Consilium
The Council’s Consilium website has had a makeover. The main page is now divided into the main sections of ‘Highlights’, ‘Latest news’, ‘European Council’ and ‘Videos’. Tabs at the top of the page offer links to further sections covering: ‘Council’, ‘Policies’, ‘Documents’, ‘Treaty of Lisbon’, ‘Contacts’, and ‘Press’.
Unlike the previous version of the site, there are no pop-up menus, but detailed contents of each section are given at the foot of the page. Links to materials on the latest European Council and to ‘EU Presidency’, ‘High Representative’, ‘Eurogroup’, ‘Treaty of Lisbon’ and ‘Common Security and Defence Policy’ are provided via some strangely washed-out images (it’s almost as though they’re an embarrassment - for heaven’s sake, be bold!).
On sub-pages, there’s a strange mix of repeated section menus (shown at both top and bottom of the page) and - where appropriate - a topic-specific menu. Overall, the Council site remains a messy affair.

Eric recently received this question:
I was wondering if you knew if there was a place which recorded the dates on which EU directives are implemented and come into effect in other EU member states? I don't know if there is a centralised database containing this information on the Commission website or somewhere else?

He replied:

Each Directive includes a date for on which it enters into force and a date for transposition in the Member States.

There is no nice, easy official source for finding implementing legislation, but the following might be of use (it's taken from a brief guide the Association is currently writing for the European Commission to help people trying to find things on the Europa website):

Once a Directive is implemented at national level, there are two main EU sources for finding the relevant legislation: EUR-Lex and N-Lex, neither of which is simple to use.

EUR-Lex uses information about national implementing measures supplied by Member States to the European Commission. The details are incorporated into the record for each Directive on the EUR-Lex website - but can only be viewed in certain formats. Full texts are not provided, but the information (title, reference number etc) can be helpful for finding texts via N-Lex (see below) or by using other sources.

- use the EUR-Lex Simple search page to find the correct format for viewing national implementing measures, by identifying the relevant Directive (using number, keyword etc) and then clicking the ‘MNE’ link in the ‘Bibliographic record’.

Example:
To find national legislation implementing Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators, go to the Simple search page and use the Natural number option. Having found the item item, go to the Bibliographic notice, scroll to 'Display the national execution measures' and click MNE. A list of countries and relevant legislation will be displayed. Texts are not provided, but it is possible to use document titles and/or numbers to find texts via N-Lex (see below) or by using a search engine.

N-Lex provides a standard interface for searching national collections of legislation in most of the EU Member States. There are usually two options for each of the countries covered: ‘Legislation’ and ‘General information’ (i.e. details of how the legislative system works). Choosing ‘Legislation’ will display a screen offering a number of search options. The options available vary between countries and it is not always easy to identify the relevant legislation using N-Lex alone, especially as keywords will usually have to be in the appropriate language.

- use the N-Lex website to highlight the country required and choose the ‘Legislation’ option. On the next page, enter whatever details you are allowed to (options very between countries)

Example:
To find national legislation in Germany which implements Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators, go to the N-Lex website and choose the Germany legislation option. In the top box enter batteriegesetzes and click ‘Submit’. Browse the list of items found for the full text required.

Beyond official sources, Lexis Nexis do something called EU Tracker. It only covers 20 Member States, but might be of use.