During the 19th session of the WCO Integrity Sub-Committee, held on 20-21 February 2020, Members endorsed the review and update of the WCO Integrity Development Guide (IDG), its key capacity building tool on Integrity. The IDG was developed and endorsed by Members in 2003 and then further revised in 2014. It has been used in more than fifty integrity support missions during the last four years by the WCO Secretariat and Members. Therefore, the ISC endorsed the review and update of the IDG based on the lessons learned, identified gaps for improvement, emerging issues, and new best practices in the area of integrity development that need to be reflected in this important tool.
In this regard, the ISC endorsed the establishment of a WCO Virtual Working Group (VWG) on the review of the Integrity Development Guide. Over the course of 12 weeks (from 6 April to 28 June 2020), WCO Member integrity experts conducted a highly productive work on IDG enhancement, while maintaining a very high response rate. 78 Integrity experts from 44 Members and 2 ROCBs, covering all six WCO regions, participated in the Virtual Working Group.
During the review process, Member experts conducted a thorough review and proposed the ideas and good practices to reinforce the IDG in the areas of Leadership and Commitment, Regulatory Framework, Reform and Modernization, Audit and Investigation, Moral and Organizational Culture, Relationship with the Private Sector, addressing Improper Political interference, Gender Equality and Diversity, Integrity Action Planning, Collective action, Performance Measurement, and other areas. From VWG participants, more than 350 submissions with valuable proposals for IDG improvement have been received via CliCK! Platform. These materials will provide a solid basis for the next stage of the IDG review process, as instructed by the WCO Integrity Sub-Committee.
Collaborative work was done virtually using the WCO CLiKC! Platform. The WCO’s online platform has served well as a useful tool for engagement with Members during the COVID-19 lockdown period. VWG also served as a refreshing training for Member experts and as an additional motivation to implement good integrity practices that were shared throughout the entire course.
For more information, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.