With the sponsorship of the Japanese Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF Japan) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a WCO National Seminar on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy was held by the General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia in Phnom Penh from 4 to 6 December 2017.

The Seminar was attended by 33 Customs officials from various departments, offices and branches of the administration. In view of the importance of cooperation and coordination among government agencies in protecting IPR, relevant officials from other Ministries were invited to participate in the Seminar. Resource speakers from the Asia/Pacific WCO Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB A/P), China Customs and Japan Customs participated in the Seminar to share their knowledge and practices with the participants and to facilitate the discussions.

Through this Seminar, participants were able to gain a deeper understanding of Customs’ role and the current challenges emanating from IPR border enforcement, along with IPR protection mechanisms in Cambodia. Participants were also able to familiarize themselves with other WCO Members’ practices. Further, techniques to identify and distinguish between counterfeit and genuine products were demonstrated by invited Right Holders. On the last day of the Seminar, the participants engaged in intensive discussions to address specific future actions to be taken to improve IPR border enforcement.

The Seminar concluded successfully with participants recognizing the importance of IPR border enforcement, including possible future activities that may be undertaken. The participants expressed their appreciation to the WCO, ROCB A/P and the experts for contributing to the success of the Seminar.