The World Customs Organization (WCO) held last Friday (12.11.2021) the eighth meeting of the Rights Holders Consultative Group (RHCG), with the record attendance of 61 participants globally, to combat counterfeiting and piracy.
This cooperative response by the WCO with all stakeholders responds to one of the pillars of its 2020 Strategy on intellectual property rights, approved by the 41st meeting of the Committee at the beginning of 2021, the Organization explained.
The meeting focused on the potential to curb the entry of counterfeit and pirated goods in maritime cargo containers and the challenges faced in this regard.
On the occasion, WCO briefed participants on the Organization's response to COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, and shared the work being carried out by the WCO Health and Safety Programme on intellectual property rights, as well as its tools and instruments related to maritime transport.
Meanwhile, andThe private sector shared experiences regarding pre-arrival information, their compliance strategies and future challenges, along with plans to continue strengthening its partnerships with the WCO. The UK Border Force provided an insight into its national container screening system to detect intellectual property infringements.
The WCO announced that this exchange will be strengthened on November 18 when rights holders participate in the joint session of the Group on Counterfeiting and Piracy to discuss the results of the recent meeting, become familiar with the CENcomm Group's platform on intellectual property rights for sharing data on counterfeit medical supplies and medicines, and exploring emerging technologies.
It should be noted that the Rights Holders Consultative Group was established in 2010 (the same year as the Customs-Business Partnership) by the Secretary-General of the WCO to promote the exchange of best practices and useful information between right holder companies and the WCO, and to combat intellectual property infringements.WCO Press Release)
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