Under the framework of the Agreement between the WCO and the Bahamas Customs and Excise Department (BCED), signed in March 2018, to improve and enhance the technical capacity (TACB) of the BCED , a National Workshop for the Application of the TRIPS / IPR in the Bahamas was held in Nassau from April 1st to 5th 2019.

During the workshop, officers from BCED were trained on the WCO standards and tools to combat intellectual property infringements.  The workshop touched upon topics such as the agreements on intellectual property rights, risk analysis and techniques to identify pirated and counterfeit products.

An exercise was carried out at the BCED warehouses of the international airport, so that the theoretical elements of the workshop could be immediately put into practice, resulting in the identification of several shipments containing counterfeit clothing, bags and shoes of different brands.

These controls demonstrated that customs officers’ newly obtained skillsets, increased awareness in the fight against counterfeiting, and the importance of these attributes to achieving enhanced results in the fight against fraud and crime.