Starting at 10.30 a.m.

Minutes from the last WCO Business Partnership Meeting held in Brussels 12 + 13 September

Update on WCO IPR video

Technical Assistance Plan;

Portugal, Cyprus, Tunisia, Panama, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Yugoslavia.

Enclosed you find the agenda for the training seminar in Portugal December 10-11, 2001.

Baltic States:

As discussed in the last meeting, the refreshment programme for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia for key enforcement customs officers, will be combined with a trainingsession of the UNECE in Vilnius end of February 2002. The WCO will have 1,5 days for their presentations while UNECE will concentrate on other target groups, i.e. magistrates, and other subjects.

Model Legislation: the latest draft version of the business part of the WCO IPR group can be found on our site   WCOIPR.org. Now the draft modellaw is sent to the WCO members.

Information system for Asia & Pacific: enclosed a short note about this subject.

Bank Guarantee System
Financial update: please find enclosed an update on the financial affairs of the group

Role of Express Carrier Industry

Ukraine and Romania: Both countries have introduced or are about to introduce (Ukraine) their bordermeasures. They both demand a huge fee per product or per trademark classification. This ends up for most brandowners to horrific amounts. The whole borderprotection mechanism fails because of this approach. According to TRIPS the fees may not be too honerous and deter recourse to the measures.

AOB