Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I cross-reference technical standards and legislation?

Yes, use the ‘Technical Standards’ tab to search for standards and then click the ‘Legislation Search’ to the left of the standard you want to cross reference with legislation. This will open the advanced search window for the legislation search with the standards title in the search window. If no results are found, you can modify the search term. Reverse cross reference from legislation to standards is in the work and will be available soon.

Q: Can I download search results?

Yes, at the bottom of each search result page you will find the following link - ‘Download first 1000 results as GRC-compatible XML’. Click it to download the results.

Q: Can I search agency regulations?

We provide laws, regulations and in some cases agency regulations. The terms are different from country to country. If in doubt just send us an email.

Q: Can I search in my own language or only in English?

You can only search in English.

Q: Can I search for case law?

No. The database contains only legislation.

Q: How was the laws translated to English?

We use machine translation by Google, Microsoft, IBM and Libre

Q: Can I see the original language for a law?

Yes. When you find a translated law, you will see at the top of the text a link that allows you to see the original language. We also display the title in English and its original language.

Q: How do you translate legislation?

We use the most advanced machine translation, mainly from Microsoft and some from Google.

Q: How can I use the advanced search features?

After conducting a regular search, click on the green button ‘advance mode’ in the upper right corner of the screen, near the yellow search ideas.

Q: We are a poor organisation, can we get a discount?

Please contact us for a "special circumstances" discount. We want everyone to be able to access the world's laws.

Q: Your service seems to be aimed at large universities. Is it useful for a small school or agency?

Our search engine is suitable for everyone - we even have individual subscribers. Please contact us to see if you qualify for a discount through one of our consortium partnerships.

Q: What additional information is available for laws?

When we index a country's laws we collect standard information like date, title, and PDF link. We also collect jurisdiction-specific information if it's available. The additional information can be anything from the ministry responsible for administering a law to the date of the most recent amendment. You can read the additional information by clicking on a law’s title in the search screen.

Q: What is the PenaltyAI search?

The PenaltyAI is a search of our legislation database with an additional feature that identify compliance clauses in the legislation and extracts the actual penalties from these clauses. For comparative reasons, the penalty sums are converted to US dollars.

Q: Why is country X not included?

We are working to add legislation from every country that provide access to its laws online. We are also working on trying to obtain access to laws from countries that does not post their laws online (mainly in Africa). If you have access to laws that are not yet in our database - please let us know. Additional restriction is translation one - if Microsoft’s translator does not work with a specific language, we cannot provide access to this country’s laws in English.

Q: Are your translations accurate?

We use state-of-the-art commercial APIs for translation. Our original provider was Google Trabslate but we have re-translated most laws with Microsoft Translator over the last twelve months. Some languages are more difficult to translate than others so for example, you may find that Arabic translations are less fluent than French translations. If you find a particularly inaccurate translation please let us know. We are continually improving the service and machine translation models become more accurate every day.

Q: How many countries can I search?

Although there are many countries in our database, we only count a country as being searchable if there are at least 100 laws available through our site. As of May, 2017 there are 96 countries that can be searched and we consider that there are 90 countries in the database. Click here for the complete details on our coverage.

Q: I teach at a law school. How can I use this tool as part of my classroom lessons?

We would be happy to offer your school a free trial of the service so that you can evaluate how Global-Regulation.com can supplement your classroom material.

Q: Why did you make this?

We made this software because the world has millions of laws and dozens of languages and the only way to connect the dots is with Global-Regulation.com. We believe that the world laws should be available to everyone, everywhere in their own language. We want to advance the rule of law and the power of democracy everywhere in the world and especially in developing countries.

Q: I’d like to partner with you for a joint project. Who should I speak to?

Please see our contact page. We will get back to you within 48 hours.

Q: What are your terms of service?

See here - https://www.global-regulation.com/terms.php

Q: What is your privacy policy?

See here - https://www.global-regulation.com/privacy.php

Q: Do you provide consortium pricing?

Yes. We are currently working with NELLCO, JISC and WILS.

Q: Can I make a suggestion on improving your site?

Most certainly. Please use the contact page to send us your suggestion

Q: Can I import/export search results?

Yes. At the bottom of each results page you will find a link “Download first 1000 results as GRC-compatible XML”. Click on this link and you will receive an XML file with these results

Q: Will your results appear in Google?

Yes

Q: Are your data available in discovery search?

Yes, our metadata is available through OCLC discovery platform

Q: What is your vision?

To provide access to the world laws in the user’s language

Q: How do I log in?

Once you start your free trial or subscription, you will be provided with a username and password.

Q: Do you provide IP access?

Yes

Q: Do you provide free trial?

Yes

Q: Is the access for subscribers limited?

No

Q: Can I use your data with a GRC platform?

Yes. We are technical partners of the RSA Archer. See question 32 for more details.

Q: How do I know if specific legislation is in force?

You will need to talk to a lawyer. We provide the legislation as it is presented in each country government official website.

Q: What is the year of the law?

You will see the year at the right side of each result

Q: What is the pdf file near the results?

Many laws can be viewed either as html through a link and as a pdf

Q: How do I identify the flag?

Hover your cursor over the flag and you will see the country’s name

Q: Can I filter by Country?

Yes. Click on the name of the country of your choice in the left side of the screen

Q: Can I filter by year?

Yes. The year filter is under the country filter on the left side of the results

Q: Do you have all the USA state laws?

We have laws from US states that are not restricting the access to their laws due to exclusivity agreements with information providers

Q: Can I buy technical standards?

Yes. Click on the ‘Buy for $X’ green button on the right of the standard and you will be linked to ANSI’s webstore for the purchase

Q: Do you update the database?

Yes. The database is updated every month

Q: Can I read the same law from different years?

Yes

Q: Do you provide legal advice?

No

Q: I am a lawyer, Can I offer my services through your site?

We are considering this option. Use the contact page to connect with us

Q: Can I get email alerts?

Yes, go to the 'New Laws' section and click on 'Create Keyword based email alerts'. You will get real time email alerts every time your keyword/s appear in new laws from 27 countries. We keep adding more countries to this service.

Q: How do I end my Individual Subscription?

When you log in, find the 'Cancel Subscription' button at the lower right of the screen and use it.