In November 2024, Argentina Customs piloted a new online tool designed by the WCO to facilitate the implementation of the Customs Integrity Perception Survey (CIPS).

The Survey was developed in 2019 under the WCO’s Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme funded by Norway. It enables Customs administrations to check how efforts in promoting integrity and combating corruption are perceived by their own staff and by individuals who engage with them.

More than 26 Customs administrations have already conducted the survey using an on-the-ground data collection method which entails hiring independent consultants who collect the data using specially encrypted computer tablets, or Mobile Survey Stations (MSS), to display the questionnaires and record the responses. Most of these have even conducted multiple iterations of the survey to gauge changes over time.

While this method has benefits related to confidence and sensitivity, it is significantly resource-intensive. With more administrations showing an interest in conducting the Survey, the WCO A-CIP team started looking for a more sustainable and less costly method of data collection. Amidst greater comfort with online surveys, in particular since the Pandemic, the Customs Integrity Perception Survey Online Tool (CIPS-OT) was born.

The next step was to find an administration to test the online tool. Argentina was the first to reach out to the WCO A-CIP Team with an interest. Argentina’s newly created Agencia de Recaudación y Control Aduanero (ARCA) had been working on fostering a culture of integrity within its ranks. The Administration wanted to know how it was seen to perform in tacking issues related to the factors listed in the WCO Revised Arusha Declaration concerning Good Governance and Integrity in Customs (RAD) in order to establish a starting point and identify opportunities for improving integrity strategies and for targeting efforts. As explained by an Argentina representative presenting the initiative to its peers at the WCO, “to avoid stewing in your own juices: you should listen, learn, and become better”.  

ARCA saw several advantages in using the CIPS-OT. Its modular and scalable approach enabled it to customize the survey to its needs and constraints. While Administrations do not need the help of the WCO Secretariat to use the tool, ARCA sought the guidance of the WCO A-CIP team and leveraged its experience to overcome the challenges associated with the data collection.

The tool offers several features, including:

• adaptability of the implementation timeline: the survey for Customs officials and private sector representatives can be implemented separately.
• customization of the language(s).
• anonymity: users’ IP addresses are masked, but proxy information allows to identify results that come from the same computer or domain.
• one-time-passcodes (OTP) to restrict access to a single login.

While, during past on-the-ground CIPS, both Customs and Private Sector surveys were conducted simultaneously over a period of three to four weeks, Argentina Customs took advantage of the flexibility offered by the new tool and conducted the private sector survey first, over a ten-day period in November 2024, and followed up with the survey for Customs officials a couple months later, once the administration new internal organizational was well in place.

1,169 responses from private sector stakeholders and 441 responses from Customs officials were collected. These numbers of responses enabled the Administration to ensure a target margin of error of 2.79% for the private sector and 4.40% for the Customs officials. In other words, the results from the survey may deviate up or down by 2.79% and 4.40% respectively from the actual values that would have been obtained if all the entities or individuals in each category had been surveyed.

To achieve such high participation rates, ARCA rolled-out a communication campaign using multiple channels. First the Administration announced the survey to trade operators through roundtable discussions and notifications via its online communication platform. All communications stressed two facts: the CIPS was voluntary and anonymous. As a second step, a link to the survey was sent via emails and published on the communication platform. Emails inviting operators to respond to the questionnaire were again sent at the beginning of the last week of the survey and on its last day. As for Customs officers, they were informed of the survey via the administration intranet, emails and screens located at the entrance of all Customs buildings. A video in which CIPS-OT users share their experience and opinions was also created.

Argentina sees that the results of their implementation of CIPS-OT offer a diagnosis, a starting point, and an opportunity for improvement. Analysis of the survey results is guiding ARCA in refining its integrity strategies and intensifying efforts, in alignment with the WCO Revised Arusha Declaration.

ARCA use of CIPS-OT demonstrates the potential of the tool to implement the survey with significantly less resource as required to collect data through commercially hired third-parties.  While each data collection method has its own pros and cons, the CIPS-OT also demonstrates that with the WCO as a partner in implementation, a sense of confidence and sensitivity can be maintained even with an online survey.

Although developed for the administrations participating in the A-CIP Programme, the CIPS and the CIPES-OT can be deployed by any Customs administration wishing to evaluate and/or track its integrity performance in a more standardized way. Published on the WCO website, the Methodological Guide of CIPS contains the main materials needed for the organization of a CIPS, including an overview of the different options for data collection, their pros and cons. WCO Members interested in more information or making use of the CIPS and the new CIPS-OT should contact the  WCO Secretariat at integrity@wcoomd.org.

More information
WCO Secretariat
Methodological Guide of CIPS