REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the delegation of power under Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on drug precursors and Council Regulation (EC) No 111/2005 laying down rules for the monitoring of trade between the Union and third countries in drug precursors
Date: 2018-03-27
Institutions: Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission
Subjects: administrative cooperation, delegated legislation, delegation of power, drug addiction, drug traffic, export monitoring, illicit trade, intra-EU trade, psychotropic substance, surveillance concerning imports

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 27.3.2018  COM(2018) 159 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the delegation of power under Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on drug precursors and Council Regulation (EC) No 111/2005 laying down rules for the monitoring of trade between the Union and third countries in drug precursors  
 
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Regulation (EU) No 273/2004 establishes harmonised measures for the intra-Union control 
and monitoring of certain substances frequently used for the illicit manufacture of narcotic 
drugs  and  psychotropic  substances  (hereinafter  referred  to  as  drug  precursors)  for  the 
purpose  of  preventing  the  diversion  of  such  substances.  Articles  15  and  15a  of  the 
Regulation empower the Commission to adopt delegated acts for certain purposes and under 
certain conditions, for a period of five years from 30 December 2013. Article 15a(2) of the 
Regulation calls on the Commission to present a report to the European Parliament and to 
the Council in respect of the delegation of power conferred on it, not later than nine months 
before the end of the five-year period, i.e. by 31 March 2018. 

Regulation  (EU)  No  111/2005  lays  down  rules  for  the  monitoring  of  trade  between  the 
Union and third countries in the above-mentioned substances. It applies to imports, exports 
and intermediary activities. Similarly to Regulation (EU) No 273/2004, in accordance with 
Articles  30a  and  30b  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  111/2005,  the  Commission  is  empowered  to 
adopt delegated acts for certain purposes and under certain conditions, for a period of five 
years from 30 December 2013. Article 30b(2) of the Regulation calls on the Commission to 
present a report to the European Parliament and to the Council in respect of the delegation of 
power  conferred on it, not later than nine months before the end of the five-year period, i.e. 
by 31 March 2018.  

Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 and Regulation (EC) No 111/2005 jointly implement article 
12  of  the  United  Nations  Convention  against  Illicit  Traffic  in  Narcotic  Drugs  and 
Psychotropic  Substances  of  19  December  1988  (hereinafter  referred  to  as  the  UN 
Convention).  This  article  obliges  the  Parties  to  the  Convention  to  take  the  appropriate 
measures to prevent the diversion of substances frequently used in the illicit manufacture of 
narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances, and to co-operate with one another.. The premise 
underlying  this  provision  is  that  the  denial  of  these  substances  to  producers  and 
manufacturers of illicit drugs will result in a reduction in illicit drug manufacture. 

In view of the close material link between those Regulations, the amendments to both have 
been adopted by way of single delegated acts covering both Regulations. Consequently, the 
two above-mentioned reporting requirements have also been merged into one report.  

2. 

EXERCISE OF THE POWER TO ADOPT DELEGATED ACTS 

In  accordance  with  Article  15a  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  273/2004,  the  Commission  is 
empowered  to  adopt  delegated  acts  referred  to  in  Articles  3(8),  4(4)  and  5(7),  the  second 
paragraph of Article 7, Articles 8(3) and 13(2). Additionally, in accordance with Article 15, 
the Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in order to adapt Annexes I, II and III 
of  the  Regulation  to  new  trends  in  diversion  of  drug  precursors  and  to  follow  any 
amendment to the tables in the Annex to the United Nations Convention. 

Similarly, in accordance with Article 30b of Regulation (EU) No 111/2005, the Commission 
is empowered to adopt delegated acts referred to in the third subparagraph  of Article 6(1), 
the third subparagraph of Article 7(1), Article 8(2), the second subparagraph of Article 9(2), 
Article  10(5),  Article  11(1)  and  (3),  Articles  19  and  Article  32(2).  Additionally,  in 
accordance with Article 30a, the Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in order 
to  adapt  the  Annex  of  the  Regulation  to  new  trends  in  diversion  of  drug  precursors,  in 

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particular  substances  which  can  be  easily  transformed  into  scheduled  substances,  and  to 
follow any amendment to the tables in the Annex to the United Nations Convention.  

