11-15 March 2019, Brussels, Belgium

Dr. Tong Hua, Program Manager of the ROCB A/P, together with other more than 200 Customs Delegates participated in the 38th Session of the WCO Enforcement Committee(EC) which took place in Brussels from 11 to 15 March 2019 under the theme ”SMART Customs: Knowledge-based Customs Enforcement”. It also fits in very well with the WCO’s slogan of the Year 2019, “SMART borders for seamless Trade, Travel and Transport”. Other WCO partner organizations joined the discussions.

Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General of the WCO and Mr. John Brandolino, Director, Division for Treaty Affairs of the UNODC, received the Bureau International des Containers (BIC) award for UNODC-WCO Container Control Program (CCP) on the opening day of the EC. Dr. Kunio Mikuriya delivered his keynote address, in which he stressed the need for striking the right balance between facilitation and enforcement in Customs actions and noted how new technology could serve to find that equilibrium between both. He also emphasized that the great success of the WCO Demeter IV Global Operation on combating illegal wastes trade (please refer to the ROCB website on this subject at http://www.rocb-ap.org/article-detail/452/). Delegates noted the presentation by China Customs on the key achievements and lessons learned from the Demeter IV Operation in combating illicit trafficking in hazardous waste and supported the proposal for arranging a new round of joint actions in the near future.

For more information, please write to us at rocb@rocbap.org and/or refer also the WCO website at http://www.wcoomd.org/en/media/newsroom/2019/march/enforcement-committee-discusses-smart-borders-and-customs-control.aspx.