WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATION (WCO)

At its meeting of 26-27 June 2025, the Council for TRIPS agreed to invite intergovernmental organization observers to the Council to update the information on their technical and financial cooperation programmes relating to the implementation 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 12 September 2025.

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1  OVERVIEW OF WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATION (WCO) ACTIVITIES AND TOOLS OF RELEVANCE TO THE TRIPS AGREEMENT

1.  The World Custom Organization remains committed to protecting consumer health and safety and continues to combat counterfeiting and piracy through a variety of activities described in the following paragraphs. The WCO's main activity is to raise awareness about customs work in this area either towards other international organizations and stakeholders or by promoting capacity building activities and developing tools for our member administrations.

2.  The rapidly expanding cross-border e-commerce environment brings significant opportunities for global trade but also poses increasing risks related to illicit trade. The WCO has been actively addressing enforcement challenges related to cross-border e-commerce through its initiatives including a series of symposiums on 'Removing Counterfeits from E-Commerce".

3.  The capacity building on Intellectual Property Right (IPR) consists of two factors; training through workshops and education and training through operational activities. A list of the WCO activities is attached in the Annex.

1.1  Operations

4.  The WCO organizes simultaneous enforcement activities with multiple customs administrations. These operations aim to assess the scale of global or regional counterfeiting while providing participating customs officers with hands-on experience. Such operations, which quantify and qualify the impact of counterfeit activities, also serve as an excellent opportunity to strengthen customs' enforcement capacity. Participating members can learn about practical border enforcement measures through our accredited experts on IPR and gain hands-on experience using WCO tools, such as CENcomm.

5.  The CENcomm is a secure communication tool used for data exchange on IPR enforcement, enabling real-time sharing of information between WCO members. Participating members of IPR operation use CENcomm to report their seizures, and the WCO secretariat shares information and alerts with members through the platform.

1.2  National/Regional seminars

6.  The WCO conducts extensive capacity-building activities, primarily through legislative training and practical exercises and invite national stakeholders and private sectors for discussion and product identification training. During this reporting period, the WCO held several training seminars and workshops for officers from various WCO member administrations.

1.3  Counterfeit and Piracy Group (CAP) meeting

7.  The annual WCO Counterfeiting and Piracy (CAP) Group meeting provides a forum for customs and related law enforcement agencies to exchange information, experiences and best practices on combating counterfeiting and piracy. During this meeting, members shared their experiences and exchanged practices on fighting counterfeits. International organization, private sectors and academia are also invited to the meeting.

1.4  E-learning module (CLiCK)

8.  By using the WCO's internet-based e-learning module 'CLiCK', customs officers can acquire practical knowledge on border enforcement related to IPR. They can train themselves on intellectual property agreements, such as the TRIPS Agreement, and on practical, risk-based document targeting.