On 11 March 2025, the World Customs Organization (WCO) announced that its Anti-Corruption & Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme had held its annual coordinators meeting at the WCO headquarters in Brussels on 05 to 06 March 2025. This gathering marked a significant milestone as the programme enters its last phase under its current schedule that enjoys funding from Norway (via the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) till September this year. The meeting was opened by the WCO Deputy Secretary General who expressed hope for future donor support and highlighted commitment to a renewed drive and boost for integrity through the WCO’s new strategy.
The meeting provided an opportunity for participants to reflect on key achievements since the A-CIP Programme’s initiation in 2019, detailing the concrete changes achieved within the 16 current partner administrations. Country-level A-CIP projects were shown to have delivered measurable results and have fostered greater transparency and integrity within Customs. These achievements are a testament to the relevance and impact of the WCO Revised Arusha Declaration on their integrity efforts. More on these specific achievements can be seen in A-CIP testimonials, latest annual report, and throughout the WCO integrity news.
Discussions also focused on sustaining integrity in Customs operations globally. There was a consensus that integrity efforts need to be long-term commitments, requiring continuous innovation and adaptation. Partner administrations shared their experiences in embedding integrity practices within their daily operations, ensuring that these initiatives remain impactful in the future and further explored new ways that integrity could be integrated into the core work of Customs, such as valuation, classification, enforcement and trade facilitation.
Ideas were also shared that would shape a new phase for the A-CIP Programme, taking into account financial constraints but also leveraging the new tools and resources already developed by the programme and now available to WCO members, including the WCO CIPS Online Tool, and extensive new training materials now available on the WCO CLiKC! platform.
The WCO A-CIP Programme, currently funded by Norway, is a comprehensive initiative that provides technical assistance and capacity-building support to WCO member administrations implementing integrity-related initiatives in line with the WCO Revised Arusha Declaration. More information is available at capacity.building@wcoomd.org
Excerpts from WCO A-CIP Programme Coordinators Meetings, March 2025
“The WCO A-CIP Programme shed light on all integrity tools and helped us learn how to put them to practical use for Customs” – Malawi Revenue Authority
“The application of the Customs Integrity Perception Survey (CIPS) was a major achievement and gave us insights that allowed us to address issues and improve trust in reporting corruption” – Ghana Revenue Authority
“Our automation initiatives supported under the WCO A-CIP Programme have not only helped promote integrity but also driven Green Customs within our administration as we go paperless.” – Jordan Customs Department
“The success of the Customs Integrity Perception Survey (CIPS) helped us see the benefits of engaging staff through surveys, which have now become routine within our administration.” – Niger Customs
“Our Next-Generation Network, set up under the WCO A-CIP Programme, will help ensure a sustainable future for the culture of integrity in our administration.” – Tunisia Customs
“The Integrity monitoring framework initiated under the WCO A-CIP Programme is very relevant and key for our administration.” – Tanzania Revenue Authority
“Integrity and anti-corruption are no longer taboo topics in our administration. We have been able to engage new stakeholders and take action that improves the image of Customs and lowers corruption.” – Burkina Faso Customs
“The WCO A-CIP Programme has helped our administration see that automation, internal control, leadership and commitment are pivotal to combatting corruption.” – Nepal Department of Customs
“We used to fight corruption in an ad hoc way. The WCO A-CIP Programme helped create a framework to fight corruption, gave an idea of where the gaps need to be filled, drove our stakeholder engagement strategy, and enabled the creation of a complaints platform.” – Sierra Leone National Revenue Authority