Data processing of legal texts at the European Commission started way back in the 1960s, still using punch cards at the time.

A system was being developed to capture relationships between documents and analyse them to extract and re-use metadata,[1] but also to make retrieval easier.

While initially used only internally, the system went through various degrees of availability to the public, including offering content under commercial licences via private companies.

Finally, in 1997 a web version was launched and named EUR-Lex, hosted by the Publications Office of the European Union.

With the accession of new countries to the European Union and advancements in web and data-processing technologies, the system needed to be improved.

[2] "CELLAR" stores in a single place all metadata and digital content managed by the Publications Office in a harmonized and standardized way.

However, for practical reasons and on a transitional basis, the institutions of the Union have been exempted from the obligation to draft or translate all acts, including judgments of the Court of Justice, in the Irish language.

There are currently 12 sectors, each represented by a number or a letter:[10] In 1998 the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ) started being published online, on EUR-Lex.

These documents, authored by the Court of Justice of the European Union, form sector 6 and include, inter alia, judgments, orders, rulings and opinions of the Advocates General.

EUR-Lex offers also the possibility to retrieve documents by their European Legislation Identifier introduced with Council Conclusions of 10 October 2012 (2012/C 325/02).

(stored in the account) (only predefined) (custom made based on saved searches) N-Lex is a common access point to national law of each country of European Union.