Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs
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[Communicated to the Council Official No. : Q . 268. M. 185. 1939.XI. and the Members of the League.] [O.C.i535(m).] Geneva, September 28th, 1939. LEAGUE OF NATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TRAFFIC IN OPIUM AND OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS STUDIES AND DOCUMENTS REGARDING THE WORKING OF THE SYSTEM OF IMPORT CERTIFICATES AND EXPORT AUTHORISATIONS10 CONTENTS Page I. Enquiry of the Advisory Committee into the System of Import Certificates and Export Authorisations............................................................................................................ 2 (a) Report of the Sub-Committee on the Above-mentioned Enquiry, adopted by the Advisory Committee on June 5th, 1935 2 ................... 2 (b) Results of the Enquiry (Replies of Governments to Circular Letter 196.1935.XI, of November 20th, 1935)........................................................ 3 (c) Model Forms of Import Certificate and Export A u th o risa tio n ................... 6 II. Working of the Import-Certificate System 3 ............................................................................ 8 III. Graph showing the Mechanism of the System of Import Certificates and Export Authorisations according to the Geneva Convention of 1925 and the Model Administrative Code relating t h e r e t o ............................................................ 11 A n n e x e s 1. Texts in virtue of which the Import-Certificate System is applied and Various Recommendations concerning this Application : (a) The Hague Convention of 1912, Articles 3, 5,12 and 1 3 ..................................... 12 (b) Geneva Convention of 1925, Chapter V, and Recommendation II of the Final Act of the 1925 C o n feren ce...................................................................... 12 (c) Limitation Convention of 1931, Articles 13 and 1 4 .............................................. 14 (d) Model Administrative Codes to the International Opium Conventions of 1925 and 1931, Chapter III ............................................................................... 14 (e) Principal Recommendations and Resolutions adopted by the Advisory Committee up to the Twentieth Session in regard to the Import- Certificate S y s t e m .................................................................................................. 16 2. Addresses of the Authorities issuing the Certificates : 4 (a) Table giving the Authorities issuing the Certificates in Various Countries 17 (b) Table indicating the Authorities issuing the Certificates in Various Overseas Territories, Dependencies, Colonies, etc.......................................... 25 1 For preceding document, see C.434.M.225.1935.XI. 2 See Annex 6 to document C.253.M. 125.1935.XI. ! Extract from document O.C.1535. 4 The original documents containing these addresses bore the numbers 0.0.1535(0) and O.C.i535f;J. The last document submitted to the Advisory Committee and inserted with amendments in annex 2 bore the number O.C. 1535 (k) • Series of League of Nations Publications XI. OPIUM AND OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS p 26 "s *d.N. 1.235 (F.) 1.295 (A.). 11/39. Imp. Réunies, Chambéry. 1939. XI. 7. L" AGUE OF NATIONS. C .2 68,M. 185.1939.XI (0.0=1535 (m)) Corrigendum 5. Geneva, April 5th, 1946 ADVISORY COi.'I-TITTEE ON TRAFFI0 IN OPIUM AND OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS'. STUDIES AND DOCUMENTS REGARDING THE WORKING OF THE SYSTEM OF IIvIPORT CERTIFICATES AND EXPORT AUTHORISATIONS. Additions and corrections to the Table speci fying the authorities issuing certificates in various countries. The following correction should be made in Appendix I, India, on page 36, of the document dated September 28th,1939: Date of communication to the Secretariat or number of document COUNTRY AUTHORITY containing the information. page 36. instead of Development letter from the India Secretary to the Office,London, dated INDIA, Financial Commissioners March 7th, 1946. Punjab read; Excise and Taxation Commissioner.Punjab. (Communicated to the Council Official No.: C. 268. M. 185. 