# EUR-Lex - 52013PC0003 - EN

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# 52013PC0003

**Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the signing, on behalf of the European Union, of the Agreement between the European Union and the Russian Federation on drug precursors /* COM/2013/03 final - 2013/0004 (NLE) */**

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1.           CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

On 23 March 2009 the Council authorised the
Commission to open negotiations with the Russian Federation for an Agreement on
drug precursors. Following the launch of negotiations
in September 2009, four negotiating rounds took place. In September 2012, the
text of the Agreement was finally agreed between the Parties.

This Agreement aims to strengthen the
cooperation between the European Union and the Russian Federation to prevent
diversion of drug precursors from the legal trade to counter illicit
manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

As this Agreement may occasionally imply an
exchange of personal data, it includes specific provisions on data protection
in order to provide sufficient protection for citizens in the use of their
data.

The Commission considers that the text is
in accordance with the negotiating directives.

The Commission is therefore invited to
adopt the attached proposal for a Council decision on the signing of this Agreement.

In parallel, a separate proposal for a
Council decision on the conclusion of this Agreement is also submitted.

2.           RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS
WITH THE INTERESTED PARTIES AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

Member States were regularly informed on
the draft of the Agreement within the Drug Precursors Working Group/Committee
and within the Council Working Party on Customs Union.

There was no need for an impact assessment.

3.           LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE
PROPOSAL

The Council is asked to adopt a decision
authorising the signing of the draft Agreement based on Article 207 (4) in
conjunction with Article 218 (5) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union.

The proposal falls under the common
commercial policy, exclusive competence of the Union. The subsidiarity principle
therefore does not apply.

4.           BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS

The proposal has no budgetary implications
for the Union budget.

5.           OTHER

The draft Agreement is consistent with the
drug policy outlined in the EU Drug Strategy 2005-2012, providing for action to
reduce the supply of precursors and, thereby, decrease the production of drugs.

A proposal for a Council decision on the
conclusion of the draft Agreement is submitted in parallel to this proposal for
a Council decision on the signing of the draft Agreement.

2013/0004 (NLE)

Proposal for a

COUNCIL DECISION

on the signing, on behalf of the European
Union, of the Agreement between the European Union and the Russian Federation
on drug precursors

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning
of the European Union, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 207
(4) in conjunction with Article 218 (5) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the
European Commission,

Whereas:

(1)       The European Union and the
Russian Federation should strengthen their cooperation to prevent diversion of
drug precursors from the legal trade to counter illicit manufacture of narcotic
drugs and psychotropic substances.

(2)       On 23 March 2009, the
Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations with the Russian
Federation for an Agreement between the European Union and the Russian
Federation on drug precursors, hereinafter referred to as "the
Agreement". Negotiations were conducted by the Commission within the
framework of the negotiating directives adopted by the Council and were
recently concluded.

(3)       The Agreement should
ensure full respect of fundamental rights, in particular a high level of
protection for the processing and transfer of personal data between the Parties.

(4)       The Agreement should be
signed on behalf of the European Union, subject to its conclusion at a later
date,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The signing of the Agreement
between the European Union and the Russian Federation on drug precursors is hereby approved on behalf of the Union, subject to the conclusion
of the said Agreement.

The text of the Agreement to be signed is
attached to this Decision.

Article 2

The Council
Secretariat General shall establish the instrument of full powers to sign the
Agreement, subject to its conclusion, for the person(s) indicated by the
negotiator of the Agreement.

Article 3

This Decision shall enter into force on the
day of its adoption.

Done at Brussels,

For
the Council

The
President

ANNEX

AGREEMENT

BETWEEN
THE EUROPEAN UNION

AND
THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

ON
DRUG PRECURSORS

THE EUROPEAN UNION

on the one part, and

THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION,

on the other part,

hereinafter referred to as the "The
Parties",

WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK of the United Nations Convention of
1988 against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances,
hereinafter referred to as the "1988 Convention";

DETERMINED to prevent and to combat the illicit
manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances by preventing the
diversion from the legitimate trade of substances frequently used in the
illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances (hereinafter
referred to as the "precursors");

TAKING into account the overall legal framework between
the Russian Federation and the European Union;

NOTING that international trade may be used for the
diversion of such precursors;

CONVINCED of the necessity to conclude and to implement
agreements between the Parties concerned, with the purpose of establishing wide
cooperation, in particular pertaining to
export and import controls;

RECOGNISING that precursors are also mainly and widely
used for legitimate purposes and that international trade must not be hindered
by excessive monitoring procedures.

