For over 40 years legislation on food and agriculture was collected and disseminated by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through a publication called Food and Agricultural Legislation.

Since the advent of the digital in formation age, the FAO Legal Office has taken up the challenge to provide its user community with an accessible, more comprehensive and up-to-date legal information service through its online database, FAOLEX.

FAOLEX contains treaties, laws, and regulations on food, agriculture, and renewable natural resources from all over the world. Most of the material comes from the official gazettes sent by FAO's Member Nations pursuant to Article XI of the FAO Constitution. Upon receiving such material, the FAO Legal Office selects, indexes, and summarizes in English, French, or Spanish significant texts pertaining to FAO’s mandate, i.e. legislation on agriculture, livestock, environment, fisheries, food, forestry, land & soil, cultivated plants, water, and wild species & ecosystems. Records are provided in either English, French or Spanish or the language of communication used by the originating country.