From 10 to 12 January 2022 the World Customs Organization (WCO) held a virtual national training for participants of the Indonesian Directorate General of Customs and Excise. Its purpose was to build capacity to prevent cases of illegal traffic of plastic wastes in Indonesia and to discuss the role of Customs in facilitation of trade of plastic recyclables. It also sought to discuss the recommendations of the National Implementation Plan (NIP), which was drafted based on the virtual diagnostic mission conducted in Indonesia from 11 to 15 January 2021 by the WCO.

This national training was conducted within the framework of the Asia Pacific Plastic Waste Border Management Project (APPW), funded by the Government of Japan with the aim of strengthening the implementation of legal and administrative measures to facilitate and enforce policies on transboundary movements of plastic waste of beneficiary Customs Administrations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Plastic waste has attracted attention, notably due to the high volumes of such waste, which can either be a valuable resource or pose a threat to the environment if regulations on transboundary movement of contaminated, unrecyclable, and potentially hazardous plastic wastes are not enforced. The border management processes can also facilitate trade in non-hazardous, recyclable plastic waste.

During this three-day workshop the participants of the Indonesian Directorate General of Customs and Excise became more familiar with the Basel Convention and its plastic waste amendments that became effective on 1 January 2021. Interactive discussions with speakers from the WCO, the Secretariat of the Basel Convention (SBC) and the United Nations Organization on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC)-WCO Container Control Programme (CCP) addressed the critical areas and issues of procedures in plastic waste trade and enforcement measures.

Among the topics covered were the Basel Convention requirements applicable to plastic waste, the Harmonized System (HS) nomenclature to identify the type of plastic waste and to determine the applicable procedures, the Risk Management approach to target illegal trade in plastic waste, investigating illegal traffic as well as the tools and instruments for frontline Customs officers developed by the WCO. A representative of the Basel Convention Secretariat delivered a presentation on the take back procedures in case of detected illegal traffic. The participants were also briefed on the WCO tools and instruments in the area of procedures and trade facilitation, such as the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC), the SAFE Framework of Standards, including the use of national AEO programme, Coordinated Border Management (CBM), the Single Window Environment (SWE) and the WCO Data Model.

It was the last workshop of a series of four under the APPW Project. A regional conference will be held in February 2022 to conclude this Project.