NCJ Number
148662
Date Published
1993
Length
56 pages
Annotation
In reviewing recent efforts to control chemical shipments and money laundering, the General Accounting Office (GAO) identified signatories to the 1988 United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and the international community's progress in adopting measures to control chemical shipments and money laundering.
Abstract
The 1988 Convention sought international consensus on criminalizing illicit drug production and trafficking. Controlling chemicals used to manufacture illicit drugs and controlling illicit proceeds are two of the most important elements of the treaty. The Convention provides the legal framework for countries to legislate controls and to cooperate with each other in the fight against drugs. Two task forces have expanded the Convention's legal framework by defining the necessary mechanisms for harmonizing laws and establishing international controls, the Chemical Action Task Force and the Financial Action Task Force. The Convention and the task forces have focused international efforts on the control of illicit drug production and trafficking. They have gained the political endorsement needed to criminalize money laundering and to legislate chemical and financial controls. These controls, however, are not globally instituted and cooperatively enforced because countries have divergent drug control policies, countries fear that controls will impede financial and chemical commerce, countries lack the resources to implement controls, and legislative changes take time. Many industrialized chemical manufacturing countries have regulated and established controls, but illicit drug seizures indicate that chemicals are still being diverted. Less developed countries lack the infrastructure and resources needed to implement chemical controls, Moreover, the international community does not have the quick data exchange mechanisms needed to enforce controls. Nearly all task force members have made money laundering a criminal offense and have legislated financial controls such as transaction recording and reporting requirements and enforcement mechanisms. Countries vary in the scope of their money laundering laws, financial reporting requirements, the extent of intercountry cooperation in financial investigations, and the seizure and forfeiture of illicitly derived assets. Appendixes list parties to the 1988 Convention and chemicals covered under the Convention and provide supplemental information on the GAO evaluation of chemical diversion and money laundering controls.