WCO regional workshop on combating counterfeiting and piracy organized for the Customs administrations of the West and Central Africa region

From 8 to 12 July 2024, the World Customs Organization (WCO) held a regional workshop on combating counterfeiting and piracy for the Customs administrations of its West and Central Africa (WCA) region. The event was held in Cotonou, Benin, with the financial backing of the Customs Cooperation Fund – China (CCF China).

In her opening address, Adidjatou Hassan Zanouvi, Director General of Benin Customs, recalled the reforms her Administration had introduced some years earlier with a view to modernizing Customs, in particular in the area of IPR protection. She went on to thank the WCO Secretariat and the CCF China for choosing Benin as the host location for this important event and urged participants to make an active contribution to its success for the benefit of all.

The next speaker, representing the donor, was Li Dan from China Customs. She reiterated her Administration’s intention to continue in its support for the activities under the WCO’s IPR, Health and Safety Programme and made a point of underlining the importance of capacity building in this area.

Delivered by an IPR expert from the WCO Secretariat with assistance from two Technical Operational Advisers (TOAs) in the IPR field from China and Guinea, the event was attended by no fewer than 21 Customs officers from the region, with participants from Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Liberia, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sao Tomé and Principe, Senegal and Togo.

The workshop provided the opportunity for participants to build on the knowledge and skills they had already acquired from their experiences in enforcement and risk management by focusing on (1) the main IPR infringement trends, referring to the analyses set out in the WCO Illicit Trade Report (ITR) 2023; (2) the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS); (3) the theoretical and practical concepts surrounding IPR risk management; and (4) the operational handling of the WCO IPR CENcomm secure communication tool.

In view of the challenges raised by counterfeit goods sold through e-commerce, special focus was placed on a new tool developed by the WCO called “Case studies and risk indicators to identify IPR, health and safety infringing goods related to e-commerce”. In addition, the results of the WCO’s Operation STOP III, conducted from 4 to 15 December 2023 and bringing together 111 Customs administrations, were presented and discussed.

As part of the session given over to relations with the private sector, 6 right holders, representing a variety of brands, were invited to deliver presentations on the essential characteristics of products bearing their trademarks and regularly the object of IPR fraud, and to discuss with the audience the techniques that can be used by Customs officers to detect counterfeit goods.

The participants also visited Cotonou’s port and airport, where they had the opportunity to become acquainted with the clearance procedures and risk management and targeting techniques used by Benin Customs.

For further details of the activities carried out in the area of IPR protection, please contact us at: IPRteam@wcoomd.org.