📈 What is the Customs Integrity Perception Survey (CIPS)?
✅ An important tool incubated by the WCO Anti-Corruption & Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme during its Phase I, to gauge the level of integrity in Customs administrations.
✅ A survey that can be repeated over a period of time to track the evolution of perceptions.
✅ A survey of two sets of questionnaires for Customs officials & private sector representatives that allows the comparison of internal and external perceptions.
The CIPS relies on the 10 key factors of the WCO Revised Arusha Declaration concerning Good Governance and Integrity in Customs, aiming at assessing in a quantitative way how Customs officials and private sector stakeholders perceive the level of integrity of a Customs administration.
As a perception survey, the CIPS does not provide evidence of corruption, but keeping track of perceptions helps to target and adjust anti-corruption and integrity promotion measures.
🖥️ What does the CIPS Online-Tool look like?
🕒 Answering all questions only takes 15 minutes!
🔒 How is the data treated by the CIPS Online-Tool?
The CIPS is hosted on a server running on a secured network, with end-to-end encryption for all communications to guarantee anonymity of answers and data privacy.
There is no possibility to track at any time the information submitted by an individual user, nor to identify the individual based on the information collected.
🕒 Timeline (+/- 2 months total)
- Request & Nomination of Contact Point
- Survey set-up & training
- Survey questions reviewed & validated
- Calculation of samples and collection planning established
- Selection of collection method (3rd party, supervised, unsupervised)
- Dissemination of publicity and awarness campaign material
- Survey Implementation (OTP generation, launch, distribution, monitoring)
- Data extraction & analysis
- Publication of results on Administration’s website
🔧 Confirming the collection method
-
Option A (3rd party-supervised CAWI*)
The Administration organizes a 3rd party (e.g. contractor or MoU with another organization) to supervise the use of the tool, through survey stations and/or distribution of one-time passwords to target respondents.
-
Option B (Administration-supervised CAWI*)
The Administration supervises the use of the tool, through survey stations and/or distribution of one-time passwords to target respondents.
-
Option C (Unsupervised CAWI*)
The Administration distributes link to target respondents. Respondents will fill in the survey from their own device, at the time/location of their choosing.
*Computer-Assisted-Web-Interview
💬 What do users think of the CIPS Online Tool?
“The experience of Uruguay Customs with the CIPS Online Tool has been extremely positive. From an operational standpoint, the tool proved to be easy to implement and use, contributing significantly to the institutional assessment process and to the strengthening of capacities within the framework of the WCO A-CIP Programme. An additional key factor was the emphasis placed on the fact that the survey was managed directly by the WCO on its own servers, which ensured the confidentiality and security of the data collected, thereby strengthening participants’ trust.”
– Dr. Santiago Berrondo, Manager of the General Administration Area & Maria Cornacchione, Head of the Institutional Transparency Department, National Customs Directorate of Uruguay
Read more: Engaging stakeholders to improve integrity: How Uruguay Customs leveraged the WCO survey to consolidate its approach
“The implementation of the WCO’s new CIPS Online Tool was a milestone for Argentina Customs. The tool proved to be simple, user-friendly, and efficient in reaching a large number of stakeholders at low cost. It has provided us with valuable information about how our organization's level of integrity is perceived, both internally and externally, allowing us to shape our proposals of improvement with evidence-based data. We see the CIPS Online Tool as a practical and innovative resource that strengthens transparency and integrity in customs operations, while fostering engagement and relationships with stakeholders.”
– José Andrés Velis, Director General of Customs, Argentina Customs Control and Collection Agency (ARCA)
Read more: Argentina Pilots the new WCO Customs Integrity Perception Survey Online Tool
“The CIPS results formed the foundation of the State Customs Service of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Programme 2026-2028, showing the importance of digitalization, communication, leadership, and that ensuring integrity also means providing protection measures to staff. The CIPS demonstrated SCS’ incremental steps towards transparency in its cooperation with business.”
– Yurii Zanik, Deputy Head of the Department for Prevention and Detection of Corruption, the State Customs Service of Ukraine
Read more: From insight to impact: how Ukraine used a data-driven approach to strengthen integrity