Suva, Fiji, August 31, 2020– Customs officers are often seen as gatekeepers and not as important economic contributors even though they help in facilitating trade in an economy, newly appointed OCO Enforcement Advisor, Mohammed Ajaz says. “The public fails to recognise the importance of a customs officers’ contribution to the well-being of the society and…
Suva, Fiji, August 25, 2020– OCO recently worked with five signatory countries – Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands and Tuvalu- to draft Guidelines on Customs Procedures and Rules of Origin, intended to improve customs officials and traders’ understanding of the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER-Plus) and overall improve trading between the countries. “The…
Greetings from the OCO Secretariat! We are pleased to present the OCO E-Newsletter for the period Jan-July 2020 In this edition we bring you up to speed on: • Activities for the period January – July 2020 • News from OCO Members and, • Activities currently lined up for the months of July, August, September…
The Oceania Customs Organisation represents the interest of 23 member countries in the Pacific region. Its mission is to facilitate and where appropriate help customs administrations align with customs international standards and best practice leading to greater economic prosperity and increased border security within the Oceania region. The OCO is pleased to announce the appointment…
The OCO co-facilitated with the national ROO Trainer, Mr. Noa Buredua, a two-day Rules of Origin Training for the Fiji Revenue & Customs Services (FRCS) held in Suva, Fiji on 24-25 June, 2020. About 29 Customs Officers participated in the Workshop, 14 of whom virtually from Lautoka and Labasa. The objective of the workshop…
During the past 2 weeks OCO and its members continue to benefit from the US Department of Justice (USDOJ) – International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (ICHIP) and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) webinar series on COVID-19 crimes as well as a series on the Dark Web. These are 2 separate webinar series…
OCO participated with some of its members, Solomon Islands and Fiji in a USPTO/USDOJ organized webinar on COVID-19 IPR enforcement on 3rd June 2020. The webinar had more than 100 participants from all over the world with Fiji organizing their subject matter experts and their support service team legal, IT and international to watch together….
Due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions, the OCO conducted its meeting with Tariff Officers in the region remotely by videoconference. The meeting took place on 4th June, 2020 with 14 participants from nine of the OCO member countries. The meeting included a presentation from OCO on the overview of the HS 2022 amendments, current work…
Greetings and Bula vinaka! We are pleased to present the first issue OCO E-Newsletter for the year 2020. In this edition we bring you up to speed on: Activities for the period July – December 2019 An introduction to your OCO Team & Activities currently lined up for the months of February / March &…
The Oceania Customs Organisation (OCO) in collaboration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the International Trademark Association (INTA), the Pharmaceutical Security Institute (PSI), and React successfully organized a Regional Workshop on Customs Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Enforcement in Nadi, Fiji from 12-14 February 2020. Preceding this on the 11th February an information…
