COUNCIL DECISION on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Union and the Russian Federation on drug precursors EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1. CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL
On 23 March 2009 the Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations with the Russian Federation for an Agreement on drug precursors. Following the launch of negotiations in September 2009, four negotiating rounds took place. In September 2012, the text of the Agreement was finally agreed between the Parties.
This Agreement aims to strengthen the cooperation between the European Union and the Russian Federation to prevent diversion of drug precursors from the legal trade to counter illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
As this Agreement may occasionally imply an exchange of personal data, it includes specific provisions on data protection in order to provide sufficient protection for citizens in the use of their data.
The Commission considers that the text is in accordance with the negotiating directives.
The Commission is therefore invited to adopt the attached proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of this Agreement.
In parallel, a separate proposal for a Council decision on the signing of this Agreement is also submitted.
2. RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS WITH THE INTERESTED PARTIES AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
Member States were regularly informed on the draft of the Agreement within the Drug Precursors Working Group/Committee and within the Council Working Party on Customs Union.
There was no need for an impact assessment.
3. LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROPOSAL
The Council is asked to adopt a decision authorising the conclusion of the draft Agreement based on Article 207 (4) in conjunction with Article 218 (6) (a) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The proposal falls under the common commercial policy, exclusive competence of the Union. The subsidiarity principle therefore does not apply.
4. BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS
The proposal has no budgetary implications for the Union budget.
The draft Agreement is consistent with the drug policy outlined in the EU Drug Strategy 2005-2012, providing for action to reduce the supply of precursors and, thereby, decrease the production of drugs.
A proposal for a Council decision on the signing of the draft Agreement is submitted in parallel to this proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of the draft Agreement. COUNCIL DECISION on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Union and the Russian Federation on drug precursors
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 207(4), in conjunction with Article 218(6)(a) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,
Having regard to the consent of the European Parliament1,
The European Union and the Russian Federation should strengthen their cooperation to prevent diversion of drug precursors from the legal trade to counter illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
In accordance with Council Decision [XXX] of […]2, the Agreement between the European Union and the Russian Federation on drug precursors, hereinafter referred to as "the Agreement" was signed on […], subject to its conclusion at a later date.
The Agreement should ensure full respect of fundamental rights, in particular a high level of protection for the processing and transfer of personal data between the Parties.
The Agreement should be approved on behalf of the European Union,
The Agreement between the European Union and the Russian Federation on drug precursors is hereby approved on behalf of the Union.
The text of the Agreement is attached to this Decision.
The President of the Council shall designate the person empowered to proceed, on behalf of the European Union, to the notification provided for in Article 11 of the Agreement, in order to express the consent of the European Union to be bound by the Agreement.
This Decision shall enter into force on the day of its adoption3.
The date of entry into force of the Agreement will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union by the General Secretariat of the Council.
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION ON DRUG PRECURSORS
hereinafter referred to as the "The Parties",
WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK of the United Nations Convention of 1988 against Illicit Traffic
in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, hereinafter referred to as the "1988
DETERMINED to prevent and to combat the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs and
psychotropic substances by preventing the diversion from the legitimate trade of substances
frequently used in the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances
(hereinafter referred to as the "precursors");
TAKING into account the overall legal framework between the Russian Federation and the
NOTING that international trade may be used for the diversion of such precursors;
CONVINCED of the necessity to conclude and to implement agreements between the Parties
concerned, with the purpose of establishing wide cooperation, in particular pertaining to export
RECOGNISING that precursors are also mainly and widely used for legitimate purposes and
that international trade must not be hindered by excessive monitoring procedures.
This Agreement sets out measures to strengthen cooperation between the Parties to
prevent the diversion from the legitimate trade of precursors, without prejudice to the
The Parties shall assist each other, as set out in this Agreement, in particular by:
monitoring the trade between the Parties in the precursors with the aim of preventing
providing mutual assistance for the purpose of prevention of diversion of such
The measures referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article shall apply to the precursors listed
in Annex I of this Agreement (hereinafter referred to as "scheduled precursors").
The Parties shall inform each other in writing about their respective competent
authorities. These authorities shall communicate directly with one another for the purposes of
The Parties shall inform each other about their respective legal provisions and other
measures applied to implement this Agreement.
authorities of the Parties shall inform each other on their own initiative
whenever they have reasonable grounds to believe that scheduled precursors in legitimate trade
between the Parties may be diverted to the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs or psychotropic
With regard to the scheduled precursors the competent authorities of the exporting Party
shall forward a pre-export notification containing the information referred to in Article 12 (10)
point a) of the 1988 Convention to the competent authorities of the importing Party.
