Legal Library (NEW- IMPROVED)

The UNODC legal library is a unique source of the legislation adopted by States and territories around the world to put into effect the international drug control conventions. The library contains laws and regulations dating back to 1948 and is updated regularly with new laws adopted by Member States and other States. With the adoption of the 1988 Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, the subjects covered by the E/NL (the UN symbol for the publication of laws and regulations mandated by the three drug control conventions and necessary to put them into effect) series were extended to include money laundering, confiscation, mutual legal assistance, extradition, controlled delivery and undercover operations and illicit trafficking by sea.

The legal library is designed to provide examples of how some States have addressed specific difficulties posed by the drug problem. It is also designed to be a useful tool for students and researchers, who are encouraged to share any substantive research papers with UNODC ( Contact Form).

The laws are published and added to the legal library in one or two of the working languages of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs  (English, French and Spanish).

Using the Library

There are three different ways of browsing the Legal Library. 

You can browse the database by country via the "Country Pages" menu item - you select a country and get a list of related documents. This simple approach is most convenient if you are only interested in information about one specific country. 

The "Search" view uses a traditional search form - you specify your search criterias and get a list of matching documents. This view is convenient if you know exactly what you are looking for. In addition you can export and download the list of matches in a variety of formats.

The "Explore" view provides an "Explorer-like" view on the available data - documents are sorted up in a tree grouped by country, year or keyword. This view can be used to get an overview of the available documents.

Errors and disclaimers

In the legal library the term "country/territory" refers to independent States and dependent territories and does not imply any international recognition of the said country by the United Nations Organization.

We are aware that the legal library contains errors. Additionally, all laws and regulations contained in the legal library were in force when made available online, but some may have been repealed since then. If you discover any major substantive problems, please do not hesitate to inform us ( Contact Form ). States are encouraged to share any comments on the accuracy of the holdings and to submit any laws or regulations not yet contained in the legal library.