Tuesday, June 20, 2006

European Legislative resource

Trying to track down foreign legal documents in English from a reliable source is tricky. So finding a site like Legislationline is always welcome. It calls itself a free online legislation database, and so it is for its designated purpose.

Legislationline is hosted and maintained by the ODIHR (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights) a specialized institution of the OSCE (Organization for Security in Co-operation in Europe). Coverage is limited to Europe for the subjects of elections, human rights and democratization. Actually alot is covered by these subjects: immigration, death penalty, citizenship, etc. In addition to Germany, France, the Russian Federation; nations such as Turkey, Croatia, Armenia, Finland are represented. When they say "Europe" they mean all of Europe.

The translations are not official, but considering the source are more trustworthy than might be found - if found - on other sites. They also engage in analysis of legislative activities and these are available. Depth and breadth of coverage varies from country to country and by subject.

The site has been redesigned, so at this time content is being checked and the navigation system tested, but it is still worth checking out. Look forward to visiting there again when the redesign is final

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

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