Drug Precursor
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European legislation
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  • In 2020 the Commission adopted the ‘Evaluation of the EU drug precursors regulations’ report, under Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 and Council Regulation (EC) No 111/2005 The report assesses the implementation, effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU added value of the regulations.
  • Fighting against diversion of drug precursors contributes to the overall fight against the supply of illegal drugs. Reduction of drug precursor diversion and trafficking is therefore an important objective of the overall EU Drugs Strategy and its EU Action Plan on Drugs. Further information on the European Drug Control policy can be found on the DG Migration and Home Affairs website.
  • At international level, the 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, and in particular Article 12 thereof, requires that countries implement measures to control and monitor the legitimate trade in drug precursors as an essential way to prevent at an early stage their diversion. Co-operation between authorities and industry is a key element to the success of this control and monitoring system.
  • At EU level, Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 (managed by the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs) and Council Regulation (EC) No 111/2005 (managed by the Directorate General for Taxation and the Customs Union) constitute the legal framework in place implementing Article 12 of the 1988 UN Convention and aim at preventing diversion of drug precursors through close monitoring of their trade both within the EU and between the EU and the rest of the world.
  • Regulation (EC) No 273/2004 lays down harmonised rules for monitoring the intra-Union trade on drug precursors. It strikes a balance between taking the necessary actions to prevent diversion of drug precursors while allowing the legitimate intra-Union trade in these chemical substances without creating unnecessary administrative burdens. Different degrees of control apply to operators depending on the sensitivity of the drug precursors they possess or handle, through a classification of the drug precursors into three categories.
  • Regulation (EC) No 111/2005 lays down rules for the monitoring of trade in drug precursors between the EU and third countries outside the European Union. The purpose of this Regulation is to implement Article 12 of the 1988 UN Convention and to control imports and exports of trade in drug precursors. Further information can be found on the DG Taxation and Customs Union website.
  • The rules for the implementation of the above-mentioned Regulations are contained in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2015/1011 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2015/1013
  • A guidance document (52 kB) contains consensual answers to questions of interpretation raised by authorities and/or operators.

Monitoring
On the basis of the information provided by EU countries, every year the Commission has published a report on shipments in drug precursors that have been seized or stopped in the EU, allowing a monitoring of trends in the illegal diversion of drug precursors.
In 2014, the Commission and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) agreed that, as from 2015, the yearly data on seized and stopped shipments of drug precursors would be published as a part of the annual European Drug Report issued by the EMCDDA.
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