The First Technical Meeting on Establishment and Operation of ECO Smuggling and Customs Offences Data Bank was held on 20 February 2018 in Ankara. The meeting brought together delegations from the Republic of Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Republic of Turkey, in a bid to finalize the “Draft Data Fields” and discuss issues pertaining to the Data Bank.
The Contracting Parties agreed on the first of July, 2018 as the Data Bank’s commencement date with all parties providing the required information up to the first of January, 2018. It was also decided that a training course for the concerned authorities will also be held by Turkey before the end of June.
The Agreement on the Establishment and Operations of ECO Smuggling and Customs Offences Data Bank” came into force on the 30th December 2016. It has been signed by six Member States i.e. the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Republic Tajikistan and the Republic of Turkey. Four Member states, namely, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Republic of Turkey have ratified the instrument. The Data Bank is considered a landmark achievement with the core objective to help in boosting revenue of the Member States and stopping/reducing pilferages in their national revenue by sharing information on vital data fields.
