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European Council to negotiate reform of new psychoactive substances legislation

Xinhua, December 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

The European Council said Thursday it is ready to negotiate with the European Parliament about the reform of legislation on new psychoactive substances.

Other agendas for the reform could include improving the information exchange, early warning system and risk assessment procedure at European Union (EU) level, the Council said in a statement.

The reform package will allow for a more effective and efficient EU response to the new psychoactive substances, which appear on the EU market at unprecedented pace, posing a risk to public health and safety, it said.

In particular, it will streamline the procedure followed at EU level to assess the potential negative effects of a new psychoactive substance and decide on a possible ban.

The need for an amendment to the legislation on psychoactive substance was brought by the quick and massive growth in new psychoactive substances, at global level and in Europe, according to the statement.

In 2015, 98 new psychoactive substances were reported for the first time to the EU Early Warning System, bringing the total number of new substances monitored to more than 560 -- with more than 400 of these detected in the last five years alone. Endit