HTML4EU

Towards smarter, more accessible legal publications

The Publications Office of the European Union (OP) has initiated HTML4EU, to further modernise the way EU legal documents are published and made available online. HTML4EU establishes a common, standardised HTML format for EU legal and related documents published on EUR-Lex.

This initiative complements AKN4EU, the new interinstitutional exchange format for legal documents. Building on AKN4EU as a source format, OP is developing a common approach for representing legal documents in RDFa-enriched HTML. This combines the native capabilities of HTML for publishing content on the web with linked-data semantics, making EU legal information more accessible, reusable, interoperable and consistent.

Fitting the pieces together - How HTML4EU relates to other specifications and requirements for publishing EU legal information.

The objective goes beyond modernising the presentation of legal information. HTML4EU provides a common foundation for publishing content that can be maintained, exchanged and reused more effectively, while remaining aligned with key standards and references such as the Interinstitutional Style Guide (ISG), the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), and the European Legislation Identifier (ELI).

Ultimately, HTML4EU will make EU legal content easier to read, navigate, process and reuse for citizens, legal professionals, public administrations and developers alike.

By bringing together AKN4EU, HTML, RDFa and ELI semantics, the Publications Office is establishing a more open, interoperable, accessible and future-proof foundation for publishing EU law on the web.