International provisions for the control of certain drugs

III. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE THIRD COMMITTEE
211. International provisions for the control of certain drugs

A. PROTOCOL BRINGING UNDER INTERNATIONAL CONTROL DRUGS OUTSIDE THE SCOPE OF THE CONVENTION OF 13 JULY 1931 FOR LIMITING THE MANUFACTURE AND REGULATING THE DISTRIBUTION OF NARCOTIC DRUGS, AS AMENDED BY THE PROTOCOL SIGNED AT LAKE SUCCESS ON 11 DECEMBER 1946.[1]

The General Assembly, Taking note of the recommendations contained in resolution 159 (VII)[2] of the Economic and Social Council, Approves the attached Protocol bringing under international control drugs outside the scope of the Convention of 13 July 1931; Requests the Secretary-General to fix the earliest possible date on which the Protocol will be opened for signature during the present session of the General Assembly; Urges all States Members of the United Nations to sign or accept this Protocol at the present session; Urges any State Member of the United Nations not signing or accepting the Protocol to communicate to the Secretary-General its reasons therefor; Invites all States non-members, in accordance with the wish expressed by the Economic and Social Council in the above-mentioned resolution and in accordance with the provisions of resolution 54 (I)[3] of the General Assembly, to sign or accept this Protocol at the earliest possible date; Urges all States signing or accepting the Protocol to take as soon as possible the necessary steps in order to extend the application of this Protocol to territories for which they have international responsibility, subject, where necessary for constitutional reasons, to the consent of the Governments of such territories; Urges that every State signing or accepting the Protocol which does not make the declaration under article 8 thereof in respect of any territories for which it has international responsibility, shall communicate to the Secretary-General before 31 August 1949 the names of all such territories, together with the reasons for not making the declaration. Hundred and fiftieth plenary meeting,
8 October 1948.

ANNEX TEXT OF THE PROTOCOL

PREAMBLE

The States Parties to the present Protocol, Considering that the progress of modern pharmacology and chemistry has resulted in the discovery of drugs, particularly synthetic drugs, capable of producing addiction, but not covered by the Convention of 13 July 1931 for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs, as amended by the Protocol signed at Lake Success on 11 December 1946, Desiring to supplement the provisions of that Convention and to place these drugs, including the preparations and compounds containing these drugs under control in order to limit by international agreement their manufacture to the world's legitimate requirements for medical and scientific purposes and to regulate their distribution, Realizing the importance of the universal application of this international agreement and of its earliest possible entry into force, Have resolved to conclude a Protocol for that purpose and have agreed upon the following provisions:

CHAPTER I. CONTROL

Article 1

1. Any State Party to the present Protocol which considers that a drug which is or may be used for medical or scientific purposes and to which the Convention. of 13 July 1931 does not apply, is liable to the same kind of abuse and productive of the same kind of harmful effects as the drugs specified in article 1, paragraph 2, of the said Convention, shall send a notification to that effect, with all material information in its possession, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall transmit it immediately to the other States Parties to the present Protocol, to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of the Economic and Social Council, and to the World Health Organization.

2. If the World Health Organization finds that the drug in question is capable of producing addiction or of conversion into a product capable of producing addiction, this organization shall decide whether the drug shall fall:

(a) Under the regime laid down in the 1931 Convention for the drugs specified in article 1, paragraph 2, group I, of that Convention; or

(b) Under the regime laid down in the 1931 Convention for the drugs specified in article 1, paragraph 2, group II, of that Convention.

3. Any decision or finding in accordance with the preceding paragraph shall be notified without delay to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall transmit it immediately to all States Members of the United Nations, to non-member States Parties to this Protocol, to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, and the Permanent Central Board.

4. Upon receipt of the communications from the Secretary-General of the United Nations notifying a decision under paragraph 2 (a) or (b) above, the States Parties to this Protocol shall apply to the drug in question the appropriate regime laid down by the 1931 Convention.

