NADI, FIJI – March 6, 2025– The Oceania Customs Organisation (OCO) and Australian Border Force (ABF) have launched Operation Domino II, a regional initiative aimed at tackling customs fraud across the Pacific. This follows the successful completion of the first operation in 2024, which identified approximately AUD$40 million in potential revenue discrepancies through analysing trade data across participating countries.
Operation Domino II aims to address the undervaluation of dutiable commodities, which undermines government revenue collection and creates unfair market advantages. The operation will also target potential trade-based money laundering activities across the Pacific region.
“The success of our first operation demonstrated the critical importance of data-driven approaches to customs enforcement,” said OCO Head of Secretariat, Nancy T Oraka. “With Operation Domino II, we’re building on a proven model that has already identified significant revenue discrepancies, and we are now strengthening expertise and capability to prevent revenue leakages in the Pacific, ensuring more effective Customs enforcement across the region.”
The operation begins with a five-day workshop in Nadi, focusing on advanced data management and analysis techniques. Customs officers from participating countries will be trained to efficiently manage trade data and derive actionable insights through trade transparency techniques, particularly the mirroring of import and export data.
Following this preparatory phase, participating countries will exchange standardised trade datasets followed by a Month of Action when officers will conduct desktop verification and in-depth analysis of the data.
This operation addresses three Strategic Priority Areas of the OCO Strategic Plan 2022-2027: Law Enforcement and Border Security, Trade Management and Facilitation, and Revenue Management and Compliance.
Operation Domino II brings together Customs Administrations from 17 participating countries and territories, including American Samoa, Australia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Kiribati, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Tonga, Tuvalu, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Niue, and Timor-Leste.”
“Operation Domino II will focus on a set of uniform commodities of interest to all participating countries, ensuring a coordinated approach to verification and enforcement,” explained Ms. Oraka.
The OCO Secretariat will serve as the coordinating point for the operation, with technical support provided by the Australian Border Force.
About OCO: The Oceania Customs Organisation is the regional body for Customs administrations in the Pacific region. OCO works to enhance the capacity and capability of its members in border security, trade facilitation, and revenue collection.
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