Article 8 FUNCTIONS OF THE COMMISSION

The Commission is authorized to consider all matters pertaining to the aims of this Convention, and in particular:

(a) To amend the Schedules in accordance with article 3;
(b) To call the attention of the Board to any matters which may be relevant to the functions of the Board;
(c) To make recommendations for the implementation of the aims and provisions of this Convention, including programmes of scientific research and the exchange of information of a scientific or technical nature; and
(d) To draw the attention of non-parties to decisions and recommendations which it adopts under this Convention, with a view to their considering taking action in accordance therewith.

Commentary

1.   In addition to the functions which the Commission has under article 8 and other provisions of the Single Convention 1 ("treaty functions"), 2 it has also those given to it by the Council in general terms (terms of reference) 3 or by special decisions 4 ("Charter functions"). 2

2.   Under its present terms of references, the Commission has the following "Charter functions":
(i) Assisting the Council in exercising such powers of supervision over the application of international conventions and agreements on narcotic drugs as may be assumed by or conferred on the Council;
(ii) Advising the Council on all matters pertaining to the control of narcotics and preparing such draft international conventions as may be necessary;
(iii) Considering what changes may be required in the existing machinery for the international control of narcotic drugs and submitting proposals thereon to the Council;
(iv) Performing such other functions relating to narcotic drugs as the Council may direct. 5

3.   These terms of reference use the phrase "narcotic drugs" in defining the powers of the Commission; this phrase has often been used to designate all drugs under international narcotics control, rather than only those of them which are really "narcotic", i.e. "sleep-inducing" as are the morphine-like substances; the phrase is thus also used to include others such as cocaine and cannabis drugs, which are by no means "narcotic" in this sense. There has never been any doubt that the Commission's Charter functions are not restricted to narcotic drugs in the narrow sense of morphine-like drugs, but also cover the other substances under international control. The Commission has, however, in its practice given a very broad meaning to the term "narcotic drugs" with which it is authorized to deal.   It has proceeded on the understanding that it may consider the problem of all drugs which fall under the international narcotics regime or may represent international questions to be dealt with by international treaties, ° by recommendations of international organs or even only by international exchange of information.

4.   It has considered problems relating to such substances outside the international narcotics regime as that, ° hallucinogenics, barbiturates, amphetamines and tranquillizers. s   In adopting this broad conception of its "Charter functions" it has never met any objection by the Council, which has taken note of the Commission's reports dealing with such substances and even approved resolutions concerning them.

5.   Prior to the coming into force of the Single Convention, by far the major part of the Commission's work was carried out on the basis of the powers which it received under its terms of reference from the Council under the United Nations Charter, ° although that work concerned the implementation of the narcotics treaties and their improvement.

6.   The Commission had then only very limited "treaty functions". 10 This situation has completely changed under the terms of the Single Convention.   Under the broad provisions of article 8, the Commission is now authorized to carry out all those functions which it could formerly perform only on the basis of decisions of the Economic and Social Council, such as the Council's resolution 9 (I) containing the Commission's terms of reference.   The authority granted by the introductory paragraph of article 8 "to consider all matters pertaining to the aims of this Convention" is very broad indeed; it appears to cover all functions which the Commission has in the past exercised under its terms of reference, and more.   Since the power granted by article 8 is not limited to questions concerning the implementation of provisions of the Single Convention but includes all matters pertaining to the aims of that treaty, the commission has under this article authority to deal with all aspects of the fight against drug abuse, whether political, legal, administrative, economic, social, medical or scientific, with due regard, of course, to the jurisdiction of other international organs and organizations such as the World Health Organization. It may in particular also consider questions of technical co-operation, especially the foreign aid needed by some Governments to enable them to make a full contribution to the international campaign against drug abuse.   Its authority under this provision appears by no means to be limited to the drugs within the scope of the Single Convention, but extends to all drugs whose abuse may constitute an international problem.   Article 8 has given a treaty basis to the wide range of functions which the Commission has from its beginning performed, originally on the basis of decisions of the Economic and Social Council including in particular the Commission's terms of reference. 11

7.   Paragraphs (a)-(d) enumerate some specific cases of the general rule laid down in the introductory paragraph. Other provisions of the Single Convention assigning specific functions to the Commission are:
(i) Article 15, paragraph 1, stipulating that the reports of the International Narcotics Control Board shall be submitted to the Economic and Social Council through the Commission which may make such comments as it sees fit;
(ii) Article 18, authorizing the Commission to require Parties to furnish to the Secretary-General such information as it may request as being necessary for the performance of its functions, to determine the manner in which and the dates by which this information must be supplied, and to draft forms which it may ask Parties to use for this purpose;
(iii) Article 31, paragraph 5, requiring Parties to follow as closely as may be practicable the form of import certificate approved by the Commission; and
(iv) Article 32, paragraph 2, requiring the Commission to recommend safeguards to be taken by the countries of registry of ships or aircraft engaged in international traffic to prevent the diversion for illicit purposes or the improper use of drugs carried by such vessels or aircraft for first-aid purposes or emergency cases pursuant to paragraph 1 of that article.

