BOC reforms boost drive vs piracy

The Bureau of Customs, a member-agency of the National Committee for Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR), pulled in the highest value of seized pirated items, the 2006 enforcement report of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines said.

The bureau’s comprehensive plan in enforcing intellectual property rights resulted in marked improvement in its 2006 operations, contributing 55 percent or P723 million to the total equivalent value of NCIPR’s seized goods estimated at P1.3 billion.

"For one, we have established a permanent IP unit which covers major ports in the country, including outports, and monitors suspected shipments with IPR violations," Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said.

He said the bureau has also created the ASEAN Single Window System that requires a common declaration form and single data for export and import among the 10 member-states.

"In addition, we have received a lot of technical and financial support from our international partners, namely the Japanese government and the European Commission," he added.

Morales heads the Task Force on Anti-Smuggling created by Executive Order 509 where IPR infringement is a top priority.