The European Central Bank (ECB) Directorate General of Legal Services is a legal department without precedent.

The fundamental task of the lawyers is to regulate, facilitate and, under the auspices of the former European Monetary Institute (EMI), design the framework for the ECB as issuer and policy-maker of a single currency that operates across national boundaries in 11 separate legal jurisdictions.

The ECB took over from the EMI, which performed most of the preparatory work, on 1 June, 1998. In many respects, the ECB is a continuation of the EMI rather than a completely new organisation.