Following an invitation from the Permanent Secretariat of the Conference of Directors General of Customs of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), the WCO attended the 6th Meeting of the Working Group on Air Transport, which was held on 4 and 5 November 2021 via video-conference and was co-chaired by Ms. Paula Figueiredo Pereira of the Permanent Secretariat, who was standing in for Mr. Rui Canha, Secretary General, and by Mr. Carlos de Mesquita Campos Junior, representing the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service.

As part of the Technical Assistance and Cooperation Integrated Programme, this meeting is regarded as one of the activities to be undertaken by the Permanent Secretariat to enhance supportive actions among CPLP members and promote the sharing of good practices.

Following the opening ceremony, the 30 representatives of the eight CPLP member countries used presentations and discussions to share the experiences of their respective administrations on the following issues:

1. facial recognition updates - Brazil;
2. international consignments (e-commerce) - Brazil;
3. canine units at airports - Brazil;
4. the experience of Angola Customs with regard to the safeguarding of intellectual property rights (IPR) - Angola;
5. the e-Taxfree Portugal System;
6. the procedure for clearing low-value consignments at Customs in Praia International Airport – Cap Vert;
7. use of technology to facilitate communication and coordination – East Timor.

The strong involvement in these two meeting days highlights the importance that the CPLP Customs administrations confer on questions concerning air transport within the Community.

Closing the meeting, Chairperson Paula Figueiredo Pereira thanked the participants for their contributions to the discussions and commended the efforts of the CPLP Customs administrations towards achieving the objectives that the Community had set itself.

For more information, please, contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.