Launched in 2005 by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the Pre-Export Notification (PEN) Online System enables easy on-line exchange of information between competent national authorities on planned exports of precursor chemicals that are under international control because they might be used for the illicit manufacture or production of drugs. Thanks to PEN Online suspicious shipments can be checked, suspended or stopped before they reach illicit drug manufactures.
In 2022 INCB responded to the increasing use of designer precursors and other non-scheduled chemicals in illicit drug manufacturing with a new tool, PEN Online Light. This new electronic platform allows countries to exchange, on a voluntary basis, pre-export notifications for substitute and alternative chemicals that are not controlled in Table I and Table II of the 1988 Convention but are nationally controlled due to their use in the illicit manufacture of drugs. Most of these chemicals are included in the INCB’s Limited International Special Surveillance List (ISSL).
• PEN Online brochure
• PEN Online Light brochure
• United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, 1988
• International Narcotics Control Board – Precursors Control Section
• Procedure for placing precursor chemicals under international control
