Council Regulation (EU) No 216/2013 of 7 March 2013 on the electronic publication of the Official Journal of the European Union
Data as of 2026-07-04 · Compiled from an official source version. Later amendments or repeals may not be reflected; the official text prevails. · Read the official text ↗
1. The Official Journal shall be published in electronic form, in accordance with this Regulation, in the official languages of the institutions of the European Union. 2. Without prejudice to Article 3, only the Official Journal published in electronic form (hereinafter ‘the electronic edition of the Official Journal’) shall be authentic and shall produce legal effects.
1. The electronic edition of the Official Journal shall bear an advanced electronic signature based on a qualified certificate and created with a secure-signature-creation device, in accordance with Directive 1999/93/EC. The qualified certificate and renewals thereof shall be published on the EUR-Lex website in order to make it possible for the public to verify the advanced electronic signature and the authentic character of the electronic edition of the Official Journal. 2. The electronic edition of the Official Journal shall display information regarding its publication date. 3. The electronic edition of the Official Journal shall be made available to the public on the EUR-Lex website in a non-obsolete format and for an unlimited period. Its consultation shall be free of charge.
1. Where it is not possible to publish the electronic edition of the Official Journal due to an unforeseen and exceptional disruption of the information system of the Publications Office, the information system shall be restored as soon as possible. The moment at which such a disruption occurs shall be established by the Publications Office. 2. Where it is necessary to publish the Official Journal when the information system of the Publications Office is not operational pursuant to a disruption as referred to in paragraph 1, only the printed edition of the Official Journal shall be authentic and shall produce legal effects. Once the information system of the Publications Office is restored, the corresponding electronic version of the printed edition referred to in the first subparagraph shall be made available to the public on the EUR-Lex website for information purposes only and shall contain a notice to that effect. 3. Once the information system of the Publications Office is restored, the EUR-Lex website shall provide information on all printed editions that are authentic and that produce legal effects in accordance with the first subparagraph of paragraph 2.
1. With regard to the electronic edition of the Official Journal, the Publications Office shall be responsible for: (a) publishing it and guaranteeing its authenticity; (b) implementing, managing and maintaining the information system producing the electronic edition of the Official Journal, and upgrading that system in line with future technical developments; (c) implementing and extending the technical facilities to ensure accessibility for all users to the electronic edition of the Official Journal; (d) setting up internal security and access rules with regard to the information system producing the electronic edition of the Official Journal; (e) preserving and archiving the electronic files and handling them in line with future technological developments. 2. The Publications Office shall exercise the responsibilities set out in paragraph 1 in accordance with Decision 2009/496/EC, Euratom.
This Regulation shall enter into force on the first day of the fourth calendar month following its adoption.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.