The Center for the Study of Law, Science & Technology, part of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, Monash University Law School, and the Institute of Environmental and Energy Law jointly created the Nanotech Regulatory Document Archive in 2009. The archive is a free and easily searchable database of, as the name implies, documents regarding the regulation of nanotechnology, nanomaterials and nanoindustry produced by national and state governments, government agencies, and others throughout the world. Users are supposed to create an account in order to access the documents, which are in PDF formats, however the documents seem to be accessible even without setting up an account. Users may also add documents to the archives collection, which does require registering and setting up an account. Documents can either be accessed via the "Recent Documents" tab at the top of the page, by clicking on one of the countries listed on the left hand side of the page or via the search box
The database will prove useful for various groups, ranging from the general public who are just curious to business people in the nanoindustrial field who want to see what the rules and regulations are in other countries to elected representatives ( or more likely their staffs who would need to do the research in the area) who, inevitably, will be engaged in debates over the writing and enforcement of laws and regulations. Corporate Counsels for nanotech companies and outside counsels may also find it a useful place to do research for their clients who are thinking of expanding into other countries and need to see what regulations are already in place.
The database was funded by a multi-year grant from the US Department of Energy. Due to its relatively recent establishment, there are a limited number of documents available, but I suspect that as word of it gets around and more people realize its usefulness, the database will grow.
