USCIB Senior Director for Customs and Trade Facilitation Megan Giblin was in Paris earlier this month attending the second workshop of the OECD Task Force on Countering Illicit Trade E-Commerce Expert Group and the 11th Plenary of the OECD Task Force on Countering Illicit Trade (TF-CIT). Giblin attended these meetings as part of a Business at OECD (BIAC) private sector delegation, which also included experts affiliated with or participants from many USCIB member companies including, among others, Abbott, Amazon, BAT, eBay, HanesBrands, Lego, PMI and Walmart.
According to Giblin, a previous meeting of this expert group, held in December 2022, saw agreement that there was scope to develop future government and industry guidelines to curb illicit trade in counterfeits abusing e-commerce platforms. This second E-Commerce Experts Groupworkshop followed-up on that agreement whereby experts, including members of the private sector, provided their views on the proposed draft guideline text. The next meeting of the OECD E-Commerce Experts Group will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria, followed by a meeting to be held in Washington, DC, later this year.
The E-Commerce Experts Working Group was followed by the OECD TF-CIT plenary meeting, where the Business at OECD (BIAC) delegation was led by Executive Director Hanni Rosenbaum, the BIAC Anti Illicit Trade Committee (AITEG), Chair, David M. Luna, and. Policy Manager Jacobo Ramos Folch. This TFCIT meeting spanned 2-days and covered many critical topics, including: a look back at the Task Force over the past 10 years; Free Trade Zone Certification Scheme Roll-Out; and the above-mentioned E-Commerce project.
During the Task Force meeting, Luna, a former U.S. diplomat, highlighted the importance of strong public-private partnerships and emphasized the commitment of the business community to work with the OECD to counter the harms caused by illicit goods that have severe negative effects on global prosperity, trade, economic recovery, supply chains and public health and safety.
“BIAC has worked in partnership with the OECD to advance important work in this area, including on illicit trade in the context of free trade zones, electronic commerce and high-risk sectors,” said Giblin.
In her closing remarks, Ms. Hanni Rosenbaum emphasized the importance of active public-private partnerships and BIAC’s continued commitment to support this important OECD policy work programme, especially as it transitions to the Trade Committee.
