Working Arrangement between the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Health of Kosovo*

HTML version

Working Arrangement between the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Health of Kosovo*
Whereas the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) is a decentralised agency of the European Union in charge of providing factual, objective, reliable and comparable information at European level concerning drugs, drug addiction and their consequences pursuant to the conditions set out in Regulation (EC) No 1920/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 (recast);
Whereas the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kosovo is the competent authority in Kosovo responsible for drafting and monitoring the policies and legislation in the area of public order and public safety, including the fight against trafficking of narcotics;
Whereas the Ministry of Health of Kosovo is the competent authority in Kosovo responsible for providing programs and health care to drugs users by helping to treat and rehabilitate them and prevent drug abuse.
Whereas the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kosovo has expressed an interest to formally establish closer and continuous cooperation with the EMCDDA aimed at better understanding, evidence-based policymaking and response to drug-related issues as well as to push forward commitment on drug issues in Kosovo;
Whereas Art. 20 of Regulation (EC) No 1920/2006 (recast) specifies that the Centre shall actively seek to cooperate with international organisations and other, particularly European, governmental and non-governmental bodies competent in the sector of drugs, and that such cooperation shall be based on working arrangements concluded with these bodies;
Whereas the Management Board of the EMCDDA, after receiving the favourable opinion of the European Commission, provided the EMCDDA Director at its meeting of 25 June 2020 with a mandate to sign the present working arrangement;
The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Health of Kosovo intend to cooperate in the following fields:
a) Exchange on methodology of data-collection systems and on data itself (demand and demand reduction, supply and supply reduction, legal aspects and policy models);
b) Exchange of expertise and of data on new psychoactive substances (NPS), as well as establishment and strengthening of an Early Warning System on Drugs;
c) Exchange of experiences on health and social responses to drug problems, above all prevention of communicable diseases, harm reduction, social integration and integrated care for addicts.
d) Support for the approximation of the Kosovo legislation and policies with EU legislation and policies on drug-related issues, including information systems, in line with the EU-Kosovo Stabilisation and Association Agreement.
Place of signing: Lisbon
on 09 September 2020
For the EMCDDA
For the Ministry of Internal Affairs
of Kosovo
For the Ministry of Health of Kosovo
Director
Alexis Goosdeel
Minister
Agim Veliu
Minister
Armend Zemaj

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo
declaration of independence