The Public-Private Roundtable of the Illicit Trade Observatory, made up of Customs and the National Chamber of Commerce, met this Wednesday (27.05.2020/XNUMX/XNUMX) to to advance the convention on the Joint work against organized crime, Chile's customs service reported.
Given the sanitary conditions, the event was held through the virtual platform MS Teams. The presentation was given by the Secretary General of the National Chamber of Commerce, Daniel Montalva, and the Administrative Deputy Director of the National Customs Service, Gustavo Poblete. Both announced the progress of the agreement and indicated that the priority activities towards which it will be directed will be the realization of training and actions related to the judicial prosecution of illicit acts. It was indicated that the details of the agreement will continue to be reviewed during the first days of June..
Verónica Pérez, vice president of the Illicit Trade Observatory, also participated in the virtual meeting, and other current topics were addressed. Among them, the presentation by Bernardita Silva, Research Manager of the National Chamber of Commerce, on the concerns that industry players will have to address post-pandemic.
There was a special section to address the scope of the Illicit Cigarette Trade, with data provided by the PUC's MIDE Measurement Center. In this regard, the Administrative Deputy Director of the National Customs Service, Gustavo Poblete, reported on the results of the Integrated Control Plan on the matter, which during 2019 and in conjunction with the police, managed to prevent the entry into the country of 14,6 million packets of contraband cigarettes, equivalent to 57 million dollars of evasion.
In this regard, Gustavo Poblete indicated that "these decisive results regarding cigarettes would not be possible without inter-institutional collaboration.". The figures reveal a great deal of coordinated work "Customs, police, prosecutors, among others, and in coordination with the Ministry of the Interior. That is why it is so important to advance a specific agreement between Customs and the National Chamber of Commerce, through its Illicit Trade Observatory. This will allow us to expand and advance in other relevant areas of work."
The OCI meeting concluded with remarks by Ricardo Mewes, President of the Illicit Trade Observatory.
Aduana News is the first Argentine customs newspaper to launch its digital version. With 20 years of experience, its publications and initiatives aim to provide the most relevant knowledge on customs issues in order to contribute to safe trade in the region.
