Your Europe Advice
Your Europe Advice is part of a set of information and advice tools for citizens and businesses about their EU rights. The starting point is the Your Europe website designed to give you information about your rights across Europe. It offers practical advice and useful tips on issues such as living, studying, working, shopping , travelling – or, as a company, doing business – within the EU. It is the main source of information on these subjects.
If you do not find the answer to your question you can contact "Your Europe Advice" using the "Get help and advice" button at the bottom of each page on Your Europe.
What is Your Europe Advice / Who is behind it ?
Your Europe Advice is an EU advice service for the public, currently provided by the legal experts from the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) operating under contract with the European Commission. It consists of a team of 65 independent lawyers who cover all EU official languages and are familiar both with EU law and national laws in all EU countries. They
- provide free and personalised advice in the language of your choice, within a week
- clarify the European law that applies in your case
- explain how you can exercise your EU rights
Your Europe Advice has been in existence for more than 25 years and has provided tailor-made advice in more than 360 000 cases since 1996.
Your Europe Advice works closely with SOLVIT, a problem-solving network that deals with problems between individuals or companies and the authorities in another country, in cases where there is a possible misapplication of EU law.
If, after examining your request for advice, we think you may need further help in solving a problem with the national administration in question, we will transfer your case from Your Europe Advice to SOLVIT and inform you accordingly.
Your Europe Advice answers questions from…
- individuals who are nationals of the European Union, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein
- non-Europeans – if they are family members of an EU national or resident in an EU country
- businesses having their seat in the EU
- European/national information and advice services, on behalf of individuals
Questions about…
- a real (not theoretical) situation – even if it is just an intention to move to another EU country
- your rights in one or more EU countries and under EU law
Typical areas for enquiries
- your rights when travelling, living, working, retiring or studying in another EU country
- the rights of consumers within the EU
What we cannot do
- advise on issues governed exclusively by national law (we only deal with issues relating to EU law)
- provide in-depth legal advice, analysis of documents or face-to-face interviews with you
- replace legal advice from lawyers or provide legal representation
- take up a case on your behalf or take enforcement action against companies or authorities.
We reply to most enquiries
– but some types of question fall outside the scope of Your Europe Advice and are thus ineligible, such as:
- simple requests for information that can easily be found on the internet or questions on EU policies
- questions falling entirely under national law (not EU law)
- questions about getting grants or funding under European programmes
- enquiries by profit oriented commercial organisations, e.g. law firms, acting on behalf of clients
Disclaimer
Advice and information in response to individual enquiries addressed to Your Europe Advice are provided by independent legal experts under contract with ECAS.
They make every effort to ensure the information and advice they provide is accurate, but do not accept any responsibility or liability for any errors, inaccuracies or omissions.
The European Commission acts as a facilitator of this service and accepts no responsibility or liability with regard to the information or advice provided by this service.
The advice provided by the service does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Commission’s various departments and does not bind the European Commission.
Privacy statement
When you submit an enquiry, you are requested to provide personal information. This information is treated according to the policy described in our privacy statement (PDF).