IP/C/R/TC/WCO/2  
 
29 September 2023  
(23-6561)  Page: 1/6 
Council for Trade -Related Aspects  of 
Intellectual Property Rights  Original: English  
 
 
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES: INFORMATION FROM  
OTHER INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS  
WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATION (WCO)  
At its meeting of  14-15 June 2023, the Council for TRIPS agreed to invite intergovernmental 
organization observers to the Council to update the information on their technical and financial 
cooperation programmes relating to the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement.  
 
The present document reproduces the information which has been received from the World Custom s 
Organization (WCO)  by means of a communication dated  13 September 2023 . 
 
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1  OVERVIEW OF WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATION (WCO) ACTIVITIES  AND TOOLS OF 
RELEVANCE TO THE TRIPS AGREEMENT  
1.  The Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Health and Safety Programme of the World Customs 
Organization (WCO) maintains its resolve to protect consumer health and safety, and continues to 
combat counterfeiting and piracy through a variety of activities described in the following 
paragraphs. The WCO experienc e in this field is in line with the other international organizations 
working in the field of IPR enforcement. There seems to be a shift of the modus operandi towards 
the use of small consignments thus reducing the numbers of large seizures, but there does  not seem 
to be any significant fall in the number of counterfeits traded globally. The WCO 's main activity is to 
raise awareness about customs work in this area either towards other international organizations or 
by promoting capacity building activities for our member administrations. The capacity building 
consists of two factors; training through workshops and education and training through operational 
activities. A list of the WCO activities is attached in the Annex.  
1.1  Operations  
2.  The WCO  organizes simultaneous enforcement activities with multiple customs administrations. 
These operations are aimed at knowing the scale of global counterfeiting whilst providing 
participating customs officers with hands -on experience. Operations, which quant ify and qualify the 
impact of counterfeit activities, can also serve as an excellent opportunity to strengthen Customs ' 
enforcement capacity. Participating members are able to learn about practical border enforcement 
measures through our Accredited Experts  and gain hands -on experience using WCO tools, such as 
the IPR CENcomm Group.  
3.  The IPR CENcomm Group is a secure communication tool used for data exchange on IPR 
enforcement, enabling real time sharing of information between WCO members. WCO Operation 
STOP and STOP II respectively held in 2020 and 2021 to 2022, was for fighting against illicit 
medicines and medical products linked to the COVID -19 pandemic. Participating members used the 
IPR CENcomm Group to report their seizures and the WCO secretariat share d information alerts to 
members through the platform.  IP/C/R/TC/WCO/2  
 
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  1.2  National/Regional seminars  
4.  The WCO delivers extensive capacity building activities, mainly in the form of legislative training, 
document targeting training and product identification training, with priv ate sector cooperation. But 
the organization also performs diagnostic missions. In the diagnostic missions, WCO experts visit 
the country and assess the Customs administrations capabilities in the domain of fighting 
counterfeits. The evaluation includes bo th the legal base and practical and procedural arrangements, 
and leads to a recommendation from WCO. The WCO conducted several training 
seminars/workshops for officers from a number of WCO member administrations in this reporting 
period.  
1.3  Counterfeit  and Pi racy Group (CAP) meeting  
5.  The annual WCO Counterfeiting and Piracy (CAP) Group meeting provides a forum for customs 
and related law enforcement agencies to exchange information, experiences and best practices on 
combating counterfeiting and piracy. During t his meeting, members shared their experiences and 
exchanged practices on fighting counterfeits.  
1.4  E-learning module  (CLiCK)  
6.  By using the WCO 's internet -based e -learning module 'CLiCK ', customs officers can acquire 
practical knowledge on border enforcement re lated to IPR. They can train themselves on 
intellectual  property (IP) agreements, such as the TRIPS Agreement, and on practical, risk -based 
document targeting.   
  IP/C/R/TC/WCO/2  
 
- 3 - ANNEX1 
Name of programme or project  National Workshop on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy  
Date and end date  26 September 2022 - 30 September 2022  
Beneficiary Member(s) or observer(s)  Lao People 's Democratic Republic  
Brief description  From 26 to 30 September 2022, the World Customs Organization (WCO) delivered a national workshop on the 
protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) in Vientiane, Lao People 's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The 
workshop was attended by 28 officials from Lao Customs  
Beneficiary institution or audience   
Technical cooperation provider(s)   
Outputs or impact  Participants had the opportunity to become familiar with the Agreement on Trade -Related Aspects of Intellectual 
Property Rights (TRIPS), the theoretical concepts surrounding IPR and the broad spectrum of the most frequent 
IPR infringements committed during the COVID ‑19 pandemic. They also received information on the WCO 's 
tools and instruments relevant for managing IPR -related risks, which resulted in some interest ing discussions 
among participants as well as with speakers.  
Website for further information  https://www.wcoomd.org/en/media/newsroom/2022/october/wco -workshop -on-ipr-protection -held-in-lao-
pdr.aspx  
Contact point for further information  IPRteam@wcoomd.org . 
 
