At the invitation of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Mr. Ricardo Treviño Chapa, Deputy Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO), participated remotely in the 8th edition of MASCRADE (the Movement Against Smuggled and Counterfeit Trade) entitled “Unleashing the Power of Consumers in the fight against Smuggling and Counterfeiting” held on 22 and 23 September, in New Delhi, India.
In his inaugural speech, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, Hon. Former Vice President of India, stated “the fight against illicit trade has to be taken as a mission, with passion for the sake of the nation, and then the real change will come”.
During the plenary session dedicated to the topic “To Empower, Inspire and Connect Consumers for a Safer and Healthier World”, Deputy Secretary General Treviño Chapa stressed that “Customs’ priority is to maintain the resilience of the supply chain, especially during challenging times”. “It is our duty to protect the society from illicit trafficking, counterfeiting and piracy”, he added.
Against this backdrop, the Deputy Secretary General reiterated the importance of the cooperation among all stakeholders involved in international trade, including international organizations and the private sector. He went on to present recent WCO activities, including enforcement operations, and highlighted the role played by the WCO’s Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Customs Enforcement Network Communication Platform (CENcomm) Group in allowing the exchange of intelligence information in real-time between Customs officials via secure channels.
He recalled that the WCO organized webinars on a regular basis, which involved not only the participation of Customs officials but of some Intellectual Property (IP) right-holders in view of keeping Customs officials updated on the latest trends in fake and counterfeit medicines and medical equipment linked to COVID-19. His intervention ended by some references to the successful outcomes of the WCO’s two iterations of the Global Operation STOP, which took place respectively in 2020 and 2021 during the peak of the pandemic.