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Scope of the Agreement

1.         This
Agreement sets out measures to strengthen cooperation between the Parties to
prevent the diversion from the legitimate
trade of precursors, without prejudice to the legitimate trade in these
precursors.

2.         The Parties shall assist each other, as
set out in this Agreement, in particular by:

–          monitoring
the trade between the Parties in the precursors with the aim of preventing
their use for illicit purposes,

–          providing
mutual assistance for the purpose of prevention of diversion of such precursors.

3.         The measures referred to in paragraph 2 of
this Article shall apply to the precursors listed in Annex I of this Agreement
(hereinafter referred to as "scheduled precursors").

Article 2

Implementation measures

1.         The Parties shall inform each
other in writing about their respective competent authorities. These
authorities shall communicate
directly with one another for the purposes of this Agreement.

2.         The Parties shall inform each
other about their respective legal provisions and other measures applied to
implement this Agreement.

Article 3

Trade monitoring

1.         The competent authorities of the Parties
shall inform each other on their own initiative whenever they have reasonable
grounds to believe that scheduled precursors in legitimate trade between the Parties
may be diverted to the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs or psychotropic
substances.

2.         With regard to the scheduled precursors the
competent authorities of the exporting Party shall forward a pre-export notification containing the information referred to in Article 12 (10) point a) of
the 1988 Convention to the competent authorities of the importing Party.

The reply in writing by the competent authorities of the
importing Party shall be provided through technical means of communication within
21 days after the receipt of the message from the competent authorities of the
exporting Party. The absence of a reply within this period shall be considered
as non-objection to sending the shipment. Any objection shall be notified in
writing through technical means of communication to the competent authorities
of the exporting Party within this period after the receipt of the pre-export
notification giving the reasons for refusal.

Article 4

Mutual assistance

1.         The Parties shall within the scope of this
agreement provide each other mutual assistance through exchange of information
referred to in Article 12 (10) point a) of the 1988 Convention to prevent the
diversion of scheduled precursors to the illicit manufacture of
narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances. They shall, in accordance with the
legislation of the Parties, take appropriate steps to prevent diversion.

2.         The Parties shall also provide each other
upon written request or at their own initiative with mutual assistance if there
are reasons to believe that other relevant information is of
interest to the other Party.

3.         The
request shall contain information about the following:

-           aim and
foundation of the request;

-           time of
the expected execution of the request;

-           other information that may be used for the
execution of the request.

4.         The request directed in writing on the
official letter head of the competent authorities of the requesting Party shall
be accompanied by a translation in one of the official languages of the
requested Party and shall be signed by duly authorised persons of the competent
authorities of the requesting Party.

5.         The competent authorities of the requested Party shall
take all necessary measures for the complete execution of the request as
promptly as possible.

6.         Requests for assistance shall be executed in
accordance with the legislation of the requested Party.

7.         The competent authorities of the requested
Party should as promptly as possible inform the competent authorities of the
requesting Party about the circumstances that prevent or delay the execution of
the request.

If the competent authorities of the requesting Party
state that there is no more necessity to complete the request, they shall as
promptly as possible inform the competent authorities of the requested Party
accordingly.

8.         The Parties may cooperate with each other
to minimise the risk of illicit shipments of precursors brought into or out of
the territory of the Russian Federation and the customs territory of the
European Union.

9.         Assistance provided under this Article shall
not prejudice the rules governing mutual assistance in criminal matters and
extradition, nor shall it apply to information obtained under powers
exercised at the request of a judicial authority, except where communication of
such information is authorised by that authority.

Article 5

Confidentiality and data protection

1.         The
Parties shall take all measures to ensure confidentiality of the received information. If it is impossible
to ensure confidentiality of the requested information, the Party requesting
the information shall inform the other Party accordingly which shall decide
whether to provide the information upon these conditions.

