International Customs Day 2009
January 26th is the International Customs day. World Customs Organisation Secretary General, Kunio Mikuriya has decided to dedicate International Customs Day on 26 January 2009 to the environment with the theme “Customs and the environment: Protecting our natural heritage”. In a message, he says, “Our latest initiative, the WCO Recommendation on combating environmental offences which was approved by the WCO Council during its June 2008 Sessions, encourages all WCO Members to deal decisively with those who commit such offences. It is therefore incumbent upon all WCO Members to promote environmental protection by ensuring that it remains a priority, among others, for Customs administrations across the globe.
In this regard, I hope that you will join me in committing your administration to beefing up environmental protection at borders, by fighting environment crime actively, by diligently applying environment controls, and by widely communicating your efforts. Through our collective action to combat this illegal trade, not only will we be protecting the welfare of society, we will also be preserving our natural heritage.”