WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/202/Add.1
11 September 2000
(00-3479)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES:  INFORMATION FROM
OTHER INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATION
Addendum
The present document reproduces the updated information on technical and financial
cooperation activities relevant to the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement, which was received
from the World Customs Organization on 4 September 2000.
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The WCO IPR Programme - partnership approach in IPR enforcement
The World Customs Organization (WCO) Intellec tual Property Rights (IPR) programme has
been developed as a joint venture with internationa l business in order to improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of customs administrations in IPR control and enforcement.  The programme is
underpinned by a number of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) between WCO and key trade
bodies, which are helping to improve cooperation between customs and business.  Customs is able to
improve efficiency through access to real-time commercial data and sensitive trade informationneeded for identification of counterfeit goods.  For its part, the legitimate trade benefits greatly by
having a partner customs administration with a better understanding of business needs and better
opportunities to facilitate legitimate trade.  It is also encouraging to see these internationally devised
schemes taking root at local level, in helping to improve the daily lives of customs and business at the
frontier.
(a) Responsibilities under (TRIPS);  "The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights"
WCO is concentrating much of its effort on the provision of technical assistance to customs
administrations in developing countries, in th eir efforts to comply with the TRIPS Agreement.
In order to meet this challenge, the WCO has been developing a number of new initiatives.
The newly formed "WCO IPR STRATEGIC GROUP" brings together an international group of
customs and business experts to examine risks, trends and needs of all the parties involved.  The first
session of the Strategic Group was held in Copenhagen in June 2000.  The output from this group
feeds directly into our new "Technical Assistance Group".
WCO Technical Assistance on IPR now focuses on the following areas:
• assistance with reform of customs legislation using the WCO Model Legislation;IP/C/W/202/Add.1
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• help in reforms to organization and infrastructure to support IPR enforcement
regimes;
• training events, including seminars, one day "Road Shows" aimed at raising
awareness and practical exercises;
• the provision of risk information and the development of an Internet based
communication tools to aid risk assessment.
Our technical assistance programme has also been amended to take account of the differing
needs of our members.  The inclusion of a "Needs Analysis" process, often incorporating an entry
mission to the recipient country prior to each technical assistance activity, is leading to a much more
efficient use of resources.  In this way we are able to deliver the most appropriate form of assistance
that benefits the recipient country and provides the best opportunity for sustainable enforcementregimes to be established.
A high degree of synergy and innovation results from this partnership, as crucial commercial
information and the business dimension is combined with customs information and key enforcementtechniques.  The basic WCO philosophy is to help Member administrations to improve their
efficiency and effectiveness in all aspects of their work.  Member administrations are therefore
facilitated and assisted at their own pace, so th at they can develop their own improvement plans.
Communication and Access to Information
Having TRIPS compliant legislation is obviously the first step for any customs administration
working in the IPR field, but efficient systems and access to good quality information are equallyimportant aspects in establishing effective enforcement regimes.  IPR is a unique enforcement activity
for customs.  In other fields customs can succeed in their control and enforcement efforts by relying
upon information under official control, whereas rights owners hold the majority of information upon
which customs can act in the field of IPR.  For this reason a good level of public/private cooperation
must exist and efficient systems for providing commercial information must be developed.
Since our last report to the TRIPS Council,  WCO has been taking every opportunity to
promote and facilitate the development of IS/IT communication systems.  A system called MUSYC is
being developed by six European Member administrations and will eventually comprise of a database
and secure Internet communication system.
REACT (European Anti-Counterfeiting Organization) has also developed an Internet
communication system.  This is a business (rights holder coalition) led, customs-supported initiative,
where participating businesses provide strategic risk information to front-line customs personnel,
through a secure Internet application.  WCO Members and business sponsors have been working
together to gradually improve the quality of info rmation held on REACT and make it available to a
wide range of customs personnel.  Each particip ating rights owner manages its own information
"page", but customs officials have access to the whole system.  WCO and REACT have jointly
delivered a series of one day awareness raising events (see below), where an introduction to IPR was
combined with the delivery of risk profile information through the new system.  Plans are being made
for REACT to feed information directly into MU SYC, so that the combined information can be
offered to customs and to void duplication of effort.
Funding
The WCO's IPR business partners continue to fund many of the WCO's activities in the IPR
area.  A general fund, provided by business sponsors, covers expenses such as the production of
awareness raising and training material, while technical assistance events and "Needs Analysis" entryIP/C/W/202/Add.1
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missions to recipient countries are met by those individual rights holders participating in that
particular event.
Funding from the World Intellectual Property Organization and the European Patent Office is
allowing personnel from the WCO to contribute towards WIPO and EPO initiatives and activities.
Recent Events
Recent events include:
• June 1999:  South Africa training event for Customs, Police and Border guards.
• September 1999 to January 2000:  Five phase technical assistance for Polish
Customs;  included 1) Business Briefing, 2)  Customs Briefing, 3) Practical Exercise,
4) Road Show and Press Conference and 5) Signing of MOUs and Press Conference.
• Joint one day awareness raising events jointly run with REACT (European Anti-
Counterfeiting Coalition):  These include:  Finnish and Estonian Customs (Helsinki
June 1999); Czech Republic and German Customs (October 1999);  Amsterdam forCustoms from Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium (March 2000);
Thessaloniki for Greek and Bulgarian Customs (May 2000).
• Other events:  WCO has also contributed to many international meetings, academy
session and seminars arranged by WIPO.  We have also contributed to the Permanent
Forum on Pharmaceutical crime, which examines the problem of counterfeit
medicines and other seminars on this topic (the Czech Republic;  June 2000, jointly
hosted by the Czech authorities and industry).  In July 2000 WCO provided a speaker
to the recent high level EU-China international symposium in Beijing 25-26 July
2000 (organized by the European Patent Office).
Future events
• 8 October 2000:  WCO Business Partnership Open Day.  An open day for the trade to
discuss our joint anti-drug and anti-counterfeiting initiatives.
• 11 – 14 December 2000:  WCO Business Partnership Annual Working Group;
includes discussion on the future direction of our IPR programme.
• 20 – 24 November 2000:  WCO IPR Technical Assistance Programme for Indonesian
Customs.
• January 2001:  WCO IPR Technical Assistance Programme for UAE.
• 2001 (date to be finalized):  Regional Seminar for WCO members in South East Asia,
to be hosted by Hong Kong, China Customs.
A series of two-day events, starting in September 2000, is also being arranged for Customs
and Police in the following Eastern European countries (Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Estonia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Poland).  These events are being
jointly organized by The European Patent Office, WCO and REACT.IP/C/W/202/Add.1
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Conclusion
WCO recognizes the importance attached to the full implementation of TRIPS and as the
leading world body for international customs cooperation is making considerable efforts to assist
member customs administrations with their implementation plans.  WCO also greatly appreciates the
opportunity to work closely in partnership with WTO, WIPO, EPO and the international businesscommunity in order to provide technical and financial assistance to members.
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