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The Illicit Trade Labs are part of TRACIT’s continuous engagement with Customs administrations across the Americas. Each year, TRACIT co-organizes the Illicit Trade Summit with a Customs agency in the region.

Between Summits, TRACIT organizes the Illicit Trade Labs to support Customs on the ground. We also compile successful Customs initiatives in TRACIT's Compendium of Customs Best Practices, which serves as a basis for discussion at the next Summit.

About the Illicit Trade Lab

The Illicit Trade Labs move beyond traditional capacity building, equipping customs agencies with unique tools and strategies to improve the detection of illicit goods. 
​Each Lab focuses on:
  • priority routes,
  • enforcement challenges of the specific market,
  • designing and implementing effective risk-based controls. 
The Labs bring together senior officials, risk-profiling experts, industry specialists and technology providers to strengthen the operational response to illicit trade.
They build on the Illicit Trade Summit of the Americas, translating regional dialogue into operational action and bringing lessons from the field back to future Summits.
Our Approach​
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Each Lab is tailored to the host authority’s priorities and strengthens lasting cooperation between government and the private sector. Our unique approach combines complementary capabilities that reinforce one another:
  • Policy engagement: Work with senior Customs and border-control officials to define priorities and create the conditions for implementation.
  • Intelligence-led risk profiling: Use real shipment data and route analysis to develop targeted controls and, where possible, test them through field exercises at ports, airports or land borders.
  • Sector expertise: Draw on industry intelligence to identify emerging fraud patterns, high-risk products and practical detection methods.
  • Technology enablement: Demonstrate solutions that help authorities implement and sustain risk-based controls.

UPCOMING EVENT

Dominican Republic, 
September 21 to 23, 2026
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Three-day training to strengthen Customs officers’ use of risk analysis, targeting, and profiling.

View the program here
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Contact [email protected] for more information.
MEDIA CENTER
Event  Report: Third Illicit Trade Summit - Americas (Rio, 2026)

​More about the Summit here
TRACIT Report: Combating Illicit Trade in the Dominican Republic 
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Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation under US tax code 501(c)(6).
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