1939. XI | and the Members of the League. ) (O.C. 1535(m).) j Addendum Geneva, April 5th, 1940. LEAGUE OF NATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TRAFFIC IN OPIUM AND OTHER DANGEROUS DRUGS STUDIES AND DOCUMENTS REGARDING THE WORKING OF THE SYSTEM OF IMPORT CERTIFICATES AND EXPORT AUTHORISATIONS Additions and corrections to Table (a) giving the authorities issuing certificates in various countries (pp. 18 - 23). The following corrections and additions should be made in the table contained in the document dated September 28th, 1939: COUNTRY AUTHORITY DATE OF COMMUNICA TION TO THE SECRE TARIAT OR NUMBER OF DOCUMENT CONTAINING THE INFORMATION E stonia......... Le Directeur du Département Annual Report, 1938. de la pharmacie, Ministère des affaires sociales, Tallinn. C o l o m b i a ....... Minis ter io de Traba j'o, Higiene August 7 th, 1939 y Prévision Social, Bogota. (Law 96 of 1939) . Sudan.............The President, Central Board January 23rd, 1940. of Public Health, Khartoum. I. ENQUIRY OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE INTO THE SYSTEM OF IMPORT CERTIFICATES AND EXPORT AUTHORISATIONS The Advisory Committee undertook its enquiries as to the exact nature of the systems for the control of exports and imports of narcotic drugs at its twelfth session (February 1929). These enquiries were, however, postponed, owing to the preparatory work for the 1931 Conference for limiting the Manufacture and regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs. A preliminary questionnaire on the subject was therefore despatched to Governments only in 1933, and the replies were submitted to the Advisory Committee in May 1934 in document O.C.1535. In June 1935, at its twentieth session, the Advisory Committee adopted the following report : (a) Report of the Sub-Committee on the Above-mentioned Enquiry, adopted by the Advisory Committee on June 5™, 1935 1 Suggestions and Recommendations regarding the Working of the System. In order to complete the enquiry into the system of import certificates and export authorisations, the Advisory Committee decided, at its meeting of May 24th, 1935, to transmit to all Governments the study contained in pages 5 to 13 (the Secretariat being left to amend or supplement these pages in the light of observations made or information received), as well as in pages 44 to 47 (inclusive), of document O.C.1535,2 at the same time requesting the Govern ments to state whether they conform in the home country, as well as in dependencies, protectorates, colonies, etc., to the entire system described and to specify the legislative or administrative texts in force, noting the points on which there is a difference of procedure. The above communication will be accompanied by the Table O.C.1535^3 containing the names and addresses of the authorities issuing import certificates and export authorisations, together with information relating to the date when the certificate system came into force and to the forms used by the different countries. Governments will be requested to correct or supplement this table in respect of their home countries, dependencies, protectorates, colonies, etc. The Advisory Committee thought that the enquiry might be usefully supplemented by the following observations or recommendations, which are accordingly submitted to the Governments for all useful purposes. (1) Lack of Uniformity in the Forms. The preliminary enquiry into the forms of certificates, which covered more than forty countries, revealed wide divergencies between the forms used for the import certificate, the export authorisation, the diversion certificate and the bonding certificate. The Advisory Committee was of opinion that it was desirable to standardise the forms in question as far as possible, and it drew up the attached texts of an import certificate and an export authorisation in order to facilitate the work of the Governments in the direction of uniformity. The import certificate corresponds with the model certificate attached to the 1925 Convention, but is supplemented by certain indications based on the Model Code. The export authorisation is based on the indications contained in the 1925 Convention and in the Model Code. It did not appear desirable to draw up any special model in the case of the other forms, the forms of the import certificate and export authorisation lending themselves readily to application with slight modifications. For the import authorisation, the model form of import certificate4 can be used with the necessary adaptations. (2) Languages in which the Forms are drawn up. The Advisory Committee found that the different certificates are frequently drawn up only in the language of the country of origin, and this makes the work of the foreign adminis trations difficult. In order to avoid administrative delays, the Advisory Committee recom mends Governments to draw up the certificates with an interlinear translation into one of the two official languages (English and French) of the League of Nations. (3) Number of Original Certificates. The Advisory Committee found that the procedure as to the number of originals of import certificates and export authorisations issued varies greatly in different countries. Without desiring to express an opinion upon the advantages of limiting or increasing the 1 See Annex 6 to document C.253.M.125.1935.XI. 1 See chapter entitled : “ II. Working of the Import-Certificate System ” (page 8). * This original table has been amended and completed and is published in Annex 2 (a) and (b) (page 17). 4 See under “ (c) Model Forms of Import Certificate ” (page 6). — 3 — number