European Union: a guide to tracing working documents

Abstract

In legal research, particularly in international and comparative law, it is often necessary to trace working documents, or “travaux préparatoires,” in order to get a clear view of how negotiations have affected the original draft of a document.This article aims to clarify some of the distinctions between different categories of working documents and provides details of some of the databases and collections which are essential for research into the workings of the European Union.