CONVENTION FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE ILLICIT TRAFFIC IN DANGEROUS DRUGS 

THE FEDERAL PRESIDENT OF AUSTRIA; HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF THE BELGIANS; THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE UNITED STATES OF BRAZIL; HI S MAJESTY THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, IRELAND AND THE BRITISH DOMINIONS BEYOND THE SEAS, EMPEROR OF INDIA; HI S MAJESTY THE KING OF THE BULGARIANS; THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA; THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA; THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA; HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF DENMARK AND ICELAND; HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF EGYPT; THE OFFICIAL ENTRUSTED WITH THE SUPREME POWER OF THE REPUBLIC OF ECUADOR; THE PRESIDENT OF THE SPANISH REPUBLIC; THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA; THE PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC; HI S MAJESTY THE KING OF THE HELLENES; THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF HONDURAS; HIS SERENE HIGHNESS THE REGENT OF THE KINGDOM OF HUNGARY; HI S MAJESTY THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN; THE PRESIDENT of THE UNITED STATES OF MEXICO; HIS SERENE HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF MONACO; THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA; HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF THE NETHERLANDS ; THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND; THE PRESIDENT OF THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC; HI S MAJESTY THE KING OF ROUMANIA; THE SWISS FEDERAL COUNCIL; THE PRESIDENT OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC; THE CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS; THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF URUGUAY; THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF VENEZUELA,

Having resolved, on the one hand, to strengthen the measures intended to penalize offences contrary to the provisions of the International Opium Convention signed at The Hague on January 23rd, 1912, the Geneva Convention of February 19th, 1925, and the Convention for limiting the Manufacture and regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs signed at Geneva on July 13th, 1931, and, on the other hand, to combat by the methods most effective in the present circumstances the illicit traffic in the drugs and substances covered by the above Conventions,

Have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries:

The Federal President of Austria:

M. Emerich PFLUGL, Permanent Representative to the League of Nations, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary;

Dr. Bruno SCHULTZ, former Vice-President of the Vienna Police, Representative of Austria on the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs

His Majesty the King of the Belgians:

M. Maurice BOURÇOJIN, Legal Adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Professor at the University of Geneva.

The President of the Republic of the United States of Brazil:

M. Jorge LATOUR, Secretary of Legation.

His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas,

Emperor of India:

For Great Britain and Northern Ireland and all parts of the British Empire which are not separate Members of the League of Nations:

Oscar Follett DOWSON, Esq., C.B.E., Legal Adviser to the Home Office;

Major William Hewett COLES, D.S.O., Representative of the United Kingdom on the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs.

For the Dominion of Canada:

Colonel C. H. L. SHARMAN, C.M.G., C.B.E., Chief of the Narcotic Division of the Department of Pensions and National Health, Representative of Canada on the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs.

For India:

Gordon Sidey HARDY, Esq., CLE-, I.C.S., Vice-Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs.

His Majesty the King of the Bulgarians:

M. Nicolas MOMTCHILOFF, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Federal Council.

The President of the National Government of the Republic of China:

Dr. Hoo Chi-Tsai, Director of the Permanent Office of the Delegation to the League of Nations, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Federal Council.

The President of the Republic of Colombia:

M. Rafael GUIZADO, Secretary of the Permanent Delegation to the League of Nations.

The President of the Republic of Cuba:

M. Guillermo de BLANCK, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Federal Council.

His Majesty the King of Denmark and Iceland:

M. William BORBERG, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.

His Majesty the King of Egypt:

M. Edgar GORRA, Royal Adviser, "Directeur du contentieux de l'Etat", Alexandria.

The Official entrusted with the Supreme Power of the Republic of Ecuador:

M. Alejandro GASTELÛ CONCHA, Secretary of the Permanent Delegation to the League of Nations, Consul-General in Geneva.

The President of the Spanish Republic:

M. Julio CASARES Y SANCHEZ, Head of Section at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Representative of Spain on the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs.

The President of the Republic of Estonia:

M. Johannes KODAR, Permanent Delegate a.i. to the League of Nations.

The President of the French Republic:

M. VERCHÈRE DE REFFYE, Minister Plenipotentiary, "Sous-Directeur des chancelleries et du contentieux" at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;

M. Gaston BOURGOIS, Consul-General of France.

His Majesty the King of the Hellenes:

M. Raoul BIBICA-ROSETTI, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary;

M. Alexandre CONTOUMAS, First Secretary of the Permanent Delegation to the League of Nations.

The President of the Republic of Honduras:

Dr. Julian LOPEZ PINEDA, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations, Chargé d'Affaires in Paris.

