World Customs Organization (WCO), in cooperation with the Asia Pacific Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB A/P) and Japan Customs, organized the "WCO Asia Pacific Regional Workshop on Chemical Analysis for Customs Purposes" at the Central Customs Laboratory (CCL) of Japan Customs in Kashiwa, Japan from 16 to 19 December 2013 under the sponsorship of Customs Cooperation Fund/Japan. A total of 29 participants from 21 Asia Pacific Customs Administrations took part in the Workshop.

Throughout this 4-day Workshop, participants shared information on their good practices, experiences and challenges on Customs chemical analysis and obtained knowledge on WCO tools and instruments relating to the Harmonized System in particular Customs Laboratory works. They 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.

This workshop is part of the ongoing trial project on the "WCO Regional Customs Laboratory (RCL) initiative" in the Asia Pacific Region and, through this workshop, participants reaffirmed the value of this initiative in order to further strengthening regional cooperation in the area of customs chemical analysis.