The Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services provides Members with independent, objective and authoritative analysis of, and research on, policy issues relating to the European Union, in order to assist them in their parliamentary work.
The DG's three Directorates carry out provide the following services to Members, parliamentary committees and the Institution as a whole:
- responding to specific requests from individual Members for information, analysis and research in the policy fields covered by the European Union;
- providing briefing notes and other analysis and research for Members collectively on policies and issues in these fields;
- contributing on-line content in these fields for use as appropriate on the Parliament's external/internal websites;
- maintaining on-line and paper collections of key published material in these fields for access by Members and staff of the Parliament;
- offering a wide range of on-site and online library services, including management of reading rooms and collections, access to and training in information databases, and provision of intranet and internet services for Members and the public;
- maintaining the historic archives of the Parliament, in conjunction with the Historic Archives of the European Union;
- responding to citizens’ enquiries;
- providing a wide range of specific ex-ante and ex-post impact assessment services to parliamentary committees, together with assessment of the added value of future or current EU policies, and appraisal of policy options in the fields of science and technology.
