Article 15

REPORTS OF THE BOARD

Paragraph I

1. The Board shall prepare an annual report on its work and such additional reports as it considers necessary containing also an analysis of the estimates and statistical information at its disposal, and, in appropriate cases, an account of the explanations, if any, given by or required of Governments, together with any observations and recommendations which the Board desires to make. These reports shall be submitted to the Council through the Commission, which may make such comments as it sees fit.

Commentary

1. The Board's reports publishing its observations and recommendations may be that organ's most potent instrument for the promotion of effective international and national drug control, the power of public opinion being a very important element in the strength of the international drug regime. 1

2. The paragraph under consideration provides that the Board's reports should be submitted to the Council through the Commission, which may make such comments as it sees fit. In adopting this procedure, the authors of the Single Convention incorporated in that treaty what had already been the practice in regard to the reports of the Permanent Central Board prior to the entry into force of the Convention. This procedure can be very useful to the Council, whose consideration of the report of the International Narcotics Control Board may be greatly aided by the comments of a technical body; but it may also have some disadvantages whenever it leads to a delay so great that important parts of the information contained in the Board's report are out of date when the Council reviews them. The Council's discussion is more likely to attract the attention of the public, and in particular of the news media, if it deals with recent events than with matters which are no longer "newsworthy"; the value of the Board's report depends to a large extent on the impact which it has on public opinion.

3. Routing the report through the Commission may cause such an undesirable delay if the Commission meets only a long time after the adoption of a report by the Board. This may happen even if the Commission convenes annually, but particularly if it meets less than once a year. 2 It has been suggested that in order to avoid too long a delay in the submission to the Council of a report by the Board, the Commission may delegate its authority to make comments to a small committee of its members which can meet between its sessions, or that the Commission may adopt its observations by correspondence. 3

4. There is, however, no provision which would prevent the Council from considering the Board's report prior to the examination of that document by the Commission. This view was in fact followed by the Council at its forty-eighth and fiftieth sessions, when it decided to follow such a procedure in order to avoid too long a delay in its review of the Board's report. 4

5. Article 15, paragraph 1, refers to two different kinds of reports; to annual reports which the Board must prepare on its work, and to such additional reports as it may consider necessary. The annual reports are mandatory. The Board must prepare such a report even in the very improbable
event that it considers this action unnecessary. It must, on the other hand, prepare only such additional reports as it considers necessary. The Board is fully independent in deciding whether such a necessity exists. It cannot be prevented by any Party to the Single Convention or by any budgetary or other organ of the United Nations from issuing such an additional report. The expenses of such an action by the Board must be borne by the United Nations, 5 since it is clear from a series of resolutions of the Council and of the General Assembly that the United Nations has agreed to perform the functions conferred by the Single Convention on it or its particular organs; c but this obligation to respect the technical independence of the Board does not exclude the right of United Nations organs, and particularly of the General Assembly, as well as that of any Government, to question the necessity and to criticize the contents of an additional report by the Board.

6. Article 15 does not impose any restrictions on the Board in regard to the kind of information, observations and recommendations which its reports may obtain. Both the International Narcotics Control Board and its predecessor the Permanent Central Board have taken a very broad view of what they may include in these documents. They have on several occasions not only reported on the implementation or non-implementation of provisions of the narcotics treaties, but have also given a comprehensive review of the international control regime, and have more generally presented a conspectus of the problem of drug abuse in its manifold aspects, including the political, economic, social and administrative problems which are the root-causes of extensive drug abuse and of weakness of drug control in a number of countries. They have pointed to lacunae in the international narcotics system, have referred to the need for additional control measures and for extension of control to uncontrolled substances, and, in the case of psychotropic substances not within the scope of the Single Convention, have even offered a critical review of various procedures by which international control could be extended to them. Reference has been made in the annual reports to the sociologically conditioned incapacity, or even unwillingness, of some administrations to implement an effective control regime, including such factors as corruption in high places, and defective Government reports containing data which do not correspond to reality. Emphasis has been laid on the need for modernization of archaic economic and social structures in some regions which have a "drug economy", that is, whose population depends for its livelihood to a considerable degree on the production of opium or the cultivation of the coca bush. The view has been expressed that in some places legal opium production is profitable only because a part of the crop is sold at the higher prices offered by illicit traffickers. A world plan has been suggested to carry out, with foreign aid where required, all reforms necessary to eliminate uncontrolled or illicit opium production and diversion from legal opium production into illicit channels in all countries where they occur, and thus to bring about the virtual suppression of the illicit traffic in opiates, that is, drugs derived from opium, such as morphine, and heroin. The need for increased foreign aid, multilateral and bilateral, has been stressed, and the lack of sufficient international solidarity has been mentioned in this context.