8. As regards paragraph (b) of article 8, see below, comments on article 14, paragraph 1, subparagraph (a).

9.   Paragraph (c) expressly states that the recommendations which the Commission may make need not be limited to the implementation of provisions of the Single Convention, but may also relate to the realization of its aims, The Commission may thus not only "consider" is all aspects (political, legal, administrative, economic, social, medical or scientific) of drugs whose abuse constitutes an international problem, but may also make recommendations concerning them. These recommendations may be addressed to Governments of Parties and non-parties (paragraph (d)) alike, as well as to intergovernmental organizations and organs.

10. Article 7 applies to such recommendations. 13   Paragraph (c) also offers formal treaty authority for scientific research and international exchange of scientific and technical information, functions which, on the initiative and under the direction of the Commission, had already been undertaken by the Secretariat of the United Nations in the field of drugs prior to the adoption of the Single Convention in 1961, for example, the establishment and maintenance of a United Nations chemical laboratory in Geneva, 14 and research programmes to develop methods for determining the geographic origin of opium 15 seized from the illicit traffic and for the identification of cannabis. 16 These programmes have involved laboratory work in the Geneva institution, the maintenance of a centre for the international exchange of information, the distribution of drug samples to national scientists for their research, international arrangements for collaborative studies of national research workers, and international seminars. 17

11. The authors of the Single Convention recognized that effective measures against drug abuse required universal action.   They stated this in the preamble to the treaty. 18   Paragraph (d) is one of the provisions of the Convention intended to obtain universal implementation, or as wide implementation of that treaty as possible. 19   It aims at inducing non-parties to carry out not only the Commission's decisions or recommendations for the implementation of the Convention, but, beyond that, also those designed to promote the aims of the treaty but not referring to the execution of express treaty provisions.

12. It will be recalled that decisions of the Commission or the Council regarding changes under article 3 in the schedules of the Single Convention must be communicated to non-parties which are Members of the United Nations. 20   The Commission's decisions and recommendations may under article 8, paragraph (d) be brought to the attention of all non-parties, no matter whether they are Members of the United Nations 21 or not.

13. Under the English text, paragraph (d) applies to the Commission's decisions and recommendations "which it adopts under this Convention", while the French text refers to those "qu'elle adopte conformement aux fonctions que lui confre la presente Convention", and the Spanish version to those "que adopte en cumplimiento de la presente Convencion". It is submitted that despite these different phrasings, the meaning of the three language versions is in this case the same. The adoption of recommendations for the implementation of both the aims and the provisions of the Single Convention is, in view of paragraph (c), among the "fonctions" of the Commission as well as an action "en cumplimiento de la presente Convencion".

14. There is, however, in paragraph (d) another discrepancy between the English and Spanish text on the one hand and the French text on the other which cannot so easily be reconciled.   Under the English text, the attention of non-parties may be drawn to the Commission's decisions and recommendations "with a view to their considering taking action in accordance therewith" (i.e. with the decisions and recommendations). Under the equivalent Spanish text, non-parties are addressed "a fin de que dichos Estados examinen la posibilidad de tomar medidas de acuerdo con tales decisiones y recomendaciones". The French text, however, describes the purpose for which the non-parties may be approached under paragraph (d) with the words "de facon qu'ils examinent les mesures qu'elle peut etre amenee a prendre en vertu de la presente Convention". The personal pronoun "elle" undoubtedly refers to "la Commission" in the introductory paragraph.   To call the attention of non-parties to decisions and recommendations of the Commission in order to induce them to examine the measures which the Commission may have to take by virtue of the Single Convention--as the French text suggests-makes hardly any sense.   Since the meaning of the French text, as the result of some error of translation or drafting, does not seem to be very reasonable, it must be concluded that the Spanish and English text correspond to the intention of the authors of the treaty. This inference is also in accord with the decision taken by the Committee of the Plenipotentiary Conference dealing with the subject. 22

