On 3 December 2024, the World Customs Organization (WCO) held an online refresher workshop for accredited, recognized and pre-accredited experts in intellectual property rights (IPR), thanks to the financial support of the Customs Cooperation Fund of Japan (CCF/Japan).
The objective of this event was to provide a forum for IPR experts to gain insights from the Secretariat on the latest developments in this field, with a particular focus on activities related to e-commerce.
This event was a follow up of the last IPR experts refresher workshop organized in March 2023 and brought together a total of 31 experts from 22 Customs administrations. Accredited experts, being highly competent Customs officers, can act as an important vehicle for promoting WCO standards and tools relating to IPR protection during, for example, WCO capacity-building activities and operations. They also play a key role in the development of training materials, which are essential to ensure the effectiveness of the WCO IPR Strategy 2020.
Since the 20th Meeting of the WCO Counterfeiting and Piracy (CAP) Group, a total of 26 experts from 16 Customs administrations have been deployed to support 13 WCO IPR, Health and Safety Programme events. Through their dedication and strong commitment, they have been recognized as an essential element in the implementation of the WCO IPR Strategy 2020, which has achieved significant progress in increasing the visibility of the WCO and its Members.
During the event, the Secretariat provided a comprehensive overview of the work carried out under the IPR, Health and Safety Programme in recent years, in accordance with its Work Programme.
In the light of the 2023 WCO Illicit Trade Report (ITR), there has been a call for accredited experts to lend their expertise to enhancing the reporting of IPR data. Furthermore, an update was provided on the revision of the WCO Risk Management (RM) Compendium, the recent publication of the RM Compendium as a web app, and the revamp of the WCO CLiKC! E-Learning Module on Risk Management.
At the workshop, the Representative of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) delivered a presentation on the importance of Customs registration systems for the protection of IPR.
The accredited experts then engaged in productive discussions, during which they exchanged views on the challenges faced in the IPR domain when it comes to ensuring the health and safety of their respective citizens. They also talked to the Secretariat about finalizing the accreditation process for the remaining experts, as this is subject to funding, and about how best to ensure the transfer of knowledge between new and former experts.
At the end of the workshop, the Secretariat took the opportunity to invite the experts to the second edition of the Symposium on “Removing counterfeits from e-commerce”, as combating IPR infringements in the e-commerce arena remains one of the WCO’s top priorities.
Contact us: IPRteam@wcoomd.org
For more information: IPR, Health and Safety Programme