During  the  period  under  consideration,  namely  from  30  December  2013  to  the  date  of 
adoption  of  this  report,  the  Commission  exercised  its  power  to  adopt  delegated  acts  three 
times: 

1)  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2015/1011  of  24  April  2015  supplementing 
Regulation  (EC)  No  273/2004  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  drug 
precursors and Council Regulation (EC) No 111/2005 laying down rules for the monitoring 
of  trade  between  the  Union  and  third  countries  in  drug  precursors,  and  repealing 
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1277/2005 

This  Regulation  lays  down  conditions  for  granting  licences  and  registrations;  determines 
cases  where  a  licence  and  a  registration  are  not  required;  establishes  the  criteria  to 
demonstrate  the  licit  purpose  of  a  transaction;  determines  the  information  required  to 
monitor  trade;  fixes  the  conditions  for  determining  the  lists  of  the  countries  of  destination 
for  exports  of  scheduled  substances  of  Categories  2  and  3;  establishes  the  criteria  for 
determining simplified procedures for pre-export notifications and for export authorisations; 
and  specifies  the  requirements  concerning  the  information  to  be  provided  on  the 
implementation of the monitoring measures as regards trade in drug precursors. 

These provisions were previously included in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1277/2005 
but were transferred to a Commission Delegated Regulation further to the entry into force of 
the Lisbon Treaty. When preparing the delegated act, the Commission consulted extensively 
the  EU  Group  of  Experts  on  Drug  Precursors  in  writing  and  during  its  14th,  15th  and  16th 
meetings  which  took  place  on  5  May  2014,  10  November  2014  and  22  May  2015 
respectively. The members of the Group of Experts supported the amendments. 

2)  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2016/1443  of  29  June  2016  amending 
Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council 
Regulation (EC) No 111/2005 as regards the inclusion of certain drug precursors in the list 
of scheduled substances 

This  Regulation  adds  chloroephedrine  and  chloropseudoephedrine  to  the  list  of  scheduled 
drug  precursors  in  Regulation  (EC)  No  273/2004  and  Regulation  (EC)  No  111/2005. 
Chloroephedrine  and  chloropseudoephedrine  are  substances  that  can  be  used  for  the 
production  of  methamphetamine.  This  addition  was  proposed  by  a  number  of  Member 
States.  When  preparing  the  delegated  act,  the  Commission  consulted  extensively  the  EU 
Group of Experts on Drug Precursors in writing and during its 16th, 17th and 18th meetings 
which took place on 22 May 2015, 9 November 2015 and 3-4 May 2016 respectively. The 
Commission consulted also the concerned industry stakeholders in writing. There was broad 
support for this proposal.  

3)  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2018/XXXX1  of  26  February  2018  amending 
Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council 
Regulation (EC) No 111/2005 as regards the inclusion of certain drug precursors in the list 
of scheduled substances 

1 At the time of the adoption of this report, the 2 month scrutiny period - possibly extended by a further 2 
months - for the European Parliament and the Council was still on-going. 

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This  Regulation  adds  4-anilino-N-phenethylpiperidine  (ANPP)  and  N-phenethyl-4-
piperidone (NPP) to the list of scheduled drug precursors in Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 
and  Regulation  (EC)  No  111/2005.  4-anilino-N-phenethylpiperidine  (ANPP)  and  N-
phenethyl-4-piperidone (NPP) are substances that can be used for the production of fentanyl 
and fentanyl analogues. This addition is required further to a decision of the United Nations 
Commission on Narcotic Drugs to include both substances in Table I of the UN Convention. 
When preparing the delegated act, the Commission consulted extensively the EU Group of 
Experts on Drug Precursors in writing and during its 20th and 21st meetings which took place 
on 11-12 May 2017 and 23 October 2017 respectively. The Commission consulted also the 
concerned industry stakeholders in writing. Additionally, the proposal has been published on 
the Better Regulation Portal  of the European Commission  for stakeholder feedback. There 
was broad support for adding the substances to Category 1 of Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 
and Regulation (EC) No 111/2005. 

In  all  three  cases  the  Commission  ensured  the  timely  and  appropriate  transmission  of 
relevant documents to the European Parliament and to the Council. 

3. 

CONCLUSION 

New trends in diversion and illegal  trade in drug precursors continue to emerge rapidly. It 
can even be argued that the pace of change is accelerating. It is thus essential that Regulation 
(EC) No 273/2004 and Regulation (EC) No 111/2005 can continue to be amended swiftly by 
means of delegated acts.  

Therefore, the Commission is of the view that the power to adopt delegated acts conferred 
on it by Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 and Regulation (EC) No 111/2005 should be tacitly 
extended for a period of five years, in accordance with Article 15a(2) of Regulation (EC) No 
273/2004 and Article 30b(2) of the Regulation (EC) No 111/2005 respectively.  

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