WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  IP/C/W/541/Add.4 
1 March 2010 
 
 (10-1136) 
Council for Trade-Related Aspects 
of Intellectual Property Rights Original:   English 
 
 
 
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES:  INFORMATION FROM 
OTHER INTERGOVERNMEN TAL ORGANIZATIONS 
 
WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATION (WCO) 
 
Addendum  
  1. At its meeting of 8-9 June 2009, the Council fo r TRIPS agreed to invite intergovernmental 
organization observers to the Council to update th e information on their technical and financial 
cooperation programmes relating to the im plementation of the TRIPS Agreement. 
2. The present document reproduces the information which has been received from the World 
Customs Organization (WCO) by means of a communication dated 12 January 2010. 
 
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I. GENERAL REMARKS 
3. The World Customs Organization (WCO) repr esents 176 Members st ates whose Customs 
administrations process approximately 98 per cent of the global trade.  The WCO is the only 
international organization with the competence in Customs matters, set up to enhance the efficiency 
and effectiveness of Member Customs administrati ons and to assist them in their endeavours to 
modernize and build capacity within their national Customs administrations. 
4. In recent years Customs administrations worldwide have faced many challenges arising from 
globalization, namely a demand for greater facilitation of legitimate tr ade and the need for effective 
security and control of world supply  chains.  On the one hand ther e was the continuing growth in 
legitimate international trade at least until the rece nt recession, while on the other hand there is the 
illicit cross-border movement of weapons of mass effect, drugs, counterfe it merchandise, dual use 
chemicals, small arms, nuclear material, undeclar ed merchandise, currency, cultural property, 
endangered species, pornography, trafficked human beings, hazardous waste, unsafe foodstuffs and 
dangerous consumer products. 
5. In this context, the continuous rise in the cr oss-border traffic in counterfeit goods is a matter 
of great concern and remains one of the priorities to  the WCO.  There is clear evidence that much of 
this illegal trade is being run by organized cr ime groups which act on an  international level, 
generating huge profits and financ ing other criminal activities which have the potential to undermine 
national economies and governmental structures (job losses, tax revenue losses, corruption).  
Substantial damage to the right holders is cause d by affecting the confidence of consumers in 
brand-name products.  There are also significant financial losses to the companies which have 
invested in research and development of products. IP/C/W/541/Add.4 
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6. Substandard and often hazardous products such as counterfeit pharmaceuticals, pesticides, 
cement, electronic components and spare parts for vehicles and aircraft can cause severe damage to 
the health and safety of the public. 
II. IPR TECHNICAL COOPERATION BY THE WCO SECRETARIAT AND WCO 
MEMBERS 
7. The WCO Secretariat is therefore challenged to  tackle this phenomenon as Customs officers, 
positioned at key locations in ports , airports and land border crossi ngs, have a unique knowledge and 
understanding of international trade. 
8. As Customs administrations are in the frontline,  they have a great responsibility to identify 
suspicious consignments out of the vast amount of  legitimate trade crossing the borders every day.  
Therefore, the application of specifically designe d risk assessment techniques is a prerequisite for 
efficient and effective Customs control of goods at the points of entry. 
A. T
OOLS FOR TECHNICAL COOPERATION  
9. The WCO has, with the support of its Me mbers, developed specific risk assessment 
parameters to target importations which potentiall y infringe intellectual property regulations.  This 
complex set of factors assigning risks to individual shipments is based on the regular exchange of information and best practices among the WCO Me mbers, and supported by intelligence provided by 
the right holders and other services and orga nizations involved in IPR enforcement. 
10. Delivery of training and capacity building assist ance to Customs officers is a key component 
to ensure the most effective IPR enforcement wo rld-wide.  The WCO encourages a regional approach 
by supporting Regional Offices of Capacity Buildi ng (ROCB), which currently exist in all the six 
WCO regions.
1  The WCO also has pool of accredited IPR experts of Members from around the world 
to support the delivery of training and capacity building.  Training  and capacity building activities 
conducted by WCO experts focus on the application of these risk assessment techniques, among other 
things, the exchange of information and the use of  IT.  Our e-learning programme has been developed 
to effectively supplement and enhance the traini ng and capacity building of the WCO.  The IPR 
module for e-learning is well structured to help  Customs officers to target and improve their 
IPR-related strategies and activities, addressing th e phenomenon of counterfeiting and piracy, the 
TRIPS Agreement, as well as Customs procedures and risk management. 
11. In order to facilitate information exchange, th e WCO has developed several tools, including, 
but not limited to, Customs Enforcement Networ k (CEN) and the Regional Intelligence Liaison 
Offices (RILO).  CEN is a global data informati on-gathering and communication system that enables 
Customs officers around the world to exchange information on Customs offences, including IPR 
infringement, and share intelligence in a timely, reliable and secure manner.  A RILO is a regional center for collecting and analyzing data, as well as,  disseminating information with support by CEN 
on trends, modus operandi, routes and significant cases of fraud.  There are 11 RILO offices covering 
the WCO's six regions.  Based on the seizure data exchanged by CEN, the WCO has issued an annual 
IPR Report as a means to capture the major trends in IPR enforcement since 2004. 
 
                                                     
 
1 Six WCO regions:  North Africa, Near and Middl e East (MENA), West and Central Africa (WCA), 
East and Southern Africa (ESA), So uth America, North Amer ica, Central America and the Caribbean (AMS), 
Europe (EUR), and Far East, South and South East Asia, Australasia and the Pacific Islands (AP).  IP/C/W/541/Add.4 
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  B. WCO' S IPR  TRAINING AND CAPACITY BUILDING  
12. The WCO is enhancing its activities to a great exte nt in quantity and quality with its expertise.  
The WCO receives a specific funding for technical  and capacity building assistance in the area of 
Customs IPR issues, amounting approximately to 1.5 million Euros, from the government of Japan this fiscal year.  Together with almost the same am ount of funding from Japan for the last fiscal year, 
the WCO has effectively provided IPR training and capacity building activities. 
(1) IPR Training and Capacity Building provid ed by the WCO (October 2008 - November 2009) 
(including the ones organized by organizations other than the WCO): 
  (a) Regional Training Seminars 
  Japan (October 2008:  19 countries, and May 2009:  22 countries), 
China (December 2008:  20 countries), Guatemala (March 2009:  6 countries), Kenya (April 2009:  22 countries), Dubai (UAE) (May 2009:  17 countries), Benin (July 2009:  22 countries), and Costa Rica (November 2009:  22 countries) 
 
 (b) National Training Seminars 
  Dominican Republic (February 2009), Mexico (February and September 2009), 
Moldova (April 2009), Morocco (June 2009) , Cote d'Ivoire (June 2009), and 
South Africa (July 2009) 
  (c) Diagnostic Missions 
   Dominican Republic (March 2009), Mo ngolia (June 2009), Sene gal (June 2009), and 
Cambodia (July 2009) 
 (2) IPR Training and Capacity Building to be conducted in the coming months  
 Currently the WCO has received requests for IPR capacity building from 17 Member 
countries and the following activities are pla nned to be conducted in the coming months: 
  (a) Regional Training Seminars   South Africa  
 (b) National Training Seminars 
  Angola, Cambodia, Chile, Kyrgyz Repu blic, Madagascar, Mauritius, Moldova,  
 Tunisia, Viet Nam 
  (c) Diagnostic Missions 
  Fiji, Ivory Coast, Laos , Mongolia, Moldova, Morocco 
  
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