Earlier this year, on 24 April, the bi-annual meeting of the World Customs Organization’s (WCO) Permanent Technical Committee (PTC) took place. There was a discussion about the WCO-IAPH Guidelines on Cooperation between Customs and Port Authorities and the WCO-IAPH working group was asked to consider incorporating a contribution from the World Shipping Council (WSC) on trilateral cooperation between port authorities, customs authorities and shipping lines into the document. Intersessional meetings between WCO, IAPH and WSC took place in the following months. A revised text was submitted to the WCO PTC – composed of WCO member states – on 24 October which discussed and endorsed the amendment. The Committee acknowledged the timeliness of the contribution on public-private partnerships to combat illicit trade. The European Commission stated that the WCO-IAPH Guidelines have been instrumental in establishing the European Ports Alliance, a public-private partnership to fight organised crime and drug trafficking. The PTC’s endorsement will go through the process of the WCO annual policy commission and the meeting of director generals in June 2025. An update of the Guidelines will then be released soon after that, following the WCO Council meeting.
