European Union Drugs Agency

PURPOSE: to establish an agency to combat the drugs phenomenon, the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA).

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EU) 2023/1322 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1920/2006.

CONTENT: the regulation establishes the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA). The Agency replaces and succeeds the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) created in 1993.

The Agency will play a key role in the EU's response to the new health and safety challenges posed by illicit drugs. The Agency's headquarters will remain in Lisbon, Portugal.

General task

The Agency will:

- provide the Union and the Member States with factual, objective, reliable and comparable information, early warning and risk assessment at Union level concerning drugs, drug use, drug use disorders and addictions, prevention, treatment, care, risk and harm reduction, rehabilitation, social reintegration, recovery, drug markets and supply, including illicit production and trafficking, and other relevant drug-related issues and their consequences; and

- recommend appropriate and concrete evidence-based actions on how to address, in an efficient and timely manner, the challenges relating to drugs, drug use, drug use disorders and addictions, prevention, treatment, care, risk and harm reduction, rehabilitation, social reintegration, recovery, drug markets and supply, including illicit production and trafficking, and other relevant drug-related issues and their consequences.

The Agency’s approach will incorporate human rights, gender and gender equality, age, health, health equity and social perspectives.

Observation and monitoring of the drugs phenomenon and sharing of best practices

The Agency will monitor:

- the drugs phenomenon in the Union in a holistic manner, using epidemiological and other indicators;

- evidence-based best practices and innovative approaches regarding health, human rights, social, safety or security responses;

- drug use, drug use disorders, drug addictions and related health risks, drug-related harm, risk behaviours associated with drug use and emerging trends in those fields;

- poly-substance use and its consequences from an age and gender perspective, in particular its impact on gender-based violence;

- emerging trends in the drugs phenomenon in the Union and internationally in so far as they impact the Union;

- in cooperation with Europol and with the support of the national focal points and the Europol national units, all new psychoactive substances that have been reported by Member States;

- drug precursors and the diversion and trafficking of drug precursors.

Based on its monitoring activities, the Agency will identify, support and, where appropriate, co-develop evidence-based best practices and innovative approaches.

Additional services

To further support Member States and other stakeholders in understanding and addressing the drugs phenomenon, the regulation introduces the possibility for the Agency to deliver additional services, beyond its core tasks, against the payment of fees should be introduced. The method by which fees levied by the Agency are calculated will be transparent. The fees charged by the Agency will have to cover the full costs of activities related to the services provided, including staff and operating costs.

International cooperation

The regulation strengthens the role of the Agency in the field of international cooperation. It instructs the Agency to actively seek ways of cooperating with international organisations. The Agency will engage third countries in its work.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 1.7.2023.

APPLICATION: from 2.7.2024.