Council Recommendation of 30 March 2004 regarding guidelines for taking samples of seized drugs
Date: 2004-03-30
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: drug traffic, narcotic, sampling

C 86/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

6.4.2004

5. In the light of the Commission's analysis and in the context of improving the competitiveness of

business-related services, STRESSES in particular the need for action on a European level to:

— develop the internal market and competitive framework conditions for business related services in
order to improve competition, strengthen market integration and meet global competitive chal-
lenges;

— promote continuous learning and updating of skills of the labour force and stimulate the integration

of ICT into business processes in order to improve productivity;

— improve the understanding of linkages between business-related services and other sectors of the

economy, in particular the manufacturing industries and the public sector;

— improve statistical information: business-related services are of considerable economic importance to
instruments for achieving better
information should be

the EU. Better data and economic analysis constitute essential
knowledge and determining policy choices.
achieved whilst minimising the overall administrative burden;

Improvements in statistical

— encourage R&D and non-technological

innovation, the establishment of voluntary standards for
services products and the further development of business-related services in regional and local
markets;

6. LOOKS FORWARD to the development of a well targeted Action Plan for business-related services and
accompanying timetable and WELCOMES the intention of the Commission to present this early in 2005
to complement the measures contained in the proposed Framework Directive on Services.

COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION

of 30 March 2004

regarding guidelines for taking samples of seized drugs

(2004/C 86/04)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Whereas:

Bearing in mind:

The 1961 United Nations Single Convention on narcotic drugs,
as amended by the 1972 amending Protocol,

The 1971 United Nations Convention on Psychotropic
Substances,

The 1988 United Nations Convention against illicit traffic in
narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances,

The European Union Action Plan on Drugs 2000-2004,
approved by the Feira European Council of June 2000,

The Council Decision 2001/419/JHA of 28 May 2001 on the
transmission of samples of controlled substances (1),

The guidelines on representative drug sampling adopted by the
European Network of Forensic Science Institutes in November
2003,

(1) One of

the objectives of
progressively to establish an area of
and justice.

the European Union is
freedom, security

(2) It is important within that area to comprehensively and
related to

including crime

effectively combat
organised trafficking in drugs.

crime,

(3) The

terms

‘drugs’

substances’

and ‘psychotropic

are
understood as the substances listed in the corresponding
United Nations Conventions and any substance that
is
subject to control measures pursuant to Article 5(1) of
Joint Action 97/396/JHA of 16 June 1997 concerning
the
and the
information exchange,
control of new synthetic drugs (2).

risk assessment

(4) The collection, analysis, and dissemination of objective,
reliable and comparable data on the drugs phenomenon
should be assured, as laid down in the European Union
Action Plan on Drugs.

(1) OJ L 150, 6.6.2001, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 167, 25.6.1997, p. 1.

6.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 86/11

(5) The European Union Action Plan on Drugs considers that
the Member States, through their forensic science labora-
tories, should exchange information on the analysis of the
samples collected in synthetic-drug seizures.

and to apply these guidelines, in particular in those cases
where the results of the taking of samples is likely to be
relevant for other Member States,

(6) To this end, guidelines for taking samples should be taken

into consideration.

2. consider

the European Network of

Forensic Science
Institutes guidelines of November 2003 on representative
drug sampling as a good basis
for guaranteeing the
procedure for taking samples,

(7) These guidelines should be practicable and not lead to
excessive laboratory workload resulting in unacceptable
turn around times.

3. consider that the minimum standards for sampling of large

international cases are

(8) These guidelines should also aim at protecting the chain of
custody of transmitted samples, with a view to ensuring, as
far
in
proceedings on drug-related crimes.

as possible,

admissibility

evidence

their

as

(a) a detailed report

sample
(description of
numbers, weighings, packages, origin, external charac-
teristics, appearance, pictures, etc) on the seizure by the
law enforcement authorities, for the use of the forensic
experts and the court;

samples,

(9) Using such guidelines in these matters would help to
improve judicial decisions and judgements, as well as facili-
tating the work of officials engaged in combating drugs at
any level,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS Member States,

(b) a sampling technique based on the hypergeometrical or
Bayesian methods, 95 % confidence level and 50 %
proportion level
the items) or the
least half of
method recommended by UN,

(at

in the phase of sampling seized drugs for analytical purposes,
to:

4. consider that the minimum standards for sampling used in
one Member State may be taken into consideration in other
Member States, in accordance with national legislation,

1.

introduce, where this is not already done, a system of taking
samples according to internationally accepted guidelines,

5. adopt appropriate measures to guarantee the chain of

custody in transmission of samples.