WCO workshop brings together stakeholders involved in the fight against counterfeiting and sub-standard products in Botswana

The WCO Secretariat organized a workshop on the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), health and safety in Gaborone, Botswana, from 11 to 15 November 2024. The event brought together 90 officers of the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) who, among other things, looked into recent trends in IPR infringements, discussed targeting techniques, became acquainted with the WCO Communication tool to be used to share data on IPR-related seizures with the Customs community, and learned about the WCO practical guidelines on environmentally safe storage and destruction of intellectual property infringing goods.

A particular focus was placed on controlling e-commerce flows, and the WCO experts presented a recently published document entitled "Case studies and risk indicators to identify IPR, health and safety infringing goods related to e-commerce". Moreover, a visit to the Customs offices was organized to enable BURS to explain its working methods and identify areas of improvement.

Customs officers were joined on the second day by representatives of other national agencies involved in the fight against counterfeiting and sub-standard products who presented their respective work and initiatives, as well as by representatives of rights holders who shared information on how to detect IPR infringements related to their products.

Doreen Moeletsi, Risk Management Manager at BURS, thanked the WCO Secretariat for organizing this workshop and the Korea Customs Service for providing financial support. In her closing remarks, she highlighted the importance of bringing all actors together to discuss strategies to combat counterfeiting and to share practical information to enhance the efficiency of Customs controls.

The WCO experts recommended that BURS register its enforcement officers for the e-learning module developed by the WCO on fake medicines, nominate some officers to the WCO IPR experts accreditation process, and participate in the next WCO enforcement operation targeting counterfeiting and sub-standard products.