The reply in writing by the competent authorities of the importing Party shall be provided
through technical means of communication within 21 days after the receipt of the message from
the competent authorities of the exporting Party. The absence of a reply within this period shall
be considered as non-objection to sending the shipment. Any objection shall be notified in
writing through technical means of communication to the competent authorities of the exporting
Party within this period after the receipt of the pre-export notification giving the reasons for
The Parties shall within the scope of this agreement provide each other mutual assistance
through exchange of information referred to in Article 12 (10) point a) of the 1988 Convention to
prevent the diversion of scheduled precursors to the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs or
psychotropic substances. They shall, in accordance with the legislation of the Parties, take
The Parties shall also provide each other upon written request or at their own initiative
with mutual assistance if there are reasons to believe that other relevant information is of interest
The request shall contain information about the following:
time of the expected execution of the request;
other information that may be used for the execution of the request.
The request directed in writing on the official letter head of the competent authorities of
the requesting Party shall be accompanied by a translation in one of the official languages of the
requested Party and shall be signed by duly authorised persons of the competent authorities of
The competent authorities of the requested Party shall take all necessary measures for the
complete execution of the request as promptly as possible.
assistance shall be executed in accordance with the legislation of the
The competent authorities of the requested Party should as promptly as possible inform
the competent authorities of the requesting Party about the circumstances that prevent or delay
If the competent authorities of the requesting Party state that there is no more necessity to
complete the request, they shall as promptly as possible inform the competent authorities of the
The Parties may cooperate with each other to minimise the risk of illicit shipments of
precursors brought into or out of the territory of the Russian Federation and the customs territory
Assistance provided under this Article shall not prejudice the rules governing mutual
assistance in criminal matters and extradition, nor shall it apply to information obtained under
powers exercised at the request of a judicial authority, except where communication of such
information is authorised by that authority.
The Parties shall take all measures to ensure confidentiality of the received information.
If it is impossible to ensure confidentiality of the requested information, the Party requesting the
information shall inform the other Party accordingly which shall decide whether to provide the
Information obtained under this Agreement, including personal data, shall be used solely
for the purposes of this Agreement and must not be kept longer than necessary for the purposes
for which it is transferred pursuant to this Agreement.
By derogation to paragraph 2, the use of information, including personal data, for
further purposes by the Authorities or public bodies of the Party which received the
information shall only be authorized after prior express and written approval of the authority
of the Party which transmitted the information in accordance with the legislation of that Party.
Such use shall then be subject to any conditions established by that authority.
The Parties may in proceedings instituted for failure to comply with legislation on
scheduled precursors use as evidence information obtained and documents consulted in
accordance with the provisions of this Agreement following prior written consent of the
competent authorities of the requested Party which provided the data.
In case personal data are exchanged, their processing shall comply with the principles set
out in Annex II which are mandatory for the Parties to the Agreement.
Exceptions to the obligation to provide mutual assistance
assistance may be refused or may be made subject to certain conditions or
requirements, in cases where a Party is of the opinion that assistance under this Agreement
would be likely to prejudice the sovereignty the security, the public policy or other essential
interests, of the Russian Federation or that of a Member State of the European Union which has
been requested to provide assistance under this Agreement.
For the cases referred to in this Article, the decision of the competent authorities of the
requested Party and the reasons therefore must be communicated to the competent authorities of
the requesting Party as promptly as possible.
Cooperation regarding precursors not listed in Annex I
The Parties may, on a voluntary basis, exchange information about precursors not listed
in Annex I of this Agreement (hereinafter referred to as "non-scheduled precursors").
In the case of paragraph 1 of this Article, the provisions of Article 4 (2) – (9) shall
The Parties may exchange their available lists of non-scheduled precursors.
The Parties shall cooperate in the identification of new diversion methods as well as
appropriate countermeasures, including technical cooperation and in particular, training and
exchange programmes for the officials concerned, to strengthen administrative and
enforcement structures in this field and to promote cooperation with trade and industry.
According to this Agreement, a Joint Follow-Up Expert Group is hereby established
which consists of the representatives of competent authorities of the Parties (hereinafter
referred to as "the Joint Follow-Up Expert Group".)
The Joint Follow-Up Expert Group shall make recommendations by consensus.
The Joint Follow-Up Expert Group shall meet, with the date, place and programme being
The Joint Follow-Up Expert Group shall administer this Agreement and ensure its proper
It shall address questions relating to the implementation of the Agreement,
It shall study and recommend technical cooperation measures referred to in Article 8,
It shall study and recommend other possible forms of cooperation,
It shall consider other issues of the Parties about the implementation of this Agreement.