1. Article 3, article 15, para. 1, article 18, article 31, para. 5 and article 32, para. 2.
2. For the terms "treaty functions" and "Charter functions" see also comments on +rlicle 7 above.
3. The terms of reference of the Commission are laid down in para. 2 of the reso'ution 9 (1) of the Economic and Social Council. The provisions of the resolution .. mcerning the composition of the Commission were amended by resolutions 199 (VIII), ,,45 (XXXII) II and III, para. 1 and 1147 (XLI), para. 4.
4. Economic and Social Council resolution 9 (I), para. 2, subpara. (e).
5. The terms of reference of the Commission provide also for its carrying out such functions entrusted to the League of Nations Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and other Dangerous Drugs by the international conventions on narcotic drugs as the Council may find necessary to assume and continue; Economic and Social Council resolution 9 (I), para. 2, subpara. (b). This provision became obsolete by the effect of the 1946 Protocol, which transferred these functions to the Commission.
6. Commission on Narcotic Drugs, report on the eleventh session (1956); Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, Twenty-second Session, Supplement No. 8, para. 327.
7. Document E/CN.7/471, paras. 180-183.   The Commission has even occasionally discussed such other abuses of chemicals as sniffing of ether and the fumes of glue and gasoline; see ibid., para. 184.
8. When adopting the Draft Protocol on Psychotropic Substances at its twentythird Session and the Revised Draft Protocol on Psychotropic Substances at its first special session (Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, Forty-sixth Session, document E/4606/Rev.l, annexIV and ibid., Forty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 8 (E/4785), chapter III) the Commission appears to have been authorized to act not only under its terms of reference, but also under the very broad terms of article 8 of the Single Convention.
9. See above, foot-note 3.
10. Article 5, para. 6 of the 1931 Convention (appointment of a member of the Drug Supervisory Body); article 11, para. 4 of the 1931 Convention (appointment of a member of the ad hoc body of three experts charged with determining the control regime of a drug found by the World Health Organization not to be addiction-producing by itself, but convertible into an addiction-producing drug); article 21 of the 1931 Convention (drawing up a form for the annual reports which Governments must communicate to one another through the Secretary-General on the working of the 1931 Convention); article 2 of the 1948 Protocol (placing a drug under provisional international control pending the procedure on its control status before the World Health Organization); and article 10, para. 1, subpara. (c) of the 1953 Protocol (prescribing the form for the annual reports on the working of the Protocol which Parties must furnish to the Secretary-General).
11. The Commission's predecessor, the League of Nations Advisory Committee on the Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs, having only very limited treaty functions under the 1931 Convention (article 5, para. 6, article 11, para. 4 and article 21 of the 1931 Convention), acted similarly on the basis of authority given to it by decisions of the League Council or Assembly under article 23, para. (c) of the League Covenant. See in particular the resolution adopted by the League's First Assembly on 15 December 1920 establishing the Advisory Committee; League of Nations, Records of the First Assembly, Plenary Meetings (Geneva 1920), pp. 538-539.   The Advisory Committee's treaty functions under the 1931 Convention were transferred to the Commission by the 1946 Protocol; see the preceding foot-note 10, and also foot-note 5.
12 Article 8, introductory paragraph.
13 See above, comments on that article.
14 General Assembly resolution 834 (IX) (1954); see also Council resolution 667C (XXIV) (1957).
15 See Council resolutions 159 II C (VII) (1948); 246 F (IX) (1949), 436 F (XIV) (1952) and 626 H (XXII) (1956) and Commission resolutions V (XIII) (1956) and 6 (XIV) (1959); see also document E/CN.7/471, paras. 118-130.
16. Commission on Narcotic Drugs, report on the fourteenth session, para. 308, resolution 8 (XIV) (1959), Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, Twenty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 9 (E/3254).
17 Council resolution 626 H (XXII) (1956).
18. Fifth considerandum of the Preamble.
19. See also article 3, para. 7 and para. 8, subpara. (c), article 12, paras. 2 and 3, para. 13, para. 2, article 14, article 21, article 24, para. 4, article 31, para. 1 and article 49, para. 2, subpara. (b).
20 Article 3, para. 7 and para. 8, subpara. (c).
21 As regards the obligation of non-parties which are Members of the United Nations to participate in the international fight against drug abuse, see above, comments on article 3, para. 7.
22. Article 11, para. (i) of the Third Draft (document E/CN.7/AC.3/9), which served as working document of the Plenipotentiary Conference; Records (English), vol. II, pp. S, 212, 214 and 276; see also vol. 1, pp. 142 and 189; see also Records (French), vol. 11, pp. 6, 242, 244 and 314.