This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website
Webservice
EUR-Lex webservice is a way for registered users to query EUR-Lex directly, without having to make a search on the website.
They offer query options similar to the ones you find in the expert search, and deliver the data in XML format. Any search made on the website can also be done via the webservice, including full text search. This web service is based on the SOAP protocol and is freely available after registration.
Although the webservice allows you to search within the text of the documents themselves, it cannot be used to directly download the document files.
You can download these based on their identifier, either via the Cellar RESTful API or by creating a URL as described in our guidelines for stable links.
If you need a simpler way to stay up to date, you can use RSS feeds – predefined or customised.
Registration
How to register for a webservice:
- Click Webservice registration.
- Click Register if you do not have an EU Login account.
- Once you have created an account, click Sign in. Read more on how to register on EUR-Lex.
- Click Register and fill out the registration form (see table below).
- Click Save to send us the form.
- If your form checks out, we will send you an e-mail specifying your access rights.
Information to put in the form
| Used data | Data you want to get from the webservice, for further use |
| Final use of data | What you intend to do with the data |
| Maximum number of calls per day | Maximum number of calls per day |
| Comments | Additional comments |
| User name | Your user name (prefilled - in "read-only" mode) |
| Last name | Your last name |
| First name | Your first name |
| Your e-mail address | |
| Name | Name of your organisation |
| Country | Country where your organisation is located |
| I accept to respect the conditions of use of EUR-Lex established in the legal notice | Your acceptance of the terms of use for webservices |
Using the webservice
You can use your webservice as soon as we send you the email granting you access:
- Click Webservice registration.
- The information you will see includes a link to the WSDL for the webservice - you will need to provide the URL for the WSDL to the application you are using to query EUR Lex.
- Call the webservice, using the username and password we emailed to you. You need to specify:
- your query, written as an expert query. It can contain a SELECT clause, to choose the metadata to be displayed, and an ORDER BY clause, to define the sorting order. You can also use the webservice template.
- the language
- the page number
- the number of results per page
- The results list will contain the metadata you selected, for each document. If you did not select any metadata here, the display profile defined in your search preferences is used.
Get the webservice template
Once your access to the webservice has been approved, you can get a special XML template to use for every query you make:
- Sign in and run a search (quick, advanced or expert).
- Click the webservices template icon at the top of the search results.
- A new window will open with the query written in a structured way and instructions on how to use it in your webservice call.
You can copy this template and use it for all subsequent webservice calls.
Change your webservice limits
The maximum daily number of calls to the webservice is limited. To change these limits, go to the webservices page and click the link to change the limits.
We will inform you by email about your new limits (if any).
Unsubscribe
To unsubscribe from webservices, go to the webservices page and click the link to unsubscribe.
Give your reasons for doing so, and then click Unsubscribe.
Your webservice access will be cancelled and your password deactivated.
Additional information about webservices (in English only)
If you have questions, please contact EURLEX-HELPDESK@publications.europa.eu