Don't overuse capital letters
Overcapitalisation can make your text cluttered and harder to read, especially on screen.
When writing for the web, it is better not to use capital letters to give prominence to
- policy areas
- programmes
- events
- generic references to laws or Commission departments
A good rule of thumb when writing in English is that names and titles (proper nouns) are capitalised, whereas common nouns are not.
- European Commission, European Parliament, European Union are proper nouns and always capitalised when written in full
- words such as commissioner, president and director are common nouns and not capitalised when used in a generic sense. Examples include
- several commissioners are collaborating on a draft of the new initiative
- the European Commission is led by a president
- commissioner, president and director etc. can also appear as personal titles, in which case they are capitalised - examples include
- President Juncker was formerly Luxembourg's prime minister
- the meeting was attended by Director-General Darius Guddelschein
Instead of … | … write |
several Directorates-General are responsible for action on climate change | several directorates-general are responsible for action on climate change |
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) | common agricultural policy (CAP) |
Consumer Rights Directive | consumer rights directive |
Council Presidency BUT German presidency of the Council | Council presidency (general) German Presidency (initial capital for specific presidencies) |
Environment Summit | environment summit |
Environment White Paper | environment white paper |
European Year of Equal Opportunities | European year of equal opportunities |
the Directive on Consumer Rights | the directive on consumer rights |
Information Society Technologies | information society technologies |
Staff Regulations of Officials and Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities | Staff regulations of officials and conditions of employment of other servants of the European Communities (Initial capital for titles of EU documents) |
Synopsis of the Work of the Court of Justice of the European Communities | Synopsis of the work of the Court of Justice of the European Communities |
Do use capitals for
- names of organisations and groups, e.g. World Health Organisation, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the Labour Party, the European Trade Union Confederation
- specific Commission departments, e.g. Directorate-General for Communication
- for full names of international agreements, conferences, conventions, etc. Nouns and adjectives have a capital when using the full name, e.g. Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
- buildings, e.g. the press conference is underway in the Élysée Palace; what's on the menu in the Berlaymont canteen today?
- place names
- brand names
- a specific law with its reference number, e.g. amendments to Directive 97/7/EC; national parliaments will be given 12 months to transpose Regulation (EU) No 517/2013 into national law
Contact and support
If you require further assistance, please contact:
European Commission
DG Communication
Unit B.3
Europa Web Communication