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WCO national workshop for the Philippines Bureau of Customs on the protection of IPR

22 diciembre 2022

From 28 November to 2 December 2022, the World Customs Organization (WCO) delivered a national workshop on the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) in Manila, Philippines. The workshop was attended by 28 officials from Philippines Bureau of Customs (BOC) and was made possible thanks to financial assistance from the Customs Cooperation Fund of Japan (CCF Japan).

Capacity building on combatting intellectual property (IP) crime is critical with a view to stopping counterfeit products at borders, as such products have a negative impact on innovation, research and national economies as well as on the health and safety of consumers. This workshop was one of the activities under the WCO IPR Strategy 2020. The Strategy, of which capacity building remains a key component, was approved by the WCO Enforcement Committee (EC) at its 41st Session.

In his welcome address to the workshop participants, Atty. Leon P. Mogao, Chief of Staff, Office of the Director (BOC), thanked the WCO Secretariat and CCF Japan for organizing this workshop which was of great significance to his country. He described some of the challenges faced by BOC in terms of ensuring effective IPR enforcement at borders, encouraging proactive engagement by right holders and dealing with additional issues specific to the characteristics of e-commerce. He encouraged officials to play an active role in the workshop and to cultivate good relationships with each other as well as with right holders.

During the workshop, IPR experts from the WCO Secretariat, Vietnam Customs and Japan Customs described the legal basis for IPR enforcement and outlined IPR risk management procedures and related WCO tools, while representatives from BOC gave a detailed presentation on their IPR system and challenges in this area. The experts also shared their knowledge on how to enhance cooperation with stakeholders so as to promote the sharing of information with other Customs administrations and with the WCO.

The third day of the workshop was given over to presentations by right holders. Sixteen different IPR holders delivered practical presentations to help Customs distinguish between genuine and fake goods at the border. During a round table discussion between BOC officials and right holders participating in the workshop, both sides held a productive dialogue on how to cooperate more closely together to fight counterfeit goods. On the fourth day of the workshop, participants and experts went on a field trip to study measures for combatting counterfeit goods at Ninoy Aquino International Airport and at the Port of Manila and its Customs offices.

For further information on WCO activities in the area of IPR protection, please get in touch with us at: IPRteam@wcoomd.org.