The World Customs Organization (WCO), in cooperation with the Asia Pacific Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB A/P) and Korea Customs Service, organized the "WCO Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on Capacity Building of Customs Laboratories", in Busan, Korea from 17 to 19 April 2018 under the sponsorship of the Customs Cooperation Fund of Korea. Twenty-nine Customs laboratory and high-level staff from 22 Member administrations in the region participated in the Workshop.
In his opening speech, Mr. ROH, Suk-Hwan, Vice Commissioner of the Korea Customs Service (KCS), welcomed all participants and stressed the importance of the analysis work carried out by Customs laboratories in relation to revenue collection, the protection of society and the environment, as well as trade facilitation. In order to tackle these common challenges, it would be extremely important to build up a strong network among Customs laboratories in the region for exchanging expertise and experiences concerning analysis work.
During the Workshop, participants shared information on their analysis system and infrastructure as well as many analytical techniques for the purposes of HS classification and identification of hazardous substances. They also discussed challenges for the implementation and improvement of the Customs Laboratory. Through an observation tour, participants also learned the sophisticated facilities and infrastructure of the Central Customs Laboratory (CCL) of the KCS.
Participants emphasized the importance of Customs Laboratory for achieving Customs missions, such as revenue collection and border enforcement of illicit drugs by providing analytical results. They also discussed the effective way forward in strengthening regional cooperation in the area of Customs chemical analysis and agreed to work together for the further improvement of customs efficiency in the A/P region through the joint efforts among them.
Representatives from the Central Expert-Criminalistic Customs Administration (CECCA) of the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation, Regional Customs Laboratory for the WCO Europe Region, also made presentations on the structure of the Customs laboratory in the Russian Federation and informed the group of ongoing capacity building activities in the region.
In his closing speech, Mr. KIM, Jong-Myeong, Director General of the CCL, stated that the Workshop had discussed many current issues relating to Customs analysis, examined the challenges and sought viable solutions. Inviting participants to make use of the knowledge and the network that had been established, he concluded that the partnership created at the Workshop would drive analysis work to go further.