YEARS OF EUROPEAN ONLINE ANNÉES DE EN LIGNE ...

the relationship between the acquis and the national level should also be transformed
into something more coherent. the constructive support for this kind
of exercise is that it shows where minor interventions on legal text could enhance
coherence.
the second aspect of the problem is related to the concept of terminology
or taxonomy. It is not only a matter of using different words meaning the same
thing. Sometimes, when you move to different words you open a different
box and a taxonomy which differs from one term to another. this is very clear
in some cases related to the difference between obligations based on torts and
contractual obligations, where you can simply change some words and jump
from one sector to another and from one taxonomy to another taxonomy.
the website is already online. Access is free, so there is no password. the
homepage offers a short description of how the project was initiated, and information
on those who have contributed to it. the software is a new and
original tool, which was tailored on purpose by the informatics department at
the University of turin.
Once in the database, we can choose the Italian or the English interface.
we have the choice between ive languages and three levels: European and
national ‘all’, or only European or national. there is a box for ‘term name’. the
full list of terms, totalling about 100, is the corpus that has been worked out
from the set of directives on consumer law. A full list can be obtained by typing
an asterisk (*). the whole list represents 55 pages, in alphabetical order, in
all ive languages.
A test can be carried out, for example, on the term ‘offer’, with reference to
the English term ‘offer’ used in Directive 85/577/EEC. the full text of the actual
article of the directive where the term ‘offer’ has been deined and regulated can
be checked online. the site also gives associated information. finally the user
can compare the term ‘offer’ in other linguistic versions by clicking on ‘Show
other linguistic versions’ to obtain the term in English, Spanish, french, Italian
and German. we ind that ‘offer’ in German is Angebot. however, if we go to the
right-hand column (‘Associations’), we ind that Angebot generates two different
terms in the German implementing measures: Antrag and Angebot.
we are now at the national level, as we have jumped from the English term
‘offer’ used at European level to its synonym in German, and then moved into
the vertical level. the full text of the articles concerned can also be consulted
within the Syllabus. So the text of paragraph 145 BGB, which transposed the
ruling of the directive into German law, is available.
01_2007_5222_txt_ML.indd 134 6-12-2007 15:14:01