EC/Romania agreement: participation in the work of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction

PURPOSE: to conclude an Agreement between the Community and Romania on the participation of Romania in the work of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

CONTENT: based on a Council mandate, the European Commission has concluded negotiations for the participation of Romania, a candidate country, on the EU’s European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). Negotiations on an Agreement have been concluded and Romania is now in the process of ratifying the draft Agreement. Similar negotiations and Agreements have been concluded, simultaneously, with two other candidate countries: Bulgaria (CNS/2006/0095) and Turkey (CNS/2006/0089).

The conditions set out in the draft Agreement are comparable to those applied to Norway’s participation on the EMCDDA. The Agreement states that Romania will be allowed to take part in the Centre’s work programme and must meet all of the obligations set out in Council Regulation 302/93/EEC, establishing the Centre, and its subsequent amendments (Council Regulation 3294/94/EC, Council Regulation 2220/2000/EC and Council Regulation 1651/2003/EC). Romania will be linked to the “European Information Network on Drugs and Drug Addition” (REITOX) and will share data with the Centre. As far as the financial provisions are concerned, Romania will be fully integrated in all of the Centre’s activities after a three year phase-in period. The financial contribution is therefore expected to increase every year until the end of this period. Romania may apply to Community assistance programmes to subsidise part of its financial contribution. The Agreement has been drafted to allow Romania to take part in the Management Board – but without voting rights.

Participation is on unlimited for an unlimited period and will last until such time as Romania becomes a member of the European Union. For its part, the EMCDDA will treat Romania as an existing Member based on equal terms, such as linking up to REITOX and staffing provisions. Participation:

A number of benefits are foreseen with the participation of Romania on the Agreement:

-         will help Romania apply the Community’s body of law relating to drugs, prior to accession.

-         will allow Romania to become more familiar with the decision-making procedure of the EMCDDA.

-         will extend the data collected by the EMCDDA to include Romanian statistics.

-         will allow data thus collected be used and disseminated through the Centre’s Annual Report.

-         will allow Romania to benefit from the “Early Warning System on New Synthetic Drugs” – an instrument developed by the EMCDDA. 

For further information concerning the financial implications of this measure, please refer to the financial statement.