drugs containing narcotics and psychotropic substances can now be easily imported, thanks to a new set of guidelines being issued by the World Health Organization (who). The new rules aim to simplify the procedures for the international movement of drugs containing these substances for emergency purposes. They would allow selected suppliers of the controlled medicines to make international shipments in emergencies without prior export and import authorisations. However, they have to be approved by control authorities and the International Narcotics Control Board.
Shipments of humanitarian supplies containing controlled medicines were regarded by authorities as 'exportation' and hence required prior import documents from the recipient country. This delayed and often forced abandoning of relief work, especially when control authorities were unable to issue the import documents for residents of disaster-stricken areas.
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