At its meeting in Luxembourg on 28 and 29 June 1991, the European Council, approved the setting-up of a European Drugs Monitoring Centre. Such a body, named the European Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (‘the Centre’), was established by Council Regulation (EEC) No 302/93 of 8 February 1993 (3), which has been substantially amended several times (4). Since further amendments are to be made, it should, in the interests of clarity, be recast.
(2)
Factual, objective, reliable and comparable information concerning drugs, drug addiction and their consequences is required at Community level to help provide the Community and the Member States with an overall view and thus give them added value when, in their respective areas of competence, they take measures or decide on action to combat drugs.
(3)
The drug phenomenon comprises many complex and closely interwoven aspects which cannot easily be dissociated. Therefore, the Centre should be entrusted with the task of furnishing general information which will help to provide the Community and its Member States with an overall view of the drug and drug addiction phenomenon. This task should not prejudice the allocation of powers between the Community and its Member States with regard to legislative provisions concerning drug supply and demand.
(4)
By means of Decision No 2367/2002/EC of 16 December 2002 (5), the European Parliament and the Council established the Community statistical programme for the period from 2003 to 2007, which includes the Community's actions on statistics in the field of health and safety.
(5)
Council Decision 2005/387/JHA of 10 May 2005 on information exchange, risk-assessment and control of new psychoactive substances (6) sets out the role of the Centre and its Scientific Committee in the rapid information system and in the assessment of the risks of new substances.
(6)
Account should be taken of new methods of use, especially poly-drug use, where illicit drugs are taken in combination with licit drugs or medication.
(7)
It should be one of the Centre's tasks to provide information on best practices and guidelines in the Member States and to facilitate the exchange of such practices among them.
(8)
The Council Resolution of 10 December 2001 on the implementation of the five key epidemiological indicators on drugs urges Member States to ensure, making use of national focal points, that comparable information on those indicators is available. The implementation by Member States of those indicators is a precondition for the Centre to perform its tasks as set out in this Regulation.
(9)
It is desirable for the Commission to be able to entrust the Centre directly with the implementation of Community structural assistance projects relating to drug information systems in third countries such as the candidate countries or the countries of the western Balkans which have been authorised by the European Council to participate in Community programmes and agencies.
(10)
The way in which the Centre is organised and its working methods should be consistent with the objective nature of the results sought, namely the comparability and compatibility of sources and methods in connection with drug information.
(11)
The information compiled by the Centre should concern priority areas, the content, scope and implementing arrangements of which should be defined.
(12)
There are national, European and international organisations and bodies that already supply information of this kind, and it is necessary for the Centre to be able to carry out its tasks in close cooperation with them.
(13)
Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (7) should apply to the processing of personal data by the Centre.
(14)
The Centre should also apply the general principles and limits governing the right of access to documents as provided for in Article 255 of the Treaty and defined by Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (8).
(15)
The Centre should have legal personality.
(16)
In view of its size, the Centre's Management Board should be assisted by an Executive Committee.
(17)
In order to ensure that the European Parliament is well informed of the state of the drugs phenomenon in the European Union, it should have the right to question the Centre's Director.
(18)
The Centre's work should be conducted in a transparent fashion and its management should be subject to all existing good governance and anti-fraud rules, in particular Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) (9) and the Interinstitutional Agreement of 25 May 1999 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the Commission of the European Communities concerning internal investigations by the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF) (10) to which the Centre has acceded and the necessary implementing provisions of which it has adopted.
(19)
An external evaluation of the Centre's work should be conducted on a regular basis, and this Regulation should be adapted accordingly, if needed.
(20)
Since the objectives of this Regulation cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can, by reason of the scale and effects of this Regulation, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve those objectives.
(21)
This Regulation respects fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
