The 18th WCO Counterfeiting and Piracy (CAP) Group Meeting was virtually held on 17 and 18 November 2021. The CAP Meeting was conducted in two phases using the CliKC! from 22 October to 12 November 2021 and Zoom Platforms for the virtual Meeting.

During the first phase, WCO Members provided comments, views, and experiences relating to the CAP Meeting Agenda items and documents through the CLiKC! Platform 18th CAP Meeting Group, and Mr.  Olo sib PALE, Côte d'Ivoire, was elected as Chairperson of the meeting.

On the first day of the web conference, WCO Secretariat gave an overview of the state of the play, way forward, and funding for the implementation of the WCO IPR strategy 2020 approved by the 41 Enforcement Committee(EC). Also, the secretariat shared the performance of the WCO CEN Charter in the area of IPR and the outcome of STOP II Operation, part of WCO COVID-19 action implementation.

On the second day, the WCO secretariat invited the Right Holders Consultative Group (RHCG) and shared the new functionality of the IPRCENcomm, which RHCG can communicate through the platform. Also, the Right Holders, European Commission and P&G, shared the emerging technologies in the fight against counterfeit goods. European Commission introduced the Anti-counterfeiting Blockathon blockchain-based program, and the P&G shared their mobile application that enables robust detection of illicit goods from a standard mobile.

During the meeting, RILO AP presented the support activities of STOP II operation, such as encouraging RILO AP Members’ participation and sharing and alerting the threat of medical waste with cases from members.