7. Reference has also been made to the importance of research into the aetiology of drug abuse and of the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts. It has been pointed out that effective control of the actual agents of abuse is not sufficient, because this may only bring about a transfer to other agents which are not, or not so effectively, controlled.

8. The two Boards have, however, avoided taking a position on problems on which countries of different social systems hold different views on ideological grounds, and they have also avoided making proposals which would be prejudicial to the action to be taken by other intergovernmental organs within their special sphere of competence. They have in such cases limited themselves to pointing to the problems involved, without making definite proposals regarding the kind of solution which should be adopted. 7

9. The two Boards have by no means limited their work to a mechanical evaluation of the estimates and statistics which they receive from Governments, but have chosen a "dynamic" approach towards the performance of the functions conferred upon them by the narcotics treaties. e

10. Article 15, paragraph 1 stipulates that the Board's reports should also contain an analysis of the estimates and statistical information at its disposal and, in appropriate cases, an account of the explanations given or required of Governments. The Board may ask for such explanations pursuant
to article 12, paragraph 4 and article 13, praagraph 3. The Board is not bound
to publish all explanations furnished by Governments. It may in particular omit those on minor points, 9 but if it reports a request for explanations, it should also report the reply which it receives.

11. The analysis to which article 15, paragraph 1 refers must be undertaken in order to establish whether the countries and territories 1° have complied with the provisions of the Single Convention governing their supply limits, i.e. the quantities of narcotic drugs each of them may acquire by manufacture or import, or both. This examination can be made only by comparing the statistical data received from Governments with the estimates of their drug requirements which they have furnished to the Board or which have been estab lished for them by the Board pursuant to article 12, paragraph 3. Such an analysis and comparison is also prescribed by article 14, paragraph 3 of the 1931 Convention. 11 It is not necessary that every report issued by the Board contain such an analysis, but only the reports as a group published in a given calendar year. The Single Convention does not prescribe which report should contain the analysis. It appears advisable, however, that this examination be included in the Board's annual report, either in the main body of this document or in an annex thereto. This report refers to the Board's work in the preceding year, and the examination of compliance by Governments with the treaty provisions regarding supply limits of narcotic drugs is an important part of this work. The analysis should refer to the preceding year, and should give the data (estimates and statistical figures) concerning that year which have been compared.

12. The text of article 15, paragraph 1, however does not exclude the publication of the analysis in a separate report, which would be one of the additional reports which the Board may consider necessary to prepare pursuant to that paragraph.

13. The Single Convention does not contain any provision separate from that of article 15, paragraph 1, requiring the Board to publish the statistical data which it receives. Knowledge of such figures is, however, necessary for Parties in order to enable them to establish whether other States are carrying out the treaty provisions. It may also aid Governments in regulating their drug economy, for example in the establishment of manufacturing or import quotas 12 or both, and in the administration of the import certificate and export authorization system 12 as required under the terms of the Convention.

14. The statistical data may be published in the document which contains the above-mentioned analysis, and may be included in that analysis as part thereof. They may also be published separately, either in the Board's annual report, in an annex thereto, or in a separate report.

15. The Board should give as complete an account as practicable of the statistical figures which it receives. It may, however, omit insignificant minor figures relating to drugs which do not appear in trade, or are traded only in small quantities for scientific purposes, or are otherwise of no importance from the viewpoint of international drug control.

16. Article 12, paragraph 6 requires the Board to issue at such times as it shall determine, but at least annually, such information on the estimates as in its opinion will facilitate the carrying out of the Single Convention. It is within the discretion of the Board to prepare these publications separately, or as a part of its annual or other reports under article 15, or in annexes to them; 14 but the publication required by article 12 must contain the estimates relating to the following calendar year, or to the remaining part of the current calendar year. The comparison of the statistical data and the estimates, which constitutes the "analysis" required pursuant to article 15, paragraph 1, refers to past figures. The publication of the estimates in such a comparison or in connexion therewith would therefore not be sufficient for the purposes of article 12, paragraph 6.

17. Explanations which the Board has received from Governments in respect of estimates under article 12, paragraph 4, and which have been included in a separate document issued in accordance with article 12, paragraph 6, need not be included in a report published in accordance with article 15, paragraph 1, and containing the analysis referred to therein.

18. The discretion of the Board to include information and to make observations and recommendations in its reports is, however, not unlimited. It may not, in applying article 15, paragraph 1, circumvent the restrictions of article 14. While its recommendations may be addressed to all States, to particular groups of States or to individual States, its report may in particular not recommend an import or export embargo of drugs or both except under the conditions of article 14, paragraph 2, and may also not recommend to a particular Government the adoption of remedial measures except in accordance with article 14, paragraph 1, subparagraph (b), unless this is done at the request of, or with the express or implied consent of, the Government concerned.

