A World Customs Organization (WCO) National Workshop on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy was recently held for Indonesian Customs in Jakarta.
The workshop, sponsored by the Japanese Customs Cooperation Fund, was participated in by 21 Customs participants involved in intellectual property rights (IPR) border enforcement. Resource speakers from the Asia/Pacific Regional Office for Capacity Building, China Customs and Japan Customs shared their knowledge and practices with the participants and facilitated the discussions.
During the workshop, the participants re-examined their current IPR enforcement at the border and the impacts of the illicit trafficking in IPR infringing goods by comparing them with the requirements of the WCO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement).
The participants then discussed the challenges and possible solutions as a way forward through a series of group discussions. The discussions covered a wide range of topics, namely the legal framework, operational procedures, risk analysis, information recording at Customs, information-sharing among Customs officers, cooperation with right holders and IPR training programs.
Through group discussions, the participants identified specific future actions to be taken, and shared their common understanding on how to improve IPR border enforcement.
The workshop concluded with a clear recognition by participants of the follow-up and actions, both institutional and individual, that they would need to take. – WCO
