OPERATIONAL, USER AND LEGAL REQUIREMENTS ACROSS EU MEMBER STATES FOR ROADSIDE DRUG TESTING EQUIPMENT WITHIN THE EU PROJECT ROSITA

To gain a representative overview of their legal, user and operational requirements concerning Driving under the Influence of Drugs (DUID), within the EU project ROSITA a questionnaire was designed and distributed to 21 European countries (15 EU countries, 6 not-EU countries) to be answered by forensic experts with the help of suitable representatives of the police force according to each country. In total, 26 completed questionnaires from 19 different countries were returned. Results: Legal provisions on DUID are in force in all 19 countries, but drug test devices are used in police routine very rarely; in few countries the application is prohibited by regulations, but as main reasons for non-use their low level of validation or unavailability were given. The preferred drug test configuration is a single-use, multi-parameter test, which is able to provide a clear, unambiguous test result on cannabis, benzodiazepines, amphetamines, cocaine, opiates within 5 minutes. Preferred test specimen for roadside testing is saliva, due to its good availability, the low invasiveness of sampling and the good correlation with impairment. Sweat was considered as an acceptable alternative to saliva. For the covering abstract see ITRD E106992.