2.         Information obtained under this Agreement, including
personal data, shall be used solely for the purposes of this Agreement and must
not be kept longer than necessary for the purposes for which it is transferred
pursuant to this Agreement.

3.         By
derogation to paragraph 2, the use of information, including personal data, for
further purposes by the Authorities
or public bodies of the Party which received the information shall only be
authorized after prior express and written approval of the authority of the
Party which transmitted the information in accordance with the legislation of
that Party. Such use shall then be subject to any conditions established by
that authority.

4.         The Parties may in proceedings instituted for
failure to comply with legislation on scheduled precursors use as evidence
information obtained and documents consulted in accordance with the provisions
of this Agreement following prior written consent of the competent authorities
of the requested Party which provided the data.

5.      In case personal data
are exchanged, their processing shall comply with the principles set out in
Annex II which are mandatory for the Parties to the Agreement.

Article 6

Exceptions to the obligation to provide
mutual assistance

1.      Provision of assistance
may be refused or may be made subject to certain conditions or requirements, in
cases where a Party is of the opinion that assistance under this Agreement
would be likely to prejudice the sovereignty the security, the public policy or
other essential interests of the Russian Federation or that of a Member State
of the European Union which has been requested to provide assistance under this
Agreement.

2.      For the cases referred
to in this Article, the decision of the competent authorities of the requested
Party and the reasons therefore must be communicated to the competent
authorities of the requesting Party as promptly as possible.

Article 7

Cooperation regarding precursors not listed
in Annex I

1.      The Parties
may, on a voluntary basis, exchange information about precursors not listed in
Annex I of this Agreement (hereinafter referred to as "non-scheduled precursors").

2.      In the case of paragraph 1 of this Article,
the provisions of Article 4 (2) – (9) shall apply.

3.      The Parties may exchange their available lists
of non-scheduled precursors.

Article 8

Technical and scientific cooperation

The Parties shall
cooperate in the identification of new diversion methods as well as appropriate
countermeasures, including technical cooperation and in particular, training
and exchange programmes for the officials concerned, to strengthen
administrative and enforcement structures in this field and to promote cooperation
with trade and industry.

Article 9

Joint Follow-Up Expert Group

1.      According
to this Agreement, a Joint Follow-Up Expert Group is hereby established which
consists of the representatives of competent authorities of the Parties
(hereinafter referred to as "the Joint Follow-Up Expert Group".)

2.      The Joint Follow-Up
Expert Group shall make recommendations by consensus.

3.      The Joint Follow-Up
Expert Group shall meet, with the date, place and programme being fixed by
consensus.

4.      The
Joint Follow-Up Expert Group shall administer this Agreement and ensure its
proper implementation. For this purpose:

–          It shall
address questions relating to the implementation of the Agreement,

–          It shall
study and recommend technical cooperation measures referred to in Article 8,

–          It shall
study and recommend other possible forms of cooperation,

–          It shall consider other issues of the Parties
about the implementation of this Agreement.

5.      The Joint Follow-Up
Expert Group may recommend amendments to this Agreement to the Parties.

Article 10

Obligations under other international
agreements

1.      Unless otherwise
provided by this Agreement, its provisions shall not affect the obligations of
the Parties under any other international agreement.

2.      The exchange of secret
information is regulated by the Agreement between the Russian Federation and
the European Union on the protection of classified information[1].

3.      The provisions of this
Agreement shall take precedence over the provisions of any bilateral or
multilateral international agreement covering drug precursors between the
Russian Federation and the EU Member States.

4.         The Parties shall inform each other about the
conclusion of international agreements on the aforementioned issues with other
countries.

5.      This Agreement is to be
seen and interpreted in the context of the overall legal framework in force
between the EU and the Russian Federation, including in respect of any
obligation contained therein.

Article 11

Entry into force

This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day
of the second month following the date of the reception of the last written
notification of the Parties about completion of their internal procedures
required for its entry into force.

Article 12

Duration, denunciation and amendments

1.      This Agreement shall be
concluded for five years at the end of which it is automatically/tacitly
renewed for further successive five year periods until one of the Parties, no
later than 6 months prior the termination of the relevant 5 year period
notifies the other Party in writing of its intention to terminate this present
agreement.

