BRUSSELS, Belgium – November 2017: On 15 November 2017, the Parliament and the Council of the European Union (EU) passed new legislation to speed up the procedure for responding to NPS, and included NPS into the official definition of a “drug” at the European level.

The new legislation retains the current three-step approach to responding to NPS — early warning, risk assessment and control measures — while significantly strengthening existing processes by streamlining and accelerating data-collection and assessment procedures. Throughout the new procedure, shorter deadlines are introduced. This legislation came into force on the 22 November 2017 and will be applicable 12 months after that date.

For more information, please see:

Official Journal of the European Union
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L:2017:305:FULL&from=EN

EMCDDA news release – “New legislation published today to bring faster response to new drugs"
http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/news/2017/16/new-legislation-response-new-psychoactive-drugs_en