Concluded and signed files

After an agreement on a legal act has been reached (at first, second or third reading) in the course of the ordinary legislative procedure and the Parliament and Council have concluded the formal adoption procedures the President of Parliament and together with a representative of the rotating Presidency of the Council of Ministers sign jointly the act, in accordance with Article 297(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Since 2003, on an initiative from the European Parliament, the President of the Parliament and the Presidency of the Council sign the "LEX texts" jointly in the margins of Parliament's plenary sessions. The purpose of the joint signing ceremony is to demonstrate that the two co-legislators, acting on an equal footing, have formally adopted the legal acts.

After their signature, the legal acts are published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ), along with any jointly agreed statement. Publication in the OJ is a condition of the applicability of the acts. Legislative acts are published in the OJ's 'L' series. Unless otherwise agreed by the co-legislators the acts enter into force on the twentieth day following their publication.

Below you find the list of legislative acts published each year since the beginning of the eighth term.