All forms that begin ‘Dear’ are less formal than those that begin ‘Sir/Madam’, ‘Excellency’, etc. Close ‘Yours sincerely’ if you are addressing a specific person, whether by name or by position. Letters to Ambassadors and permanent representatives Envelop His/Her Excellency … Read More
TRANSLITERATION TABLE FOR GREEK NAME >>> LETTER >>> UN 1987 (ELOT 743) >>> VARIANTS alpha >>> Α >>> α >>> a beta >>> Β >>> β >>> v gamma >>> Γ >>> γ >>> g + gamma >>> >>> γγ … Read More
OFFICIAL LANGUAGES AND CURRENCIES OFFICIAL LANGUAGES Official/working/procedural languages. The relevant regulations do not distinguish between official and working languages. Internally, however, the Commission works in three languages — English, French and German — unofficially referred to as the ‘procedural languages’. … Read More
When translating a document that lists the Member States in alphabetical order, rearrange the list into English alphabetical order. If the Member States are listed in protocol order, do not change the order. The list of Member States in protocol … Read More
Own resources. The European Union and its institutions are essentially funded from own resources, i.e. revenue that the EU receives as of right. These fall into three categories: traditional own resources (customs duties, agricultural duties and sugar levies), a VAT-based … Read More
THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL General. The full name of the Official Journal is Official Journal of the European Union and its official abbreviation in references is ‘OJ’. It is published in three series, ‘L’, ‘C’ and ‘S’, each serving different purposes. … Read More
COMMISSION Title. The European Commission (before the Treaty of Lisbon, Commission of the European Communities) is governed by Articles 244 to 250 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Where the context is clear, it may also … Read More
The various legal acts adopted under the Treaties form the European Union’s ‘secondary legislation’. As specified in Article 288 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, they comprise chiefly: Regulations Directives Decisions Regulations and decisions are directly … Read More
THE EUROPEAN UNION The European Union — EU. In geographical terms, the European Union comprises the combined territories of its Member States. Since the Treaty of Lisbon (see 15.15), it now has legal personality in its own right and absorbs … Read More
CORRESPONDENCE Translating incoming letters. If a letter is in an editable electronic format, simply overtype the original, though you need not translate irrelevant detail. However, if the letter cannot be overtyped, use a simple layout such as follows: Letter from: … Read More
LISTS Use automatic numbering wherever possible, since it is much easier to amend a list if the numbers are automatically adjusted. For the list items themselves, take care that each is a grammatically correct continuation of the introduction to the … Read More
ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS Biannual/biennial. ‘Biannual’ means twice a year and ‘biennial’ means every two years, but the terms are often confused. If the meaning is not clear from the context, use alternatives such as ‘twice-yearly’ or ‘two-yearly’ or clarify what … Read More