His Serene Highness the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary:

M. Lâszlô DE VELICS, Chief of the Royal Delegation to the League of Nations, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Federal Council.

His Majesty the Emperor of Japan:

M. Massa-aki HOTTA, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Federal Council.

The President of the United States of Mexico:

M. Manuel TELLO, Secretary of the Permanent Delegation to the League of Nations, First Secretary of the Mexican Foreign Service, Representative of Mexico on the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs.

His Serene Highness the Prince of Monaco:

M. Xavier-John RAISIN, Consul-General at Geneva.

The President of the Republic of Panama:

Dr. Ernesto HOFFMANN, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations.

Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands:

M. J. H. DELGORGE, Adviser of the Netherlands Government on international opium questions, Netherlands Representative on the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs; Jonkheer G. BEELAERTS VAN BLOKLAND, Assistant Editor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The President of the Republic of Poland:

Dr. Witold CHODZKO, Former Minister of Public Health, Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs.

The President of the Portuguese Republic:

Dr. Augusto DE VASCONCELLOS, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations, Minister Plenipotentiary;

Professor José CAEIRO DA MATTA, Rector of the University of Lisbon.

His Majesty the King of Roumania:

M. Constantin ANTONIADE, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the League of Nations.

The Swiss Federal Council:

M. Camille GORGÉ, Counsellor of Legation, Chief of the League of Nations Section at the Federal Political Department.

The President of the Czechoslovak Republic:

Dr. Antonin KOUKAL, Adviser at the Ministry of Justice.

The Central Executive Committee of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics:

M. Georges LACHKEVITCH, Legal Adviser at the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs.

The President of the Republic of Uruguay:

M. Victor BENAVIDES, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Federal Council;

Dr. Alfredo DE CASTRO, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the King of the Belgians and to Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, Representative of Uruguay on the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs.

The President of the United States of Venezuela:

M. Manuel ABOCHA, Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.

who, having produced their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed on the following provisions :

Article 1.

17 In the present Convention, "narcotic drugs" shall be deemed to mean the drugs and substances to which the provisions of the Hague Convention of January 23rd, 1912, and the Geneva Conventions of February 19th, 1925, and July 13th, 1931, are now or hereafter may be applicable.

2. For the purposes of the present Convention, the word "extraction" connotes an operation whereby a narcotic drug is separated from the substance or compound of which it forms part, without involving any actual manufacture or conversion properly so called. This definition of the word "extraction" is not intended to include the processes whereby raw opium is obtained from the opium poppy, these being covered by the term "production".

Article 2.

Each of the High Contracting Parties agrees to make the necessary legislative provisions for severely punishing, particularly by imprisonment or other penalties of deprivation of liberty, the following acts—namely :

(a) The manufacture, conversion, extraction, preparation, possession, offering, offering for sale, distribution, purchase, sale, delivery on any terms whatsoever, brokage, despatch, despatch in transit, transport, importation and exportation of narcotic drugs, contrary to the provisions of the said Conventions;

(ft) Intentional participation in the offences specified in this Article;

(c) Conspiracy to commit any of the above-mentioned offences ;

(d) Attempts and, subject to the conditions prescribed by national law, preparatory

Article 3.

The High Contracting Parties who possess extra-territorial jurisdiction in the territory of another High Contracting Party undertake to enact the necessary legislative provisions for punishing such of their nationals as are guilty within that territory of any offence specified in Article 2 at least as severely as if the offence had been committed in their own territory.

Article 4.

Each of the acts specified in Article 2 shall, if committed in different countries, be considered as a distinct offence.

Article 5

The High Contracting Parties, whose national law regulates cultivation, gathering and production with a view to obtaining narcotic drugs, shall likewise make severely punishable contraventions thereof.

Article6.

In countries where the principle of the international recognition of previous convictions is recognised, foreign convictions for the offences referred to in Article 2 shall, subject to the conditions prescribed by the domestic law, be recognised for the purpose of establishing habitual criminality.

Article 7.

1. In countries where the principle of the extradition of nationals is not recognised, nationals who have returned to the territory of their own country, after the commission abroad of any of the offences referred to in Article 2, shall be prosecuted and punished in the same manner as if the offence had been committed in the said territory, even in a case where the offender has acquired his nationality after the commission of the offence.

2. This provision does not apply if, in a similar case, the extradition of a foreigner cannot be granted.

Article8.

