Korea-Australia Customs Commissioners' Meeting…Cooperation to Block Illegal Activities such as Counterfeit Goods and Tobacco Smuggling

Korea-Australia Customs Commissioners' Meeting…Cooperation to Block Illegal Activities such as Counterfeit Goods and Tobacco Smuggling

The customs authorities of Korea and Australia have decided to strengthen cooperation in cracking down on illegal activities such as counterfeit goods and tobacco smuggling.

Commissioner Lee Myung-goo of the Korea Customs Service held the '11th Korea-Australia Customs Commissioners' Meeting' with Commissioner Gavin Reynolds of the Australian Border Force in Canberra, Australia, on the 14th (local time).

This was the first high-level bilateral meeting held in two years since the 10th meeting in 2024, and the first meeting since Commissioner Lee took office.

During the meeting, both sides discussed strengthening cooperation in cracking down on intellectual property infringing goods, expanding information sharing related to tobacco smuggling, and enhancing cooperation in combating trade-based money laundering.

Specifically, regarding the crackdown on counterfeit goods, they agreed to establish a cooperative system from import/export customs clearance to domestic production and distribution stages, and to regularly exchange detection cases and suspicious information.

To combat tobacco smuggling, they agreed to strengthen the analysis of suspicious cargo information and to share suspected smuggling information in real-time.

Furthermore, both sides agreed to share experiences in leveraging data and artificial intelligence (AI) in customs administration and to pursue the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to replace the existing Korea-Australia Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement.