In 2022 INCB responded to the increasing use of designer precursors and other non-scheduled chemicals in illicit drug manufacturing with the development of a new tool, PEN Online Light.
PEN Online Light allows countries to exchange, on a voluntary basis, pre-export notifications for substitute and alternative chemicals that are not controlled in Table I and Table II of the 1988 Convention but are known to be used in the illicit manufacture of drugs. Most of these chemicals are included in the INCB's Limited International Special Surveillance List (ISSL).
PEN Online Light uses the same technology as PEN Online, an INCB tool launched in March 2006.
While PEN Online allows Governments to comply with the controls set for in article 12 of the 1988 Convention, PEN Online Light allows them to voluntarily monitor additional chemicals that are not on Table I and Table II of the Convention (so-called "non-scheduled chemicals").
