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You can use the quick search to perform a general search, using free text like a word, phrase or number.

It searches only in the language selected for the website’s interface and looks for results in a wide range of fields: title, text of documents, identifier, related information, etc.

The quick search is available at the top of any EUR-Lex page.

It generally returns a high number of results. There are different ways to narrow your search results to find exactly what you want. You can use:

Wildcards
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  Example: transport* will find transportation, transporting, etc.
  
  This also works for document numbers
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  Example: ca?e finds case, cane, care.
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The advanced search narrows the search to titles and/or texts and to other criteria.
For tips on how to use the quick search, watch our tutorial (available only in English).

Field	Description
Title	Title of the document as published in the Official Journal, in the European Court Reports or as it appears in the original document. Example: Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the indication by labelling and standard product information of the consumption of energy and other resources by energy-related products (Text with EEA relevance).
Text	Full text of the document as published in the Official Journal, in the European Court Reports or as it appears in the original document.
CELEX number	The CELEX identifier is both a unique document identifier and a classification code, regardless of language. Used as the basis for cross-referencing documents in the database. Example: 32014R1338
Directories of legislation and case-law	The directories of EU law are numerical classification tools that offer access to EU law by subject. All directories have the same structure: 20 chapters with divisions into further sub-sections as necessary. Each chapter covers a specific area of EU activity. Each descriptor is composed of 8 digits corresponding to the principal chapter heading and up to 3 subsequent subdivisions, each represented by 2 digits. Documents may be indexed with up to 3 directory codes. There is a specific directory classification for EU case-law. Directory codes are also used for special editions of the Official Journal of the European Union to indicate the chapter number. Example: 04.10.30.00 Fisheries/Common fisheries policy/Conservation of resources
Subject matter	Subject matter is a classification tool containing an alphabetically structured list of over 200 keywords. It is based on the subdivisions of the Treaties and on the areas of activity of the institutions. The descriptors are less specific than those used in the directory code, but provide a general overview of the content of the document. One document can be indexed by up to 3 subject-matter descriptors. Examples: Trans-European networks; Competition; Telecommunications
Author	Name of the institution, body or country that produced the act. Example: European Parliament
EuroVoc descriptors	EuroVoc is a multilingual and multidisciplinary thesaurus that covers the EU fields of activity. It contains keywords, divided into 21 domains and 127 sub-domains, which are used to describe the content of documents in EUR-Lex. It is used as an indexing tool for the EUR-Lex documentary collection. Examples: astronomy; tropical plant; sugar
Title of the proposal of legislative procedures	Title of the proposal launching the legislative procedure. Example: COM(2015)341: Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council setting a framework for energy efficiency labelling and repealing Directive 2010/30/EU
Interinstitutional procedure code of legislative procedures	The procedure is identified by a code and an interinstitutional number. Read more about procedures. Example: 2016/0351/COD (where 2016 is the year when the procedure was launched, 0351 is its interinstitutional number and COD is the code used for ordinary legislative procedures)
Alternative title for EU case-law (containing names of parties — NOM_USUEL)	Any alternative title(s) that a document might have. For documents provided by the European Court of Justice, names of parties appear in this field. Example: Chemical GmbH/Commission
Natural number for secondary legislation	Number present in the title of the legal act (Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 of the European Parliament and of the Council). Example: 2017/1001
Name of advocate general for EU case-law	Name of the Advocate General who delivered the opinion on the court case (EU case-law). Examples: Jacobs; Tizzano
Document type	Descriptor for the type of document. Examples: R for Regulation, L for Directive, D for Decision,…
ECLI	The European case-law identifier is a 5-part identifier for a legal document, designed to make European case-law databases more usable. It has the following format: the identifier consists of five components, in the following order and each separated by a colon. Abbreviation ‘ECLI’. Country code (2 characters). Court code (1-7 characters). Year of the decision (4 digits). Unique identifying number (max. 25 characters, dots allowed). Example: ECLI:EU:C:1998:27 identifies the 27th decision by the Court of Justice in 1998.
Rapporteur for EU case-law	Name of the Judge-Rapporteur for the case. Examples: Cooke; Makarczyk