This guide focuses on locating official gazettes of foreign countries using resources in the Legal Research Center. For this guide we will use example citations from The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (18th ed.) (2005) Table 2: Foreign Jurisdictions.
What are Gazettes?
Official gazettes in most jurisdictions serve as the primary government publication for official notices and announcements, legislation, and more. For example, the Diario Oficial de la Federación (D.O) is the official gazette of the federal government in Mexico and all legal matters and legislation must be published in the D.O. before they can go into effect. In many jurisdictions, the official gazette is the only published source for session laws and other primary legal materials. Although most countries publish a gazette, their regularity and content varies widely.
An Official Gazette citation in Bluebook form may look like any of these:
|Rule||Type of Document||Example Citation|
|Table 2||Brazil: Statues and Decrees||Decreto No. 70.391, de 12 de abril de 1972, D.O.U. de 14.04.1972. (Brazil).|
|Table 2||France: Statutes and Decrees||Law No. 85-669 of July 11, 1985, Journal Officiel de la République Française [J.O.] [Official Gazette of France], July 12, 1985, p. 7865.|
|Table 2||Mexico: Legislative and Executive Materials||Ley Federal de Compentencia Económica [L.F.C.E.] [Competition Law], as amended, Diario Oficial de la Federación [D.O.], 24 Diciembre de 1992 (Mex.).|
|Table 2||Philippines: Legislation||An Act providing for a System of Overseas Absentee Voting by Qualified Citizens of the Philippines Abroad, Appropriating Funds Therefor, and for Other Purposes, Rep. Act No. 9189 § 5(a), 99:19 O.G. 2997, (May 12, 2003) (Phil.).|
Note that each citation specifies the official title of the item, a translation in English, a note indicating whether the item has been amended, and finally the date of publication in the official gazette.
Where can I find official gazettes in print?
The Legal Research Center has Official Gazettes and primary law in paper for only a few selected nonU.S. jurisdictions. Students should use the regional catalogs (Circuit, California Western School of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and San Diego County Law Library) to search for gazettes by title or use the LRC’s Interlibrary Loan service.
Where can I find official gazettes online?
Government Gazettes Online
Managed by the University of Michigan, School of Information, this database provides direct links to official gazettes (some in PDF) and includes information on language, frequency of publication, time coverage, and general content. Countries covered:
- Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Luxembourg, Macau, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway , Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela
Developed by the National Law Center for InterAmerican Free Trade, InterAm provides legal information pertaining to trade, investment, and related issues throughout the Americas. InterAm includes primary sources (statutes, regulations, technical standards, official gazettes, constitutions, case law and treaties) and some secondary sources (commentaries, law review articles and analysis). Full-text only. InterAm access is limited to USD community members.
Where can I find citations to official gazettes?
Foreign Law Guide: Current Sources of Codes and Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World
(available electronically to USD members through SALLY)
Reynolds & Flores' Foreign Law Guide provides for over 190 countries, background information about their legal system, bibliographic information about major codes of law, constitutions, session laws (chronological compilations of law), and official gazettes.
Library of Congress Guide to Law Online
Library of Congress listing of different law resources available online from every country in the world, including links to some gazettes
Martindale-Hubbell International Law Digest – Available on LexisNexis
Includes summaries of the law on specific subjects for about 60 countries. Citations to sources are included.