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This project aims to support the Slovak Republic as it seeks to create a clear rationale for the Regional Development Agencies Integrated Network which currently comprises 38 agencies. The project considers the efficiency of the network and evaluates the appropriateness of the agencies’ functions, competencies and remit for delivery of effective local economic development. The project is part of series of reforms which have been taking place in the Slovak Republic to realise the aims and objectives of The Act No. 539/2008 coll. on regional development (539 Act) on the Support of Regional Development which provides the a general framework for regional development policy and delivery in accordance with the 2004 Ministerial Guidelines on PHSR – Economic and Social Development Programme of Higher Territorial Unit.

This definitional, stocktaking paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the concepts and definitions related to “green” investments that are currently used in the market place. The purpose of this research is not to take a position on a specific definition but rather to explore what is being generally used, whether there are commonalties and inconsistencies, and what lessons can be drawn from this analysis.

The paper examines how “green” investments are defined across different asset classes (equities, bonds and alternative investments), as well as providing some estimates of the size of these markets. The paper concludes that, given the lack of consensus on the usage and definition of the term “green”, the most productive approach could be to take an open and dynamic stance towards definitions and standards, with international institutions and governments adopting a “governance approach to green investment”.

Derry~Londonderry in Northern Ireland became a member of the LEED Partners Club in 2008 and has collaborated with the LEED Programme as it embarked upon One Plan. Our work with the city encapsulates the essence of LEED and the delivery of sustainable local development in practice. Throughout the project, our team worked with engaged, open and committed stakeholders and our Directing Committee was both humbled and inspired by the city.

Derry-Londonderry has a challenging period ahead as it seeks to create 12 000 much needed jobs in the city over the next 10 years. It is now an outward-looking and learning city, seeking to learn from international best practice and in turn contribute to new thinking and understanding. Through One Plan – the Regeneration Plan for Derry Londonderry 2020 – the city can determine a different future: a stronger economy and equal society. Delivering Local Development in Derry~Londonderry, Northern Ireland: Inclusive Growth Through One Plan helps the city set out a path to reshape its future to ensure that the economy is able to generate sufficient, productive and sustainable employment, with opportunities for progression and accessibility for all.

Australia
National Radioactive Waste Management Act 2012
Germany
Act on the Peaceful Utilisation of Atomic Energy and the Protection against its Hazards (Atomic Energy Act)
Sweden
The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority’s regulations concerning clearance of materials, rooms, buildings and land in practices involving ionising radiation
The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority’s general advice on the application of the regulations concerning clearance of materials, rooms, buildings and land in practices involving ionising radiation

This paper presents development accounting exercises in Latin America using novel databases and methods to investigate the robustness of its results. While total factor productivity initially appears to be the most important driver of output per worker gaps in Latin America and the Caribbean, this “fact” is not robust to alternative functional forms, adjustments for the quality of human capital and endogeneity considerations. The paper also highlights the heterogeneity among countries in the region and discusses alternative ways to link macroeconomic benchmarking to policies.

PISA has long established that high-performing education systems tend to pay their teachers more. They also often prioritise the quality of teaching over other choices, including class size. But in the current budgetary climate, paying everybody more may not be a viable alternative. So many countries are now targeting salary increases to schools with particular needs or short supplies of teachers, or have developed greater local flexibility in salary schemes. Some countries have responded with systems of individual pay. But is recognising and rewarding teaching performance through pay an effective way to leverage improvement?

Montgomery Primary School is the UK's first "zero carbon" in use and "climate-change-ready" exemplar school built to the Passivhaus standard. Its design and solar generating electrical power plant enable its electricity bill to be zero each year.

This paper investigates the existence of significant spillovers from the housing sector onto the wider economy for the seven major OECD countries using Uhlig's (2005) agnostic identification procedure. This method allows a housing demand shock to be identified in a six-variable VAR model by imposing sign restrictions on the impulse responses of consumer prices, residential investment, real house prices and mortgage loans, while private consumption and nominal interest rate responses are left unrestricted. The results suggest that consumption responds positively and significantly to a house price shock in Canada, France, Japan and the UK. A significant positive delayed response of nominal interest rates follows a house price shock in Germany, Japan, the UK and the US, suggesting that while central banks do not seem to respond instantly and systematically to a housing demand shock, their repercussions on the economy tend to translate into higher policy rates after a few quarters.

