With the sponsorship of the Japanese Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF Japan) and in cooperation with the Royal Malaysia Customs Department (RMCD), a WCO Sub-Regional Workshop on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy was held for the ASEAN Member States (AMS) in the Royal Malaysian Customs Academy from 9 to 13 July 2018.

The joint arrangement of the Workshop with the RMCD is part of the commitment of Malaysia as a Country Coordinator of the Strategic Plan of Customs Development 10 on “Public Security and Protection of the Society” under the ASEAN framework. The WCO highly appreciates this regional initiative and is pleased to be able to support AMS to enhance their IPR border measures.

The Workshop was attended by 24 Customs officials from nine countries, two observers from ASEAN Secretariat, and one observer from ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation. Resource speakers from the Asia/Pacific Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB A/P) and Japan Customs participated in the Workshop to share their knowledge and practices with the participants. 

The objective of this Workshop was to enhance the competency of Customs administrations on IPR border measures in the ASEAN region and to further strengthen regional activities in this area. During the Workshop, the participants were able to gain a deeper understanding on the IPR legal framework including the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement and to learn good practices and recommended approaches to combat counterfeiting and piracy while sharing practices among the countries. In addition, techniques to identify counterfeit and genuine products were demonstrated by invited Right Holders. On the last day of the Workshop, the participants defined specific future actions to be taken to improve IPR border enforcement in respective countries. The participants expressed their appreciation to the WCO, ROCB A/P and Japan Customs for their contribution to the Workshop.