13-17 January 2020, Suva, Fiji

In collaboration with the WCO and the Fiji Revenue & Customs Service (FRCS), the ROCB A/P organized the WCO Sub-regional Workshop on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy on 13-17 January 2020 at the WCO Regional Training Center in Suva, Fiji, under the sponsorship of Japan Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF/Japan).  12 promising officials nominated by 6 Pacific Island countries namely Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Vanuatu attended the workshop and facilitators from the WCO, Australian Border Force (ABF) and Japan Customs led the sessions.  Mr Norikazu Kuramoto, Head of ROCB A/P, and Ms Chloe Au, Program Manager of ROCB A/P, also contributed and facilitated in the workshop.

The workshop was designed to enhance Members’ competencies on IPR border measures in the Asia Pacific region and to further strengthen the regional commitments in this area.  The workshop started at introducing the global situation and the international standards on counterfeited goods to foster the fundamental understanding of IPR framework.  It moved on to provide the good practices in combating counterfeited and piracy goods in the region.  Led by the facilitators, participants actively shared their views and opinions to formulate an effective enforcement strategy to fight against counterfeiting and piracy at the borders.

Taking this opportunity, Ms Chloe Au gave an overview of the ROCB A/P to the participants with focuses on the key capacity building strategies in the region.  Participants were encouraged to conduct a pre-study in the WCO e-learning platform, CLiKC!, before the workshop, actively participate during the workshop and take follow-up actions after the workshop.  The workshop was concluded with applause and appreciations to the WCO, FRCS, ROCB A/P, CCF/Japan and the facilitators for their contributions and supports to the workshop.

For more information, please write to us at rocb@rocbap.org