 
1 In English only .  
  IP/C/R/TC/WCO/2  
 
- 4 - Name of programme or project  National Workshop on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy  
Date and end date  28 November 2022 - 2 December 2022  
Beneficiary Member(s) or observer(s)  Philippines  
Brief description  From 28 November to 2 December 2022, the World Customs Organization (WCO) delivered a national workshop 
on the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) in Manila, Philippines. The workshop was attended by 28 
officials from Philippines B ureau of Customs (BOC)  
Beneficiary institution or audience   
Technical cooperation provider(s)   
Outputs or impact  Participants broaden ed knowledge on IPR enforcement including other WCO  members practices and 
international treaties.  
Website for further information  https://www.wcoom d.org/en/media/newsroom/2022/december/wco -national -workshop -for-the-philippines -
bureau -of-customs -on-the-protection -of-ipr.aspx  
Contact point for further information  IPR.Team@wco omd.org  
 
Name of programme or project  National Workshop on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy  
Date and end date  28 November 2022 - 2 December 2022  
Beneficiary Member(s) or observer(s)  Ecuador  
Brief description  From 28 November to 2 December 2022, the World Customs Organization (WCO) delivered a national workshop 
on the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The workshop was attended by 20 
officials from Ecuador Custom s and was facilitated by an expert from the WCO Secretariat along with two pre -
accredited experts from Argentina and the Dominican Republic.  
Beneficiary institution or audience   
Technical cooperation provider(s)   
Outputs or impact  Participants learned a bout the Agreement on Trade -Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), the 
theoretical concepts surrounding IPR and the broad spectrum of the most frequent IPR infringements 
encountered during the COVID -19 pandemic. They also received informa tion on relevant WCO 's tools and 
instruments for managing IPR -related risks, which resulted in some interesting discussions among participants 
as well as with the speakers.  
Website for further information  https://www.wcoomd.org/en/media/newsroom/2022/december/ecuador -welcomes -wco-workshop -on-ipr-
protection.aspx  
Contact point for further information  IPR.Team@wcoomd.org  
  
  IP/C/R/TC/WCO/2  
 
- 5 - Name of programme or project  National Workshop on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy  
Date and end date  6 December 2022 - 8 December 2022  
Beneficiary Member(s) or observer(s)  Papua New Guinea  
Brief description  From 6 to 8 December 2022, the World Customs Organization (WCO) organized an online National Workshop 
on Combatting Counterfeiting and Piracy for the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Customs Service, supported by the 
Customs Cooperation Fund of Japan (CCF Japan). More than 30 participants from the PNG Customs Service 
attended the Workshop.  
Beneficiary institution or audience   
Technical cooperation provider(s)   
Outputs or impact  Participants were made aware of the challenges faced by PNG Customs and of the important role played by 
Customs in securing borders and safeguarding society, by preventing counterfeit and illicit items from entering 
their co untry.  
Website for further information  https://www.wcoomd.org/en/media/newsroom/2023/january/wc o-national -workshop -on-combatting -
counterfeiting -and-piracy -for-the-papua -new-guinea.aspx  
Contact point for further information  IPR.Team@wcoomd.org  
 
Name of programme or project  National Workshop on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy  
Date and end date  8 May 2023 - 12 May 2023  
Beneficiary Member(s) or observer(s)  Viet Nam  
Brief description  From 8 to 12 May 2023, the World Customs Organization (WCO) conducted a five -day national workshop 
focusing on intellectual property rights (IPR) protection of in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet  Nam. The workshop was 
attended by 26 Vietnamese Customs officials  
Beneficiary institut ion or audience   
Technical cooperation provider(s)   
Outputs or impact  Participants got broaden knowledge on IPR enforcement including other WCO members practices and 
international treaties.  
Website for further information  https://www.wcoomd.org/en/media/newsroom/2023/june/wco -ipr-workshop -organized -for-vietnamese -
customs -officials.aspx  
Contact point for further information  IPRteam@wcoomd.org . 
  
  IP/C/R/TC/WCO/2  
 
- 6 - Name of programme or project  National Workshop on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy  
Date and end date  8 May 2023 - 12 May 2023  
Beneficiary Member(s) or observer(s)  Mali 
Brief description  From 8 to 12 May 2023, at the invitation of the Mali Directorate General of Customs, the World Customs 
Organization (WCO ) delivered a national workshop on combatting counterfeiting and piracy in Bamako (Mali). 
This five -day workshop, which was attended by 20 officials from Mali Customs, comes under the umbrella of 
the WCO 's Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Strategy, which  gives pride of place to capacity building activities 
in this area for Member Customs administrations.  
Beneficiary institution or audience   
Technical cooperation provider(s)   
Outputs or impact  The main aims of this workshop were to (i) provide an overview of best practices in combatting counterfeiting 
and piracy; (ii) present the details of the Agreement on Trade -Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights 
(TRIPS); and (iii) familiarize the participants with risk analysis and targeting techniqu es to detect counterfeit 
goods , as well as  the functionalities of the WCO 's "IPR CENcomm " secure communication tool.  
Website for further information  https://www.wcoomd.org/en/media/newsroom/2023/may/wco -holds -a-national -workshop -on-combatting -
counterfeiting -and-piracy -for-mali-customs.aspx  
Contact point for further i nformation  IPRteam@wcoomd.org  
 
Name of programme or project  Sub-regional Workshop on Combatting Counterfeiting and Piracy  
Date and end date  31 May 2023 - 2 June 2023  
Beneficiary Member(s) or observer(s)  Argentina; Plurinational State of Bolivia; Chile; Paraguay; Uruguay  
Brief description  From 31 May to 2 June 2023, the World Customs Organization (WCO) held a sub -regional workshop on 
combatting counterfeiting and pirac y in Iguazú, Argentina, located in the "Triple Frontier ", or tri -border area, 
between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The three -day workshop was attended by 26 customs officials from 
Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay  
Beneficiary institution or audience   
Technical cooperation provider(s)   
Outputs or impact  Workshop sought to strengthen cooperation between the customs administrations of the region in order to boost 
the efforts undertaken by each country to provide better protection for intell ectual property rights (IPR).  
Website for further information  https://www.wcoomd.org/en/media/newsroom/2023/june/wco -sub-regional -workshop -on-combatting -
counterf eiting -and-piracy -for-mercosur -countries.aspx  
Contact point for further information  IPRteam@wcoomd.org . 
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