57th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs decides on the international scheduling of alpha-phenylacetoacetonitrile (APAAN)
The 57th CND, in March 2014, decided with 40 votes in favour, none against and no abstentions to follow the recommendation made by the Board to include APAAN and its optical isomers in Table I of the 1988 Convention (decision 57/1) [
http://www.unodc.org/documents/commissions/CND/CND_Sessions/CND_57/Report/
E2014_28_ECN72014_16_Advance_unedited_version.pdf]. The decision was communicated by the Secretary-General to all parties on 9 April 2014. Pursuant to article 6 of the 1988 Convention, the decision will become effective 180 days later, i.e. the inclusion of APAAN in Table I of the 1988 Convention will become fully effective on 6 October 2014.
APAAN is an immediate precursor of 1-phenyl-2-propanone (P-2-P), and a pre-precursor of amphetamine and methamphetamine. Isolated seizures of APAAN have been reported since 2006. Since the beginning of 2012, the frequency of seizures and the amounts seized have increased at an unprecedented pace, especially in Europe, where it has practically become the precursor of choice in illicit amphetamine manufacture. Seizures have also been reported from North America [
http://www.incb.org/incb/en/precursors/technical_reports/precursors-technical-reports.html].
To prevent that APAAN continues to fuel illicit amphetamine and methamphetamine manufacture, the Board encourages Governments to take voluntarily, already at this stage, all necessary measures of control of the substance, including use of the automated online system (PEN Online) for the exchange of pre-export notifications for APAAN shipments in legitimate international trade, if any [
https://www.incb.org/pen/]. The Board also requests Governments to communicate any incident of trafficking and diversion of chemicals that may substitute for APAAN in the illicit manufacture of amphetamine-type stimulants.