The Joint Follow-Up Expert Group may recommend amendments to this Agreement to the
Obligations under other international agreements
Unless otherwise provided by this Agreement, its provisions shall not affect the obligations
of the Parties under any other international agreement.
The exchange of secret information is regulated by the Agreement between the Russian
Federation and the European Union on the protection of classified information4.
The provisions of this Agreement shall take precedence over the provisions of any bilateral
or multilateral international agreement covering drug precursors between the Russian Federation
The Parties shall inform each other about the conclusion of international agreements on
the aforementioned issues with other countries.
This Agreement is to be seen and interpreted in the context of the overall legal framework
in force between the EU and the Russian Federation, including in respect of any obligation
This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following the date
of the reception of the last written notification of the Parties about completion of their internal
procedures required for its entry into force.
1. This Agreement shall be concluded for five years at the end of which it is
automatically/tacitly renewed for further successive five year periods until one of the Parties, no
later than 6 months prior the termination of the relevant 5 year period notifies the other Party in
writing of its intention to terminate this present agreement.
This Agreement may be amended by mutual consent of the Parties.
Each Party shall bear the costs it incurs arising from the measures to implement this Agreement.
in duplicate in the Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, English, Finnish, French,
German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese,
Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish and Russian languages, all these texts being
Note: The list of precursors must always include a reference to their salts, where appropriate.
(With the exception of the salts of Hydrochloric Acid and Sulphuric Acid.)
Data protection definitions and principles Definitions
For the purpose of this Agreement, "personal data" shall mean any information relating to an
identified or identifiable natural person;
"Processing of personal data" shall mean any operation or set of operations which is performed
upon personal data, whether or not by automatic means, such as collection, recording,
organisation, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by
transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, blocking,
Principles "Data quality and proportionality": data shall be adequate, accurate relevant and not
excessive in relation to the purposes for which they are transferred and, where necessary, kept
up to date. The Parties shall in particular ensure that the accuracy of data exchanged is
"Transparency": A data subject shall be provided with information as to the purposes of the
processing and the identity of the data controller , the recipients and categories of recipients of
the personal data, the existence of the right of access and the right to rectify, erasure or
blocking data concerning him/her, the right to administrative and judicial recourses and other
information insofar as this is necessary to ensure fair processing, unless such information has
already been provided by the Parties to the Agreement.
"Rights of access, rectification, erasure and blocking of data": A data subject shall have a
right of direct access without constraint to all data relating to him/her that are processed and,
as appropriate, the right to the rectification, erasure or blocking of data the processing of
which does not comply with this Agreement because the data are incomplete or inaccurate.
"Redress": the Parties shall provide that a data subject who considers that his/her right to
privacy or that personal data concerning him/her have been processed in breach of this
Agreement, shall have the right in accordance with their legislation to an effective
administrative remedy before a competent authority and a judicial remedy before an
independent and impartial tribunal accessible by individuals regardless of their nationality or
Any such infringements or violation shall be subject to appropriate, proportionate and
effective sanctions including compensation for damages suffered as a result of an
infringement of data protection rules. Where data protection provisions are found to have
been breached sanctions including compensation are to be imposed in accordance with
Onward transfers of personal data to other authorities and public bodies of a third country
shall be allowed only with the prior written consent of the authority which has transmitted the
data and for the purposes for which the data have been transmitted and if this country
provides an adequate level of data protection. Subject to reasonable legal limitations provided
by national law, the Parties shall inform the data subject on such onward transfer.
Supervision of data processing: Compliance with data protection rules by each Party shall be
subject to control by one or more independent public authorities that have effective powers of
investigation, intervention and to engage in legal proceedings or to bring to the attention of
the competent judicial authorities any violation of the data protection principles of this
agreement. Each independent public authority shall, in particular, hear claims lodged by any
person concerning protection of his or her rights and freedoms with regard to the processing
of personal data pursuant to this Agreement. The person concerned shall be informed of the
Exemptions from transparency and right of access: The Parties may restrict the right of access
and transparency principles in accordance with their legislation when necessary in order not to:
- violate the human rights of other persons.
1 International Diabetes Federation 20062 The Challenge of obesity in the WHO European Region and the strategies for response. Nov. 2006 (http://www.euro.who.int/document/e89858.pdf)3 ADA / EASD-Konsensus Leitlinie 2008: Nathan et al. Management of hyperglycaemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a conxensus algorithm for the initiation and adjustment of therapy: update regarding the thiazolidinedion
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