The WCO’s Customs Integrity Perception Survey (CIPS) is now available for all Customs administrations to utilize via an online tool (CIPS-OT). During the WCO’s 24th Integrity Sub-Committee session held on 3-4 March 2025, Argentina Customs (DGA) presented their experience being the first WCO Member administration to pilot this tool. The CIPS was developed under the WCO A-CIP Programme and aims to assess quantitatively the perception of integrity in Customs collecting inputs from Customs officers and private sector stakeholders, helping participating Customs administrations target and adjust anti-corruption and integrity promotion measures.
Argentina Customs used the CIPS-OT to collect 1169 responses from private sector stakeholders within a ten-day period from 19 to 29 November 2024. Between 10 and 24 February 2025, 441 responses from DGA staff were collected. These response numbers were statistically significant, allowing the administration to be 95% confident that the results reflected the views of the entire target populations, with small margin of errors of 2.79% and 4.40%, respectively.
Attaining the statistically significant sample sizes for both Customs officials and the private sector owes its success to the communication campaign. Argentina Customs used multiple channels, including roundtable discussions, email notifications, internal system alerts, and its intranet. Users of the CIPS-OT shared their testimonials, praising the survey’s clarity, structured approach, and role in fostering transparency and dialogue.
The CIPS findings, currently under analysis, will guide Argentina Customs to improve their integrity strategies and intensify their integrity efforts, in alignment with the WCO Revised Arusha Declaration (RAD).
As the WCO continues to promote integrity in Customs, Argentina’s successful implementation of CIPS-OT demonstrates its potential to drive meaningful change. By adopting this tool, Customs administrations worldwide can reinforce ethical practices, strengthen anti-corruption efforts, and build a culture of integrity that enhances public confidence.
More information on the CIPS itself can be found in the WCO’s Methodological Guidelines for CIPS. WCO Members interested in making use of the new CIPS Online Tool can send official requests to the Secretariat via: integrity@wcoomd.org