2.      This Agreement may be
amended by mutual consent of the Parties.

Article 13

Costs

Each Party shall bear the costs
it incurs arising from the measures to implement this Agreement.

Done at                                                                                     Date

in duplicate in the Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch,
Estonian, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian,
Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish,
Swedish and Russian languages, all these texts being equally authentic.

For the European
Union                                                            For the
Russian Federation

ANNEX I

Acetic Anhydride

Acetone

Anthranilic Acid

Ephedrine

Ergometrine

Ergotamine

Ethyl Ether

Hydrochloric Acid

Isosafrole

Lysergic Acid

3,4-Methylenedioxyphenyl-2-propanonal

Methyl Ethyl Ketone

N-Acetylanthranilic Acid

Norephedrine

Phenylacetic Acid

1-Phenyl-2-propanone

Piperidine

Piperonal

Potassium Permanganate

Pseudoephedrine

Safrole

Sulphuric Acid

Toluene

Note: The list of
precursors must always include a reference to their salts, where appropriate.

(With
the exception of the salts of Hydrochloric Acid and Sulphuric Acid.)

ANNEX II

Data protection definitions and principles

Definitions

For the purpose of this
Agreement, "personal data" shall mean any information relating to an
identified or identifiable natural person;

"Processing of personal
data" shall mean any operation or set of operations which is performed
upon personal data, whether or not by automatic means, such as collection,
recording, organisation, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval,
consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise
making available, alignment or combination, blocking, erasure or destruction.

Principles

"Data quality and proportionality": data shall be adequate, accurate relevant
and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which they are transferred
and, where necessary, kept up to date. The Parties shall in particular ensure
that the accuracy of data exchanged is regularly reviewed.

"Transparency": A data subject shall be provided with information as
to the purposes of the processing and the identity of the data controller , the
recipients and categories of recipients of the personal data, the existence of
the right of access and the right to rectify, erasure or blocking data
concerning him/her, the right to administrative and judicial recourses and
other information insofar as this is necessary to ensure fair processing,
unless such information has already been provided by the Parties to the
Agreement.

"Rights of access, rectification, erasure and
blocking of data": A
data subject shall have a right of direct access without constraint to all data
relating to him/her that are processed and, as appropriate, the right to the
rectification, erasure or blocking of data the processing of which does not
comply with this Agreement because the data are incomplete or inaccurate.

"Redress": the Parties shall provide that a data subject who
considers that his/her right to privacy or that personal data concerning
him/her have been processed in breach of this Agreement, shall have the right
in accordance with their legislation to an effective administrative remedy
before a competent authority and a judicial remedy before an independent and
impartial tribunal accessible by individuals regardless of their nationality or
country of residence.

Any such infringements or violation shall be subject
to appropriate, proportionate and effective sanctions including compensation
for damages suffered as a result of an infringement of data protection rules.
Where data protection provisions are found to have been breached sanctions
including compensation are to be imposed in accordance with applicable domestic
rules.

Onward transfers:

Onward transfers of personal data to other authorities
and public bodies of a third country shall be allowed only with the prior
written consent of the authority which has transmitted the data and for the
purposes for which the data have been transmitted and if this country provides
an adequate level of data protection. Subject to reasonable legal limitations
provided by national law, the Parties shall inform the data subject on such
onward transfer.

Supervision of data processing: Compliance with data protection rules by
each Party shall be subject to control by one or more independent public
authorities that have effective powers of investigation, intervention and to
engage in legal proceedings or to bring to the attention of the competent
judicial authorities any violation of the data protection principles of this
agreement. Each independent public authority shall, in particular, hear claims
lodged by any person concerning protection of his or her rights and freedoms
with regard to the processing of personal data pursuant to this Agreement. The
person concerned shall be informed of the outcome of the claim.

Exemptions from transparency and
right of access: The Parties may restrict the right of access and transparency
principles in accordance with their legislation when necessary in order not to:

- jeopardise an
official investigation,

- violate the human
rights of other persons.

[1]               OJ L 155, 22.6.2010.