WCO publishes its three Annual Reports on Drugs, Tobacco and IPR

Brussels, 23 June 2010

Press Release

The World Customs Organization (WCO) has just published its 2009 Reports on drugs trafficking, tobacco smuggling, and infringements of intellectual property rights (IPR). Through these reports the Organization hopes to highlight the trends and developments observed in each area and to provide Customs enforcement units with relevant analysis and useable data.

The Reports also demonstrate the efforts made by Customs administrations in the course of 2009 to combat these illegal trades more effectively, in particular through high-impact operations organized by WCO Members with the support of the WCO Secretariat.

The WCO Customs and Drugs Report 2009 analyses seizures on a regional basis and by category of drug intercepted, focusing in particular on routings, means of transport and concealment methods used. Emphasis has been placed on the illegal trade in opiates, cocaine, cannabis, and psychotropic substances. In 2009 there were 14,127 seizures of drugs, yielding a total of 533tonnes of narcotics, including 43 tonnes of cocaine, 408 tonnes of cannabis and 21 tonnes of opiates. The number of seizures in 2009 remained relatively stable compared with 2008, although there was a decrease in the quantities of drugs intercepted.

The WCO Customs and Tobacco Report 2009 presents an analysis of all reported seizures and aims to provide a global overview of the tobacco smuggling phenomenon. During 2009 there were 1,964 recorded seizures of illicit consignments of cigarettes, translating into approximately 3.4 billion cigarettes, or a 10% increase over 2008. This Report also presents the various international initiatives to combat the illicit trade in tobacco products to which the WCO contributes and in which it encourages its Members to take part.

The WCO Customs and IPR Report 2009 confirms the changing nature of IPR infringements. Whether it be the nature of the counterfeit goods or the routes they take, international fraud networks are still quick to react to new market conditions and the opportunities they present. During 2009 there were 13,280 reported cases involving the seizure of more than 291 million counterfeit or pirated articles. A rise in counterfeit products can be observed in the pharmaceuticals sector, and in transport spare parts and
high-technology products sector.

An extract of each of these Reports may be accessed by the public.

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