The Civil Liberties (LIBE) and International Trade (INTA) committees met this Wednesday to adopt the European Parliament's position on the reform of European rules on drug precursors. This new text aims to replace two European regulations dating from 2004 and 2005 with a single, coherent framework applying to all trade in these products, whether within the single market or with third countries. Adopted almost unanimously, Parliament has thus taken a strong position ahead of the trilogues. Aware of the importance of this reform in the fight against drug trafficking, Sophie Wilmès (LIBE) and Benoit Cassart (INTA) both worked to be appointed shadow rapporteurs on the text in their respective committees.
Sophie Wilmès: “41 clandestine laboratories were discovered in Belgium in 2025. That figure is staggering. It clearly shows that drug trafficking is not limited to importing drugs from abroad; it also relies on clandestine production within our own country. Some facilities can be hidden in perfectly ordinary buildings, homes, right in the heart of our neighbourhoods, exposing local residents to serious risks: toxic fumes, fires, chemical pollution… On top of these dangers comes the violence of the networks. And let's not forget that at the end of this chain are consumers, sometimes very young. The damage is disastrous, and not only to their health.”
“To function, these clandestine laboratories need chemical substances diverted from their legal uses. That is precisely what we want to prevent with this reform: better controlling the circulation of these substances and preventing them from falling into the hands of traffickers. Faced with somewhat outdated European rules, twenty years old, we wanted to propose a stricter, more coherent framework to combat criminal networks more effectively, while protecting legal economic activity and research. Although its scope is European, this reform is essential for Belgium, which is particularly exposed to drug trafficking.”
Benoit Cassart: “Drug use is a scourge for our young people and for the safety of our towns and cities. We have strengthened monitoring of drug precursors, those chemical substances that can be used in the illegal manufacture of narcotics. At the same time, we made sure that bureaucracy and red tape would not be too heavy for the chemical sector, made up of many SMEs. These companies use these substances for lawful purposes and must not be hindered in their commercial activity.”
As a reminder, drug precursors are chemical substances with legal uses which, if diverted, can be used to manufacture narcotics such as cocaine, heroin or other synthetic drugs. Acetone, for example, is used as a solvent in industry but can also be used in the illegal manufacture of cocaine. The aim is therefore not to ban all these substances, but to prevent them from being diverted by criminal networks into clandestine laboratories.
The new system proposes a classification of precursors according to the risk of diversion. Category 1 groups together the most sensitive substances and remains subject to the strictest controls, including a licensing regime. Category 2 includes products with numerous industrial uses and is subdivided into different levels according to the risk of the classified products. Sophie Wilmès and Benoit Cassart argued here for stricter control of potassium permanganate, as it is used in the manufacture of cocaine, a drug that circulates extensively in Belgium. Category 3, for its part, is a new addition. It targets so-called “tailor-made” precursors with no known legitimate use at the time of their classification: their marketing, import, export, possession and use will in principle be prohibited, with regulated exemptions, for example for research purposes. These categories will make it possible to concentrate obligations on the riskiest substances, while taking account of businesses' realities.
Liberals also pushed for greater responsibility for online platforms. Online sellers of precursors must hold licences and complete the required procedures. To prevent traffickers from circumventing the law by slightly altering the composition of a regulated product, the concept of a family of chemically related substances was introduced. This will give the authorities more leeway in their controls and make it possible to anticipate future developments in drug trafficking.
In exchange for stricter controls, liberals also wanted to make life easier for businesses that use these chemical substances entirely legally. At the initiative of Sophie Wilmès and Benoit Cassart, companies that have demonstrated their reliability and scrupulously comply with the rules will be able to benefit from simplified licence renewals, at lower cost in certain cases, with a validity period of up to five years. Clearer identification of substances, notably thanks to CAS numbers (the chemical substance's “identity card”), and European guidelines are intended to help businesses know precisely which rules apply and what is expected of them. Licence applications and other administrative procedures will be carried out via a centralised European digital platform. Given the sensitive data that will be stored there, Sophie Wilmès and Benoit Cassart argued that this platform's infrastructure should be located and controlled within the EU.