Foreigners who are in the territory of a High Contracting Party and who have committed abroad any of the offences set out in Article 2 shall be prosecuted and punished as though the offence had been committed in that territory if the following conditions are realised—namely, that:

(a) Extradition has been requested and could not be granted for a reason independent of the offence itself;

(6) The law of the country of refuge considers prosecution for offences committed abroad by foreigners... admissible as a general rule.

Article9.

1. The offences set out in Article 2 shall be deemed to be included as extradition crimes in any extradition treaty which has been or may hereafter be concluded between any of the High Contracting Parties.

2. The High Contracting Parties who do not make extradition conditional on the existence of a treaty or on reciprocity shall as between themselves recognise the offences referred to above as extradition crimes.

3. Extradition shall be granted in conformity with the law of the country to which application is made.

4. The High Contracting Party to whom application for extradition is made shall, in all cases, have the right to refuse to effect the arrest or to grant the extradition of a fugitive offender if his competent authorities consider that the offence of which the fugitive offender is accused or convicted is not sufficiently s

Article 10.

Any narcotic drugs as well as any s and instruments intended for the commission of any of the offences referred to in Article 2 shall be liable to seizure and confiscation.

Article 11.

1. Each of the High Contracting Parties shall set up, within the framework of its domestic law, a central office for the supervision and co-ordination of all operations necessary to prevent the offences specified in Article 2, and for ensuring that steps are taken to prosecute persons guilty of such offences.

2. This central office:

(a) Shall be in close contact with other official institutions or bodies dealing with narcotic drugs;

(b) Shall centralise all information of a nature to facilitate the investigation and prevention of the offences specified in Article 2;

(c) Shall be in close contact with and may correspond direct with the central offices of other countries.

3. Where the Government of a High Contracting Party is federal in character, or where the executive authority of its Government is distributed between central and local Governments, the supervision and co-ordination specified in paragraph 1 and the execution of the functions specified in (a) and (b) of paragraph 2 shall be carried out in conformity with the constitutional or administrative system thereof.

4. Where the present Convention has been applied to any territory by virtue of Article 18, the requirements of the present Article may be carried out by means of a central office set up in or for that territory acting in conjunction, if necessary, with the central office in the metropolitan territory concerned.

5. The powers and the functions of the central office may be delegated to the special administration referred to in Article 15 of the Convention for limiting the Manufacture and regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs of 1931.

Article 12.

1. The central office shall co-operate with the central offices of foreign countries to the greatest extent possible, in order to facilitate the prevention and punishment of the offences specified in Article 2.

2. The office shall, so far as it thinks expedient, communicate to the central office of any country which may be concerned:

(a) Particulars which would make it possible to carry out any investigations or operations relating to any transactions in progress or proposed;

(b) Any particulars which it has been able to secure regarding the identity and the description of traffickers with a view to supervising their movements;

(c) Discoveries of secret factories of narcotic drugs.

Article13.

1. The transmission of letters of request relating to the offences referred to in Article 2 shall be effected:

(a) Preferably by direct communication between the competent authorities of each country or through the central offices, or

(b) By direct correspondence between the Ministers of Justice of the two countries or by direct communication from another competent authority of the country making the request to the Minister of Justice of the country to which the request is made, or

(c) Through the diplomatic or consular representative of the country making the request in the country to which the request is made. For this purpose, the letters of request shall be sent by such representative to the authority designated by the country to which the request is made.

2. Each High Contracting Party may, by communication to the other High Contracting Parties, express its desire that letters of request to be executed within its territory should be sent to it through the diplomatic channel.

3. In case (c) of paragraph 1, a copy of the letter of request shall at the same time be sent by the diplomatic or consular representative of the country making the request to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the country to which application is made.

4. Unless otherwise agreed, the letter of request shall be drawn up in the language of the authority to which request is made or in a language agreed upon by the two countries concerned.

5. Each High Contracting Party shall notify to each of the other High Contracting Parties the method, or methods, of transmission mentioned above which it will recognise for the letters of request of the latter High Contracting Party.

6. Until such notification is made by a High Contracting Party, its existing procedure in regard to letters of request shall remain in force.

7. The execution of letters of request shall not be subject to payment of taxes or expenses other than the expenses of experts.

8. Nothing in the present Article shall be construed as an undertaking on the part of the High Contracting Parties to adopt in criminal matters any form or methods of proof contrary to their laws or to execute letters of request otherwise than within the limits of their laws.

Article 14.

The participation of a High Contracting Party in the present Convention shall not be interpreted as affecting that Party's attitude on the general question of criminal jurisdiction as a question of international law.

