European Case Law Identifier (ECLI) search engine

European Case Law Identifier (ECLI) search service

1. Overview

The ECLI search interface is a service provided to the general public by the European Commission in collaboration with the participating case law providers. The Commission has made this service available to facilitate access to justice in a cross-border context by allowing EU citizens and legal practitioners to easily locate case law featuring an ECLI identifier, pursuant to the Council conclusions inviting the introduction of the European Case Law Identifier (ECLI) and a minimum set of uniform metadata for case law.

2. Terms and Conditions

By using this service you agree to be bound by the terms and the privacy disclaimer applicable to the European e-Justice Portal. You may consult them here.

3. Use of cookies

The European e-Justice Portal's use of cookies is explained here.

4. FAQ

Question: Where does the data come from?
Answer: Case law featuring the ECLI identifier is provided either by the participating courts and tribunals directly, or by other publishing organisations and bodies, as indicated within the system.

Question: Why is the service limited to particular countries and/or courts/organisations?
Answer: For the time being not all EU Member States have introduced the ECLI standard at national level. Furthermore, the availability of ECLI case law requires a technical interconnection with the ECLI search interface on the European e-Justice Portal. We are working on a continuous basis to extend the scope of the service in terms of coverage.

Question: Does the search take place in real-time?
Answer: Yes, the search takes place in real-time. However, case law decisions are indexed at regular intervals (typically daily) and hence the system may not always provide up-to-date results on the latest case law decisions, even if they have been already published by the issuing organisation.

Question: I am experiencing a technical difficulty/the service is not available, can you please fix it?
Answer: We cannot ensure the 24/7 availability of the service. Should you experience systematic service unavailability or another technical issue you may notify us and the Commission will do its best to rectify the problem as soon as possible.

Question: I am a public/private organisation publishing case law decisions and would like to provide data to the ECLI search interface on the European e-Justice Portal, would this be possible?
Answer: Yes, it may be possible. Please contact us and we shall inform you on the organisational and technical procedures.

Question: Is there a web service available which would allow me to search for ECLI decisions in an automated fashion?
Answer: The SOAP-based web service is being updated and is currently not available. Please check back regularly on this page for updates.

Question: I have another question, or have ideas on how the service could be improved, whom can I contact?
Answer:Please see below.

5. Contact information

The European e-Justice Portal and the ECLI search service are managed by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers.

For inquiries concerning this service, to report a technical problem or to provide suggestions, you may contact us via e-mail at: JUST-E-JUSTICE@ec.europa.eu

Last update: 09/07/2021

This page is maintained by the European Commission. The information on this page does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission. The Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to any information or data contained or referred to in this document. Please refer to the legal notice with regard to copyright rules for European pages.