The Customs need to strengthen cooperation to combat illegal smuggling of logs

The Customs officers check the import logs. Photo: M. Hung

Many comments were made at the workshop, most of the questions were centered around how to identify accurately the illegal log shipments. Mr. Long Nguyen working the Program on Containers, the Crime and Drugs Department of the United Nations, said that the cooperation between the nations and the international organizations was an important factor to determine the success of the fight against illegal cross-border activities, including the illegal logging and log trading

In addition, he proposed the ways to identify the high-risk containers by joining the Container Control Program (CCP) coordinated by the Crime and Drugs Department of the United Nations and the World Customs Organization. The purpose was to strengthen the structures and processes permitting the application of sustainable legislation for the selected countries and ports to minimize the exploitation of maritime containers for illegal drug trading and other transnational organized crime activities. Therefore, in order to achieve greater efficiency and facilitate the cooperation in the fight against crimes between the nations and the international agencies involved in the adjustment of container traffic, the program remained the strategic alliances with various security agencies in the nations having the seaports.

In fact, there are 684.4 million containers shipped worldwide, but only 2% of all containers are searched. Therefore, the purpose of the program is to set up the target container to identify the high-risk containers, enhance the awareness raising activities to facilitate the legitimate trade, strengthen the cooperation among the national authorities, the regional and international cooperation between the port management agencies and the non-participating ports (such as ports in the Europe, Australia and Canada).

By using the method of risk analysis and shaping techniques, the container information will be pre-provided from supply chain data such as freight declarations, bill of lading (before arrival and before department period)…; Import, transit and export declarations (enclosed in the periods including border-gate transfer, departure, pre-arrival and post-arrival); Using actively the system of automated target container identification; Using effectively the available tools; Enhancing cooperation between the private sector and stakeholders.

Professor Do Van Ban, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Forest Science Institute, also added the tools to enhance the log discrimination skills through the log identification guidebook compiled by the Vietnam Forest Science Institute and TRAFFIC ( the endangerstrategic alliance between WFF and International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN). This is the material used in the training courses of TRAFFIC for the Forest Protection and the Customs. In which, it teaches how to identify logs by using knives and magnifiers. Through these training courses, the functional forces including the Customs and the Forest Protection would enhance the ability to distinguish legitimate logs.

Ms. Marie Wong, Project Manager, the Asia Pacific Regional Communication Intelligence Department, the World Customs Organization, pointed out that the high-risk control areas included drugs and the environment. In this context, the environmental risks in the Customs involved illegal cross-border smuggling endangered species and toxins… threaten the sustainable development and the ecological balance. For this reason, Ms. Wong suggested further that the communication tool of the WCO including ENVIRONET was a communication tool for the information exchange and cooperation on the environmental issues between the Customs, the functional officials, the international organizations and their regional networks.

Through ENVIRONET, the members could share practical experiment the best to learn and apply suitable for their countries; Provide and download the training materials, the identification manual, and other valuable information on the environmental controls. At the same time, exchange of information on arrests and cases being able to lead to smuggling; Create a discussion forum for the specific topics as well as support from the international experts and the experienced Customs officers. On the other hand, facilitate cooperation between the Customs and other functional agencies and international organizations.

Ending the EGILAT's first day of work has brought the positive results when the member economies shared the practical experiences in the fight against illegal logging and log trading as well as offered the best tools to help the APEC members succeed in eliminating the illegal log trading from the global supply chain and trading activity.