The Global Change Research Act of 1990 required establishing the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) directly supervised by US president. This program has been successfully carried out for more than ten years mainly because of its sound law base. This paper explores the role of the US law system, which has played in the process of establishment and implementation of the USGCRP. On one hand, the US Global Change Research Program Act of 1990 coordinates the activities among the federal agencies involved in the USGCRP; on the other hand, US Freedom of Information Act and the Copyright Act foster the “full and open” data policy, which has minimized the redundant investment of data development projects of scientific databases and improved the efficiency of scientific data management.
    The Global Change Research Act of 1990 has two parts, of which the first part is about the National Global Change Research Plan, including the background, the development and management, and the budget coordination of the Plan; The second part focuses on international cooperation in global change research, which includes the background and purpose of international cooperation, and the ways to promote international, intergovernmental cooperation on global change research. One of the most important tasks of US Global Change Research Program is to establish Global Change Data and Information System (GCDIS). Through the mechanism of GCDIS, the federal government has promoted the scientific data sharing, although this academic tradition has been partly reflected in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Furthermore, in June 1991, the president office announced the “full and open” policy as the national policy to encourage scientific data sharing.In addition, the Copyright Act also plays an important role in the implementation and management of USGCRP. 
    In short, the legal base of the US Global Change Research Program is composed of the Global Change Research Act of 1990, US Freedom of Information Act, the Copyright Act, the US Global Change Research Data Management Policy, and other related acts and policies, all of which have promoted the efficiency of research resources and data sharing, as well as the sound institutional partnership.