19. As regards the relationship between provisions of article 14 and those of article 15, paragraph 1, see above, comments on article 14, paragraph 1, subparagraphs (a), (b) and (c) and paragraph 3.

20. The Board may issue press releases which, however, should not contain any information which it cannot make known to the public at the time at which the release in question is issued. A press release containing information included in a report of the Board may also be issued only after the report of the Board has been communicated to the Parties. Governments should not learn from the press the contents of a report of the Board which they have not yet received. 15

21. There is no provision restricting the discretion of the Commission to include, in its comments on the Board's reports, such observations and such recommendations to the Council as it may consider appropriate.
22. For provisions of earlier narcotics treaties corresponding to that of article 15, paragraph 1, see article 27 of the 1925 Convention, article 14, paragraph 3 of the 1931 Convention, and article 9, paragraph 4 of the 1953 Protocol; see also article 5, paragraph 7 of the 1931 Convention.

1 Records, vol. 1, pp. 73 and 81.

2 Resolution of the Economic and Social Council 1156 (XLI) 11 of 5 August 1966 provides inter alia that its functional commissions (including the Commission on Narcotic Drugs) should meet only biennially.

3 Letter dated 29 July, 1968 of the Director of the General Legal Division of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs to the Director of the United Nations Division of Narcotic Drugs (United Nations file LE.221/1 (6-13) GEN.).

4 Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, Fiftieth Session, 1735th meeting (12 January 1971), paras. 40, 45, 76-77.

5 Article 6.

6 The letter referred to above in foot-note 3.

7 See documents E/OB/19, E/013/20, E/OB/21, E/OB/22, E/OB/23-E/DSB/25, E/INCB/1, E/INCB/5 and E/INCB/9.

8 Records, vol. 1I p. 200, statement of the representative of France.

9 Records, vol. II p. 231.

10 See also Commentary on the 1931 Convention, para. 153.

11 See also Commentary on the 1931 Convention, para. 153.

12 Article 29, para. 2, subpara. (c) and article 21, paras. 1 and 2.

13 Article 31, paras. 4-15.

14 See above comments on article 12, para. 6.

15 Records, vol. I pp. 97-98.

Paragraph 2

2. The reports shall be communicated to the Parties and subsequently published by the Secretary-General. The Parties shall permit their unrestricted distribution.

Commentary

1. The Board's reports should be sent to the Parties as soon as they are reproduced, and in any case not later than the time at which they are sent to the Commission for submission to the Council. The Governments represented on the Council and the Commission should be in a position to know the contents of the reports a reasonable time before they participate in the review of these documents in the organs of which they are members.

2. The reports should be published, that is, released to the public by the Secretary-General, only a reasonable time after they have been communicated to the Parties. Governments should not learn from the press the comments which the Board may make in these documents on their stewardship in the field of drug control.1 They should be able to acquaint themselves in time with the observations of the Board in order to be able to present to the public their own views on the situation simultaneously with the publication of the Board's report. This appears to be the purpose of the word "subsequently", which was inserted by the Commission when preparing the Third Draft 2 which was used as working document by the Plenipotentiary Conference.

3. The Parties are required to permit the "unrestricted" distribution of
the Board's report. This provision is motivated by the desire of the authors of the Single Convention to ensure that the Board's reports should fulfil one of their principal aims, namely to inform public opinion of the successes and failures of international and national drug control, and thus to obtain the support of world opinion for the Board's views. 3 The provision requires Parties to refrain from all action whether legal, regulatory or administrative, or the exercise of any pressure within the power of public authorities, which would make it impossible or difficult for a reporter of the news media or for a member of the general public to obtain and read copies of the Board's reports. Governments are, however, not bound to play an active role in this connexion, that is, to promote a wide distribution of the Board's reports, or to distribute them themselves. 4 Although not expressly provided for in the Single Convention, it appears also to be in accord with the spirit of paragraph 2 of article 15 that Governments must not prevent or make difficult the reporting by the different news media of the contents of these documents of the Board.

4. Since the Board's reports should be able to make an impact on the general public they should be reproduced by such processes as printing or lithography which would permit the issue of large numbers of clearly legible copies. Mineographing would not be sufficient.

5. Copies of the Board's reports should also be made available to the public at such prices as would encourage their wide distribution.
 

1 See above, comments on article 15, para. 1; Records, vol. II, pp. 97-98.

2 Article 23, para. 2 of the Third Draft, document E/CN.7/AC.3/9, Records, vol. 1I p. 9; compare with the corresponding article 24, para. 2 of the Second Draft, document E/CN.7/AC.3/7, para. 236; the word "subsequently" or any other expression requiring a sequence also does not appear in the first para. of article 27 of the 1925 Convention which corresponds to article 15, para. 2 of the Single Convention.

3 See also above, comments on article 15, para. 1. 4 Records, vol. 1I pp. 231-232.