Subregional Training Course for Customs Authorities in Southeast Asia on Technical Aspects of the Transfers Regime

The Government of Malaysia and OPCW jointly conducted a technical training course on the CWC transfers regime for customs officials of the National Authorities of Southeast Asian States Parties. Customs authorities play a vital role in diminishing and eliminating discrepancies between the quantities of Scheduled chemicals declared by importing and exporting States Parties.

The training course was held at the Royal Malaysian Customs Academy (AKMAL) in Malacca, Malaysia from 6 to 9 October 2008. It provided comprehensive information on the CWC, the transfers regime in particular, and sought to enhance States Parties’ capacities to effectively track the import and export of Scheduled chemicals. Customs officials took part in scenario discussions on different aspects of the transfers regime. The course covered the following topics:

• overview of the CWC and OPCW;
• rights and obligations of States Parties under the CWC;
• role of National Authorities and need for effective interaction with stakeholders;
• identification of chemicals relevant to the CWC including the Harmonised System, current recommendations of the World Customs Organization (WCO), and potential changes to the system and recommendations as they concern Scheduled chemicals;
• sources of information for customs officials and customs laboratories such as the Handbook on Chemicals, OPCW Central Analytical Database and others; and
• customs-related matters such as discrepancies in the reporting of transfers of Scheduled chemicals, free ports and free zones, risk assessments, transshipments, and software for customs services.

The Republic of Korea provided a voluntary contribution to support the hosting of this training course.

Categories: Asia, National implementation, Non-proliferation of chemical weapons