The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Frieda BREPOELS (EPP-ED, BE) and made some amendments to the Commission’s proposal:
- It should be one of the Centre's tasks to provide information on best practices and guidelines in the Member States and to facilitate the exchange of such practices among them.
- The way in which the Centre is organised and its working methods should be consistent with the objective nature of the results sought, namely the comparability and compatibility of sources and methods in connection with drug information.
- Account shall be taken of further WHO and UN data available worldwide.
- The Centre should cooperate actively with Europol "to attain maximum efficiency in monitoring the drugs problem".
- In principle, the Centre shall, if it identifies new developments and changing trends, inform the competent authorities of the Member States thereof.
- The national focal points should draw on the experiences of different sectors - health, justice and law enforcement - in cooperation with experts and national organisations active in the field of drugs policy;
- Data on drugs and drug addiction provided to or by the Centre may be published subject to compliance with Community and national rules on the dissemination and confidentiality of information. Personal data may not be published or made accessible to the public. Member States and the national focal points shall be under no obligation to provide information classified as confidential under their national law.
-The report put forward a number of amendments to the rules governing the Management Board and Executive Committee as well as the procedure for the appointment of the Director. Moreover, in addition to the requirement for the Director of the Centre to appear at a hearing before Parliament, MEPs also wanted to hold a hearing of the Chairperson of the Management Board.
- The Scientific Committee (which assists the Management Board and the Director of the Centre) should not have more than 15 members, who should be selected on the basis of their expertise, by means of an open procedure. MEPs felt that a Scientific Committee consisting of one representative from each Member State would be too unwieldy and would be unable to function independently and efficiently.