Customs officers better equipped to detect, prevent importation of illegal chemicals |27 November 2014

A group of customs officers have received their certificates following training in how to better detect, identify, manage and prevent the importation of illegal chemicals at the different points of entry in the country.

The training, which was conducted in October, was attended by over 40 officers and it was led by two local environment consultants – Flavien Joubert and Cliff Gonzalves.

The training was aimed at strengthening the capacity and ability of the officers to detect, identify, manage and prevent these chemicals from entering the country, increase their knowledge of various chemical related conventions, local and international chemical regulations as well as help them to network more effectively with relevant agencies in import control.

It was in 2013 that the Lions Club of Paradise Seychelles initiated a project to address the issue of illegal chemicals as well as persistent organic pollutants (pops) in the environment. The two-year project is being funded under the UNDP/GEF small grant programme.

Siva Pillay, a member and representative of Lions Club of Paradise Seychelles speaking on behalf of other partners in the project namely UNDP, the Ministry of Environment, the PUC (Public Utilities Corporation), among others noted that customs is in the forefront at the entry points in our country, hence the importance of the training.

“The Lions Club is proud to be a partner to create a clean environment free of any dangerous chemicals and hopes the trained officers will use their newly acquired knowledge to detect and prevent dangerous chemicals entering our country,” Mr Pillay said.

He noted that the other components of the project is to raise awareness of pops in schools and also help the fire brigade to buy equipment to fight chemical spillage if it happens.

One of the officers who attended the training, Barbara Julie, said such unfamiliar terms as chemical management, hazardous waste, pops made better sense at the end of the training as the consultants were able to simplify them.

“We are now more confident and knowledgeable when it comes to the issue relating to detection and management of these banned and illegal chemicals at different points of entry,” she said, adding that this training will no doubt ensure that the Customs authority continues to provide a professional service.

One of the consultants who led the training, Cliff Gonzalves, said it is important for the customs officers to be familiar with and know these chemicals, why there are international conventions regulating them and why it is important to identify them because often these chemicals are traded under different technical names.