Article 15.

The present Convention does not affect the principle that the offences referred to in Articles 2 and 5 shall in each country be defined, prosecuted and punished in conformity with the general rules of its domestic law.

Article 16.

The High Contracting Parties shall communicate to one another through the Secretary-General of the United Nations the laws and regulations promulgated in order to give effect to the present Convention, and also an annual report on the working of the Convention in their territories.

Article 17.

If there should arise between the High Contracting Parties a dispute of any kind relating to the interpretation or application of the present Convention, and if such dispute cannot be satisfactorily settled by diplomacy, it shall be settled in accordance with any applicable agreements in force between the Parties providing for the settlement of international disputes. In case there is no such agreement between the Parties, the dispute shall be referred to arbitration or judicial settlement. In the absence of agreement the choice of another tribunal, the dispute shall, at the request of any one of the Parties, be referred to the International Court of^ Justice, if all the Parties to the dispute are Parties to the Statute, and, if any of the Parties to the dispute is not a Party to the Statute, to an arbitral tribunal constituted in accordance with the Hague Convention of 18 October 1907, for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes.

Article 18.

1. Any High Contracting Party may, at the time of signature, ratification or accession, declare that, in accepting the present Convention, he does not assume any obligation in respect of all or any of his colonies, protectorates, overseas territories or territories under suzerainty or mandate, and the present Convention shall not apply to any territories named in such declaration.

2. Any High Contracting Party may give notice to the Secretary-General of the United Nations at any time subsequently that he declares that the Convention shall apply to all or any of his territories which have been made the subject of a declaration under the preceding paragraph, and the Convention shall apply to all the territories named in such notice ninety days after its receipt by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

3. Any High Contracting Party may, at any time after the expiration of the period of five years mentioned in Article 21, declare that he desires that the present Convention shall cease to apply to all or any of his colonies, protectorates and overseas territories or territories under suzerainty or mandate, and the Convention shall cease to apply to the territories named in such declaration one year after its receipt by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

4. The Secretary-General shall communicate to all the Members of the United Nations and to the non-member States mentioned in Article 20 all declarations and notices received in virtue of this Article.

Article 19.

The present Convention, of which the French and English texts shall both be equally authoritative, shall bear this day's date, and shall, until December 31st, 1936, be open for signature on behalf of any Member of the League of Nations, or of any non-member State which received an invitation to the Conference which drew up the present Convention, or to which the Council of the League of Nations shall have communicated a copy of the Convention for this purpose.

Article 20.

The present Convention is subject to ratification. As from I January 1947, the instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall notify their receipt to all the Members of the United Nations and the non-member States to which the Secretary-General has communicated a copy of the Convention.

Article 21.

1. The present Convention shall be open to accession on behalf of any Member of the United Nations or non-member State mentioned in Article 20.

2. The instruments of accession shall be transmitted to the Secretary-General of the

United Nations, who shall notify their receipt to all the Members of the United Nations and to the non-member States mentioned in that Article.

Article 22.

The present Convention shall come into force ninety days after the Secretary-General of the League of Nations has received the ratifications or accessions of ten Members of the League of Nations or non-member States. It shall be registered on that date by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations.

Article 23.

Ratifications or accessions received after the deposit of the tenth ratification or accession shall take effect as from the expiration of a period of ninety days from the date of their receipt by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Article 24.

1. After the expiration of five years from the date of the coming into force of the present Convention, it may be denounced by an instrument in writing, deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The denunciation shall take effect one year after the date of its receipt by the Secretary-General of the United Nations and shall operate only as regards the High Contracting Party on whose behalf it has been deposited.

2. The Secretary-General shall notify all the Members of the United Nations and the nonmember States mentioned in Article _20 of any denunciations received.

3. If, as a result of simultaneous or successive denunciations, the number of High Contracting Parties is reduced to less than ten, the Convention shall cease to be in force as from the date on which the last of such denunciations shall take effect in accordance with the provisions of this Article.

Article 25.

Request for the revision of the present Convention may be made at any time by any High Contracting Party by means of a notice addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Such notice shall be communicated by the Secretary-General to the other High Contracting Parties and, if endorsed by not less than one-third of them, the High Contracting Parties agree to meet for the purpose of revising the Convention.

IN FAITH WHEREOF the above-mentioned Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention.

DONE at Geneva, the twenty-sixth day of June, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six, in a single copy, which shall remain deposited in the archives of the Secretariat of the League of Nations and certified true copies of which shall be delivered to all the Members of the League and to the non-member States referred to in Article 19.