National Workshop on Green Customs Initiative for Port and Customs Officers in the Control of Illegal Trafficking in Chemicals and Hazardous Wastes

Venue: Mediterranean Azur Hotel, Alexandria

Address: El-Gaish Rd, QismSidiGabir, Alexandria Governorate

Background: This workshop was conducted in response to the Egyptian Government specific request for national Egyptian custom officials, who are involved in Hazardous Waste Management in their county.  The needs of other Arab countries for similar trainings should be fulfilled through the future work plan of the Center. Similar national workshops were found to be more efficient in cases of field trainings, since the on-the-ground officials, who are highly concerned with the workshop topic, could attend, rather than the Arab countries representatives who attend the regional workshops in which the scale of training is narrower.

Working Language : English Only 

Organizer : BCRC-Egypt

Meeting Objectives

To strengthen the capacity of the customs port authorities and government officials in the field of control and monitoring of illegal traffic and circulation of hazardous wastes and in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Basel Convention on this matter.

Target Audience

Representatives of the Egyptian Customs Department and ports, Ministry of Environment, Federation of Industries and others participated in this training. There were 48 Egyptian participants from the related disciplines in this training, among which, 8 were female officials

Outcome

The training session succeeded to convey concepts and methodologies of HW assessment to the participants, and emphasized the importance of the integration between all related authorities.

The rationale behind holding this workshop on a national level and in Egypt, since it was proven that conducting such on job training will be more fruitful when it is conducted on a national level than on a regional level, since it includes field training to candidates working as field officers in customs and ports. This field experience cannot be transferred verbally from one trainee to another.

Recommendations

• Activate communication channels between stakeholders (internally – externally).
• Create a committee from the Ministries of Finance, Environment, Commerce, Interior and Defense and Maritime Transport Sector, that should meet every 3 months for periodic review of legal and technical frameworks and follow-up with any international obligations, in order to remove obstacles and put the executive solutions urgent for emergency problems.
• BCRC-Egypt, should coordinate with the Ministry of Environment, the Customs Department and the Green Customs Initiative, to develop complete guide for all decisions and publications related to chemicals and hazardous waste.
• Provide safety equipment with technical guidance for customs officers
• The above committee should coordinate with public and private sectors to hold inventories for quantities and types of waste accumulations in ports and free zones for safe disposal.
• Permanent coordination with ports affairs and environmental protection Committees
• Encourage investment in the field of recycling and recovery of materials and waste generated from projects of the free zone areas.
• Guidance to the radiation and nuclear agency to provide all customs ports with radiation detection equipment for imported goods
• Activate the legal prosecution of offenders and revealing their names and companies on the public level.
• Considering the workshop participants as focal points for their authorities to follow up with the implementation of these recommendations.

Conclusive Remarks

• There is a need for creating of partnerships and mechanisms for exchange of information, experience and best practices in order to combat the illicit trade and improve environmental management of HW.
• There is a need for creating integration of stakeholders concerned with the transboundary movements of HW covered by the Montreal Protocol, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Basel Conventions, that should help customs to actively participate in global efforts to preserve and protect the environment.
• There is a great need to raise awareness among the target groups, as well as at the level of senior management and decision-makers,
• More trainings are needed on both administrative and field levels for customs officers on the border points and ports to provide them with all the information, tools and full logistic support  to continue their challenge against environmental crimes lines.