Acquis communautaire

The Community acquis or acquis communautaire, sometimes called the EU acquis, and often shortened to acquis, is the accumulated legislation, legal acts and court decisions that constitute the body of European Union law. The term is French, "acquis" meaning "that which has been acquired or obtained", and “communautaire” meaning "of the community".

Chapters

During the process of the enlargement of the European Union, the acquis was divided into 31 chapters for the purpose of negotiation between the EU and the candidate states for membership for the fifth enlargement. These chapters were:

Free movement of goods
Free movement of persons
Freedom to provide services
Free movement of capital
Company law
Competition policy
Agriculture
Fisheries
Transport policy
Taxation
Economic and Monetary Union
Statistics
Social policy and employment
Energy
Industrial policy
Small and medium-sized enterprises
Science and research
Education and training
Telecommunication and information technologies
Culture and audio-visual policy
Regional policy and co-ordination of structural instruments
Environment
Consumers and health protection
Cooperation in the field of Justice and Home Affairs
Customs union
External relations
Common Foreign and Security Policy
Financial control
Financial and budgetary provisions
Institutions
Others

Beginning with the negotiations with Croatia, the acquis is split up into 35 chapters instead, with the purpose of better balancing between the chapters:

Free movement of goods
Freedom of movement for workers
Right of establishment and freedom to provide services
Free movement of capital
Public procurement
Company law
Intellectual property law
Competition policy
Financial services
Information society and media
Agriculture and rural development
Food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy
Fisheries
Transport policy
Energy
Taxation
Economic and monetary policy
Statistics
Social policy and employment
Enterprise and industrial policy
Trans-European networks
Regional policy and co-ordination of structural instruments
Judiciary and fundamental rights
Justice, freedom and security
Science and research
Education and culture
Environment
Consumer and health protection
Customs union
External relations
Foreign, security and defence policy
Financial control
Financial and budgetary provisions
Institutions
Other issues

Correspondence between chapters of the 5th and the 6th Enlargement:

5th Enlargement	6th Enlargement
1. Free movement of goods	1. Free movement of goods
1. Free movement of goods	7. Intellectual property law
2. Free movement of persons	2. Freedom of movement for workers
2. Free movement of persons	3. Right of establishment and freedom to provide services
3. Freedom to provide services	3. Right of establishment and freedom to provide services
3. Freedom to provide services	9. Financial services
4. Free movement of capital	4. Free movement of capital
5. Company law	6. Company law
6. Competition policy	8. Competition policy
6. Competition policy	5. Public procurement
7. Agriculture	11. Agriculture and rural development
7. Agriculture	12. Food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy
8. Fisheries	13. Fisheries
9. Transport policy	14. Transport policy
9. Transport policy	21. Trans-European networks '
10. Taxation	16. Taxation
11. Economic and Monetary Union	17. Economic and monetary policy
12. Statistics	18. Statistics
13. Social policy and employment	19. Social policy and employment
14. Energy	15. Energy
14. Energy	21. Trans-European networks '
15. Industrial policy	20. Enterprise and industrial policy
16. Small and medium-sized enterprises	20. Enterprise and industrial policy
17. Science and research	25. Science and research
18. Education and training	26. Education and culture 10. Information society and media
19. Telecommunication and information technologies	26. Education and culture 10. Information society and media
20. Culture and audio-visual policy	26. Education and culture 10. Information society and media
21. Regional policy and co-ordination of structural instruments	22. Regional policy and co-ordination of structural instruments
22. Environment	27. Environment
23. Consumer and health protection	28. Consumer and health protection
24. Cooperation in the field of Justice and Home Affairs	23. Judiciary and fundamental rights
24. Cooperation in the field of Justice and Home Affairs	24. Justice, freedom and security
25. Customs union	29. Customs union
26. External relations	30. External relations
27. Common Foreign and Security Policy	31. Foreign, security and defence policy
28. Financial control	32. Financial control
29. Financial and budgetary provisions	33. Financial and budgetary provisions
30. Institutions	34. Institutions
31. Others	35. Other issues

Such negotiations usually involved agreeing transitional periods before new member states needed to implement the laws of the European Union fully and before they and their citizens acquired full rights under the acquis.

Terminology

The term acquis is also used to describe laws adopted under the Schengen Agreement, prior to its integration into the European Union legal order by the Treaty of Amsterdam, in which case one speaks of the Schengen acquis. In relation to consumer law and consumer protection, the phrase "consumer acquis" is also used.
The term acquis has been borrowed by the World Trade Organization Appellate Body, in the case Japan - Taxes on Alcoholic Beverages, to refer to the accumulation of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and WTO law, though this usage is not well established.
It has been used to describe the achievements of the Council of Europe :
It has also been applied to the body of "principles, norms and commitments" of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe :
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development introduced the concept of the OECD Acquis in its "Strategy for enlargement and outreach", May 2004.