needed|date=December 2020}}
It has been used to describe the achievements of the [[Council of Europe]] (an international organisation unconnected with the European Union):<ref>Section 12, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Resolution 1290</ref> {{Blockquote|The Council of Europe's ''acquis'' in standard setting activities in the fields of democracy, the [[rule of law]] and fundamental human rights and freedoms should be considered as milestones towards the European political project, and the [[European Court of Human Rights]] should be recognised as the pre-eminent judicial pillar of any future architecture.}}
It has also been applied to the body of "principles, norms and commitments" of the [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]] (OSCE):<ref>[http://www.osce.org/documents/sg/2004/06/3241_en.pdf Intervention by Ambassador Aleksi Härkönen, Permanent Representative of Finland to the OSCE] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051016085140/http://www.osce.org/documents/sg/2004/06/3241_en.pdf |date=16 October 2005 }}, Annual Security Review Conference.</ref> {{Blockquote|Another question under debate has been how the Partners and others could implement the OSCE acquis, in other words its principles, norms, and commitments on a voluntary basis.}}
The [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] (OECD) introduced the concept of the OECD Acquis in its "Strategy for enlargement and outreach", May 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oecd.org/global-relations/globalrelationsstrategy/37434513.pdf#page=44 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.oecd.org/global-relations/globalrelationsstrategy/37434513.pdf#page=44 |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=ANNEX 1: THE CONCEPT OF THE OECD "ACQUIS": A NOTE BY THE DIRECTORATE FOR LEGAL AFFAIRS|page=44|website=Oecd.org|access-date=21 January 2022}}</ref>
==See also== * ''[[Official Journal of the European Union]]'' * [[Primacy of European Union law]] * [[Subsidiarity (European Union)|Subsidiarity]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Wiktionary|acquis communautaire|acquis}} *[http://eur-lex.europa.eu EUR-Lex]: European Union Law. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060619034515/http://langtech.jrc.it/JRC-Acquis.html JRC-Acquis], Aligned multilingual parallel corpus: 23,000 Acquis-related texts per language, available in 22 languages. Total size: 1 Billion words. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080520232845/http://langtech.jrc.it/DGT-TM.html Translation Memory of the EU-Acquis]: Up to 1 Million translation units each, for 231 language pairs.
{{Legislation of the European Union}} {{European Union topics}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:European Union constitutional law]]