91998E3234

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3234/98

by David Martin (PSE) to the Commission

(26 October 1998)

Subject: A single market for opiates

Could the Commission please outline the Community-wide approach to the free movement of opiates and say what measures it is taking to create a single market for opiates?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(15 January 1999)

Opiates, products derived from opium, fall into the category of drugs whose manufacture, importation, exportation and use are governed by the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention, to which all the Member States are signatories but not the Community. Since they are harmful to health and may be a basis for trafficking, opiates are subject to strict regulations issued by each of the Member States, which, in the absence of Community legislation on the subject, have responsibility in this field. Under the provisions of Article 36 of the EC Treaty, the Member States are, in particular, entitled to take measures to prohibit or restrict imports of opiates from other Member States. For almost ten years the Commission has tried on a number of occasions, and again very recently, to get the Member States to establish a common approach both to the supervised movement of opiates in the Community and to the supervision of imports of opiates from non-member countries. This has proved impossible, since most Member States wish to retain total control of the flows of opiates across their borders. Therefore the Commission is at present unable to take any practical initiatives in this field.