WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
IP/C/W/559 
5 October 2011  
 
(11-4823) 
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of  
Intellectual Property Rights Original:   English 
 
 
 
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES:  INFORMATION FROM 
OTHER INTERGOVERNMEN TAL ORGANIZATIONS 
 
WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATION (WCO) 
 
  At its meeting of 7 June 2011, 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. 
 The present document reproduces the information which has been received from the World 
Customs Organization (WCO) by means of a communication dated 29 September 2011. 
 Communications from other intergovernmental or ganizations will be circulated as addenda to 
this document. 
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I. GENERAL REMARKS 
1. During the year 2010/2011, the continuous increase in the amount of counterfeited and 
pirated goods has remained a great concern and chal lenge to the WCO and its 177 Member countries.  
The WCO is therefore actively taking a vital r esponsibility in providing extensive capacity building 
activities to its Member countries and also in pr oviding tools for its Members to enhance the 
effectiveness of the enforcemen t against illicit movement of coun terfeit and pirated goods across the 
border. 
2. In addition to the advanced tools availabl e for Member countries such as the WCO CEN 
(Customs Enforcement Network) which enables to exchange information on Customs offences, 
including IPR infringement, and share intelligence in  a timely, reliable and secure manner, new WCO 
initiatives such as IPR Legislation Compendium on  Border Measures and IPM (Interface Public-
Members) have continued to progress during the course of the year 2010/2011.  
3. The efforts of the WCO and its Member countries in combating counterfeit and pirated 
commodities are well reflected in 23,477 seizure cases from all six WCO regions
1, increased by 
7 per cent compared to 2009.  Likewise a total number of 152 million pieces and four tons of items 
were seized and reported to the CEN database from Member countries. (Source:  Customs and IPR 
Report 2010).  The WCO continues to deliver exte nsive IPR training and capacity building activities 
to further enhance operational capacity of Member Customs administrations.  
                                                      
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/559 
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  II. IPR TECHNICAL COOPERATION BY THE WCO SECRETARIAT AND WCO 
MEMBERS 
A. N
EW IINITIATIVES FOR TECHNICAL COOPERATION  
4. The WCO Counterfeiting and Piracy (CAP) Group continued being a platform for Members 
to discuss and exchange views, experiences, practic es and initiatives of Customs administrations for 
more effective combating against count erfeiting and piracy.  It held its 3rd and 4th sessions in 
November 2010 and April 2011 respectively. 
5. Among a number of tools and activities for capacity building discussed during these sessions, 
IPR Legislation Compendium on Border Measures be ing compiled by the WCO Secretariat in close 
cooperation with Member countries is aimed at informing Customs administrations about the 
experiences of others in their implementation of the TRIPS Agreement.  The Compendium is also 
expected to be a reference tool for effective capac ity building carried out by the WCO Secretariat.   
6. The current version of the Compendium consists of (1) list of contact points, (2) list of IP 
legislation for border measures against importation of counterfeit trademark and pirated copyright 
goods, (3) flow charts on border enforcement procedures, and (4) case studies on specific items.   
7. Interface Public Members (IPM) is a perman ent training tool developed by the WCO to 
strengthen the operational capacity of Customs officers via enhanced communication between 
Customs and rights holders.  By using this secure d online interface, right holders will be able to 
provide Customs administrations with information which enables them to: 
 (1) Establish risk indicator; 
(2) Distinguish between genuine and fake goods;  and 
(3) Identify local contact information for rights holders. 
 
8. Since its launch in June 2010, over 80 countries have expressed their interest in implementing 
the tool for their daily operation, and among them, mo re than 20 countries have gained access to IPM.  
About 30 rights holders have already signed up and star ted to provide the data.  It was reported that, in 
May 2011, 335,000 counte rfeited articles were seized by a Member Customs administration based on 
the information contained in IPM.  
9. The WCO continues to be engaged in fu rther development of these initiatives. 
B. WCO' S IPR  TRAINING /SEMINARS AND CAPACITY BUILDING  
10. Capacity building is a key component to en sure the most effective IPR enforcement 
worldwide and a top priority for WCO IPR programme.  The WCO provides technical assistance and 
capacity building, focusing on the application of  risk assessment, targeting techniques and the 
exchange of information.  The WCO is continuing to  enhance its activities to a great extent in quantity 
and quality with its expertise.  
11. IPR Training and Capacity Building/Semina rs provided by the WCO (October 2010 - 
September 2011) (including the ones organized  by organizations other than the WCO): 
(a) Regional and Sub-regional Training Seminars  
Serbia (Oct 2010:  6 countries) 
Argentina (November 2010:  10 countries, and April 2011:  3 countries) Hong Kong, China (May 2011:  22 countries) Lebanon (July 2011:  9 countries)   IP/C/W/559 
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  Republic of Korea (September 2011:  27 countries)  
 
(b) National  Training Seminars   
Dominican Republic (Feb 2011) 
Mexico (July 2011) 
Mali (July 2011) 
Ghana (May 2011)  
(c) Diagnostic Mission 
  Costa Rica (Nov 2010) 
 
(d) Action Plan (Follow up for diagnostic missions) 
Viet Nam (June 2011) 
  Fiji (July 2011)  
(e) Operational Exercises 
  Operation TIGRE was carried out in the Caribbean and Central America in April 
2011 (9 countries participated) 
 Operation FRED60 took place in West ern and Central Africa in May 2011 
(20 countries participated) 
 
12. The WCO will make its utmost efforts to r espond to the needs of its Member countries 
through the development of new tools and the deli very of extensive training and capacity building 
activities to further enhance operational capacity of Member Customs administrations. 
 
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