Wholesale interconnection rates for mobile telephony service in the OECD area have decreased by 53% from 2006 to 2011. The charges, or mobile termination rates (MTRs), represent the fees that telecommunication network operators (fixed, mobile and VoIP) pay for delivering telephone calls to mobile wireless providers. Lower rates enable competition in the telecommunications market, encourage greater usage of mobile services through flexible unlimited call plans, and increase overall consumer welfare. Furthermore, it is only in countries where rates are lowest or even at zero that new innovative VoIP services like Google Voice are able to flourish. This report is timely because many regulatory bodies, including in the United States and the European Commission, are debating whether to phase out MTRs altogether.

This issue will show that strong performers do not invest scarce resources in smaller classes, but in higher teachers' salaries. They are neither the countries that spend the most on education, nor are they the wealthiest countries; rather they are the countries that are committed to providing high-quality education to all students in the belief that all students can achieve at high levels.

European Union 
Council Directive 2011/70/EURATOM of 19 July 2011 establishing a Community framework for the responsible and safe management of spent fuel and radioactive waste 

India 
The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 
Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Rules 

Republic of Korea 
Act on Establishment and Operation of Nuclear Safety Commission

Russian Federation
Federal Law on the Management of Radioactive Wastes and amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation

This study addresses issues of digital divide among households and individuals by using micro-data analysis of ICT usage patterns. The analysis includes data from 18 European countries, Korea and Canada. Inequalities in computer and Internet use are analysed in a two-step approach. First, the paper tries to better quantify and understand the factors that separate the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’. Second, it tries to explain observed differences in the frequency and type of Internet use as a result of the socio-economic characteristics of households and individuals.

This report explains why digital identity management is fundamental for the further development of the Internet economy. It also provides guidance for digital identity strategies that support innovation across the public and private sectors while enhancing security, privacy and trust online.

The property losses from the Feb 27th 2010 Maule earthquake are assessed as $18.1Bn paid for 38% by insurers, 47% by the Government of Chile and 15% by individuals and businesses. Including $4Bn damage to infrastructure and the costs of lost economic activity the total loss in 2010 values is estimated to have been close to $28Bn. The report considers policy options for expanding the proportion of future Chilean earthquake losses that would be covered via new and expanded risk transfer mechanisms: for low income homeowners, small commercial enterprises and government buildings. Consideration is also given to how the overall levels of earthquake risk in Chile could be reduced through targeted efforts at risk mitigation. Recommendations are made for how the insurance industry and government in Chile should expand the use of probabilistic catastrophe loss models for defining and pricing risk management options.

In 2010, the international community took steps to improve the system of reporting and verification under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Parties to the UNFCCC decided at the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to enhance reporting for all countries and to conduct “international assessment and review” (IAR) of certain information from developed countries and “international consultations and analysis” (ICA) of biennial update reports from developing countries.

This is a step change from the existing reporting and review system – particularly for developing countries, since information from these countries is currently reported on an infrequent basis and is not reviewed. Establishing a system that combines improved reporting with some form of international verification could improve the quality of information available internationally and increase confidence in the integrity of the information reported. This would help to build trust between countries and potentially also increase the level of ambition of mitigation actions.

Further decisions need to be made by Parties in order to determine the scope, inputs, process, outputs and frequency of IAR and ICA, as the decisions agreed at COP 16 (known as the “Cancun Agreements”) provide limited guidance on these items. This paper outlines key questions to help guide such decisions and provides suggestions for the possible design and function of IAR and ICA. It outlines how they could build on existing review processes under the UNFCCC and draw on lessons from other multilateral review processes. The challenge for the international community will be to ensure that IAR and ICA are useful processes, both nationally and internationally, while minimising the resource requirements needed to implement them.

Defence procurement is the process through which authorities in the field of defence and security acquire various goods, services or works they need in order to perform their duties and missions. Defence procurement constitutes a noticeable segment of public procurement in the European Union. SIGMA Brief 23 gives a short overview of the particular characteristics of defence procurement and how defence procurement is organised in the European Union. It also gives an overview of the regulatory framework of the European Union with special attention to the Defence and Security Directive (2009/81/EC). The Brief also covers some other linking issues such as offsets and parallel regimes (defence procurement between the European Union and third countries).

This paper was developed at the request of the OECD Working Party of the Investment Committee to document efforts to date to define and measure green FDI and to investigate the practicability of various possible definitions, as well as to identify investment policy restrictions to green FDI. It does so by reviewing the literature and existing work on the contributions of FDI to the environment; by providing a two-part definition of green FDI; and by discussing various assumptions necessary to estimate the magnitude of 'green' FDI.

Students who are highly engaged in a wide range of reading activities are more likely than other students to be effective learners and to perform well at school. Research also documents a strong link between reading practices, motivation and proficiency among adults. Proficiency in reading is crucial for individuals to make sense of the world they live in and to continue learning throughout their lives...