SEMDOC
About SEMDOC
The Statewatch European Monitoring and Documentation CentreSEMDOC was launched at the London offices of the European Parliament in 1997 to encourage critical research and investigative reporting on justice and home affairs issues. The original SEMDOC website was created in 2000.
Statewatch's work on openness, access to EU documents, civil liberties and democratic standards is supported by 40 individuals and 32 organisations across Europe: supporters
Statewatch is a research and education trust operated by a registered charity that does not profit commercially in any way from SEMDOC or its online services. More information about Statewatch.
The SEMDOC archives
SEMDOC holds over 6,000 hard-copy EU documents on justice and home affairs (JHA) dating back to the ad hoc cooperation period of the mid-1970s. This collection represents a unique historical record of the development of the 'Third Pillar' (the EU institutions provide little JHA documentation prior to 2000).
All of the documents in the SEMDOC archives have been keyworded. The SEMDOC archives cover:
- the pre-Maastricht intergovernmental cooperation on JHA matters (the TREVI Framework etc.)
- all measures and decisions adopted since November 1993 (the JHA 'acquis') and their implementation
- agendas and policy documents from the EU Council of JHA ministers and JHA working groups
- the Schengen acquis, the Schengen Executive Committee and Schengen working groups
- JHA proposals and documents from the European Commission
- European Parliamentary debates, resolutions, questions and reports on JHA issues
- European Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights: judgments, press releases, bulletins and reports
The archive can be searched online: search bibliographic records
For more information about access to and use of the SEMDOC archive: contact us
Awards for Statewatch/SEMDOC
In 1998 the Campaign for Freedom of Information gave Statewatch an Award for its work on fighting for EU openness (access to documents).
In 2001 The European Information Association gave Statewatch the "Chadwyck-Healey Award for achievement in European Information" for its work on openness and the new code of access to EU documents.
The SEMDOC website is hosted by:
SEMDOC Legislative observatory prepared for Statewatch by Professor Steve Peers (Human Rights Centre, University of Essex). Website published and maintained by Statewatch. Designed and built by ZeroAD.co.uk. Statewatch is not responsible for the content of external websites and inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement. © Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X. Personal usage as private individuals/"fair dealing" is allowed. We also welcome links to material on our site. Usage by those working for organisations is allowed only if the organisation holds an appropriate licence from the relevant reprographic rights organisation (eg: Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK) with such usage being subject to the terms and conditions of that licence and to local copyright law.