Article 2

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs, upon receipt of the notification from the Secretary-General of the United Nations in accordance with paragraph 1 of article 1 of this Protocol, shall consider as soon as possible whether the measures applicable to drugs specified in article 1, paragraph 2, group I, of the 1931 Convention should provisionally apply to the drug in question, pending receipt of the decision or finding of the World Health Organization. If the Commission on Narcotic Drugs decides that such measures should provisionally apply, this decision shall be communicated without delay by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to the States Parties to this Protocol, to the World Health Organization, and the Permanent Central Board. The said measures shall thereupon be applied provisionally to the drug in question.

Article 3

Any decision or finding taken under article 1 or article 2 of this Protocol may be revised in the light of further experience, in accordance with the procedure provided in this chapter.

CHAPTER II. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 4

The present Protocol does not apply to raw opium, medicinal opium, coca leaf or Indian hemp as defined in article 1 of the International Convention relating to Dangerous Drugs signed at Geneva on 19 February 1925,[4] or to prepared opium as defined in chapter II of the International Opium Convention signed at The Hague on 23 January 1912.[5]

Article 5

1. The present Protocol, of which the Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall be open for signature or acceptance on behalf of any Member of the United Nations and also of any non-member State to which an invitation has been addressed by the Economic and Social Council.

2. Any such State may:

(a) Sign without reservation as to acceptance

(b) Sign subject to acceptance and subsequently accept; or

(c) Accept.

Acceptance shall be effected by the deposit of a formal instrument with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Article 6

The present Protocol shall come into force upon the expiration of thirty days following the day on which twenty-five or more States have signed it without reservation, or accepted it in accordance with article 5, provided that such States shall include five of the following: China, Czechoslovakia, France, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United Kingdom, United States of America, Yugoslavia.

Article 7

A State which has signed without reservation as to acceptance, or has accepted pursuant to article 5, shall become a Party to this Protocol upon its entry into force, or upon the expiration of thirty days following the date of such signature or acceptance if executed after the entry into force of the Protocol.

Article 8

Any State may, at the time of signature or the deposit of its formal instrument of acceptance or at any time thereafter, declare by notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations that the present Protocol shall extend to all or any of the territories for which it has international responsibility; and this Protocol shall extend to the territory or territories named in the notification as from the thirtieth day after the date of receipt of this notification by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Article 9

After the expiration of five years from the date of the coming into force of the present Protocol, any State Party to the present Protocol may, on its own behalf or on behalf of any of the territories for which it has international responsibility, denounce this Protocol by an instrument in writing deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The denunciation, if received by the Secretary-General on or before the first day of July in any year, shall take effect on the first day of January in the succeeding year, and, if received after the first day of July, shall take effect as if it had been received on or before the first day of July in the succeeding year.

Article 10

The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall notify all Members of the United Nations and non-member States referred to in articles 5 and 6 of all signatures and acceptances received in accordance with these articles, and of all notifications received in accordance with articles 8 and 9.

Article 11

In accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations, the present Protocol shall be registered by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the date of its coming into force. IN FAITH WHEREOF the undersigned, duly authorized, have signed the present Protocol on behalf of their respective Governments. DONE AT PARIS this nineteenth day of November one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight, in a single copy, which shall remain deposited in the archives of the United Nations, and certified true copies of which shall be delivered to all the Members of the United Nations and to the non-member States referred to in articles 5 and 6.

B. TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION RELATING TO ANY DRUG NOTIFIED TO THE SECRETARY-GENERAL UNDER ARTICLE 1 OF THE PROTOCOL

The General Assembly Recommends that all Parties to this Protocol, on receipt of a notification under its article 1, paragraph 1, communicate any material information in their possession regarding the drug or drugs mentioned in the notification to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall transmit such information to all Parties to the present Protocol, to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, and to the World Health Organization. Hundred and fiftieth plenary meeting,
8 October 1948.

---

[1] See Conference for the Limitation of the Manufacture of Narcotic Drugs, United Nations, 1947. [2] See Resolutions adopted by the Economic and Social Council during its seventh session, page 42. [3] See Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly during the second part of its first session, page 81. [4] See Second Opium Conference, United Nations, 1947. [5] See International Opium Convention, League of Nations, 1923.