Training Customs, Officers To Monitor, Control Ozone Depleting Substances
By James Kon

Bandar Seri Begawan - Twenty officers from the Royal Customs and Excise Department attended the National Train the-Trainers Workshop for Customs Officers on Monitoring and Controlling of Ozone Depleting Substances that kick-started yesterday at the Training Centre, Ministry of Development.

The three-day workshop is one of the training programmes conducted following the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed between Brunei Darussalam and the United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (UNEP ROAP) in April 2007.

With the objective to facilitate the implementation of Ozone Depleting Substances regulations and to control the imports and exports of ODS and ODS containing equipment, the training programme is conducted by an international consultant from UNEP ROAP and an officer from the Customs Department, Malaysia.

The training programme is implemented in two phases. Phase one is where a group of 20 selected

Customs and senior Customs officers are trained as trainers by an international consultant from UNEP ROAP, while phase two is where the trained trainers from phase one will train a further 20 Customs officers and other stakeholders.

Haji Shaharuddin Khairul Hj Anuar, the Senior Environment Officer from Department of Environment, Parks and Recreation in his opening address said the workshop, which is also organised in other Asean member countries, is designed especially for the need of Customs officers with the focus on building knowledge and skills in the field of control, reduction and monitoring of Ozone Depleting Substances, as well as equipment that contain Ozone Depleting Substances.

He added, "The workshop represents a platform for UNEP to assist implementing agencies especially the Department of Environment, Parks and Recreation and the Royal Customs and Excise Department, as well as other relevant government agencies towards implementing the enforcement and control in the import and export of Ozone Depleting Substances and equipment that contain Ozone Depleting Substances more effectively."

He hoped the participants of the workshop would take the opportunity to build knowledge and skill in connection with the enforcement and control of Ozone Depleting Substances from the facilitator and expert.

In another speech by Mr Liu Ning, a representative of the UNEP, he said, "Environmental crime is a big and increasingly lucrative business. Local and international crime syndicates worldwide earn an estimated US$22 to US$31 billion annually from hazardous waste dumping, smuggling hazardous materials and exploiting and trafficking protected natural resources."

He added, "Illegal substances, toxic chemicals, hazardous wastes and endangered species are an international problem with serious consequences."

Mr Liu Ning also touched on the issues of CFC, a chemical component that is harmful to the ozone layer. He said, "The CFC problem is now under control, thanks to the Montreal protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer."

He added, "Customs officers are at the frontlines of every country's effort to combat illegal trade. They must be empowered, equipped and trained if multilateral environment agreement is to become successful. They are the cornerstone of the national compliance and enforcement strategy for each international agreement since they are the front line in any controls on transboundary movements of controlled items."

Also present at the workshop were Haji Mohd Zakaria bin Haji Sarudin, the Director of Environment, Parks and Recreation; and Mohammad Jazam bin Mohammad Yassin of the Customs Department, Malaysia, as well as officials from the Ministry of Education and Land Transport Department.  -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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