The volume under review is a comprehensive collection of EU legislation covering the Treaties as well as other areas of EU competence. In these kinds of works, the selection of legislation is, needless to say, inevitable and therefore there may be a risk of disappointment for some readers more interested in some areas and not in other ones. Overall, Giuseppe Tesauro, former and highly respected Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the EU and now Judge sitting in the Italian Constitutional Court, offers a good selection of the most relevant legislation in the core areas of EU action especially useful, as he explains in the foreword, for practitioners, judges and public officials. Some important areas (notably, agriculture and environmental law) are missing in the collection but the author clearly states his preferences (competition, public procurement, services, citizenship and rules of procedure before the Court of Justice of the EU). 

In addition to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the collection includes the text of the Treaties (EU and TFEU) and of the protocols, annexes and declarations, as well as the Euratom Treaty. Among relevant secondary legislation, it should be mentioned that it includes: a wide coverage of the legislation governing the EU institutions, with particular attention to legislation and documents concerning the procedural rules of the EU judicature; public procurement; a large amount of legislation concerning competition law (including State aid rules); cooperation on civil matters; economy and the financial sector. Other areas such as intellectual property, agriculture, environmental law and consumer protection are not covered. 

Although the handbook reaches 1665 pages, the small size of the volume makes it an extremely portable and useful tool for the practising lawyer who requires to have at hand a manageable collection of the most popular and necessary EU legislation. In my view, it will also prove to be useful for students who need a good, yet affordable, collection of legislative texts for their university EU law courses. 

Riccardo Sciaudone

Editor-in-chief