INCB launches two new tools to support authorities in preventing diversion of controlled precursors and related chemicals
Vienna, Austria, May 17 2024 - To support Governments in addressing illicit drug manufacture, INCB has launched two new resources: a list of chemical relatives of controlled precursors and their substitutes, and a compendium of national drug precursor legislation and domestic controls. These two new tools will be useful to law enforcement agencies, customs entities, and other relevant authorities that deal with illicit drug trafficking and manufacture.
Photo: The two new tools can be accessed
online by competent national authorities free of charge (Photo: Canva).
Tool 1: Compendium of national drug precursor legislation and domestic controls
INCB has noted over many years that, as a result of more effective control and monitoring, the diversion of precursors to illicit activities has evolved from being carried out through international trade to being essentially domestic in nature. Therefore, the Board requested Governments to provide information on their national legislation and domestic controls in order to share this information at the international level and support multilateral efforts to address illicit drug manufacture.
The compendium was compiled based on Governments' replies to letters sent to them in 2021 and 2023. It complements and partly supersedes information available in a previous INCB resource, the Information Package on the Control of Precursors. INCB encourages Governments that have not yet responded to also provide relevant information, which will subsequently be included in updated versions of the compendium.
Photo: Governments that responded to the survey on national drug precursor legislation and domestic controls, by region. INCB invites countries to provide it -
or continue to provide it - with information on their national legislation and domestic controls, in order to share it at the international level and better address illicit drug manufacture multilaterally (Graphic: INCB)
Tool 2: List of chemical relatives of controlled precursors and substitute chemicals
The second tool compiles some 500 derivatives and relatives of chemicals controlled internationally (under the 1988 Convention) or included on the INCB limited international special surveillance list (ISSL) - because they are known to be used by illicit drug manufacturers or because they are technically related to those known chemicals.
The list translates the extended definitions described in ISSL into concrete chemical structures that may be targeted by illicit drug operators and will support the efforts of relevant authorities to prevent the diversion of these chemicals.
New tools available in the Information Package on the Control of Precursors
Both new resources are available, currently in English only, on the INCB secure page for competent national authorities as complements to Part A and Part B of the Information Package on the Control of Precursors. As both resources are living documents, INCB encourages Governments to review them and provide supplementary information, corrections, and any other suggestions, as required, to its secretariat by email.
Click
here to learn more about the PRECURSORS Programme