In this section, a database on EU legal instruments in external policy fields is presented. A first version of the DATEX database - referring to the Common Foreign and Security Policy - was created in February 2010. A second version - covering additional policy fields such as the Common Commercial Policy and EU environment policy - is available since December 2010.

The DATEX database is a tool helping us to answer our research questions regarding trends of EU external relations linked to multilateralism. Specifically, its objectives a

• to provide quantitative data on legal output in EU external policy fields and categorisation of legal acts according to the degree to which they bind parties legally and politically in order to identify trends in EU external relations,
• to define and apply indicators in order to measure the degree of multilateralisation of EU external policy fields.

For the second version of DATEX (state of the art: August 2011), including data on the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the Common Commercial Policy and EU environment policy, please click  here.