Browse by: "2018"
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Regulators help ensure access to and quality of public utilities, facilitate investment and protect market neutrality. Good internal and external governance of regulators is crucial to ensure that they fulfil these functions and perform effectively. In this sense, the 2012 OECD Recommendation of the Council on Regulatory Policy and Governance proposes that countries “develop a consistent policy covering the role and functions of regulatory agencies in order to provide greater confidence that regulatory decisions are made on an objective, impartial and consistent basis, without conflict of interest, bias or improper influence”. To support these goals, the OECD has developed Best Practice Principles on the Governance of Regulators (OECD, 2014) and a methodology to review and enhance regulatory agencies’ performance. Such reviews of Mexico’s Agency for Safety, Energy and Environment (Agencia para la Seguridad, Energía y Ambiente, ASEA), National Commission for Hydrocarbons (Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos, CNH) and Energy Regulatory Commission (Comisión Reguladora de Energía, CRE) were carried out in 2016-17. This document provides an update of the implementation of review recommendations by the regulatory agencies and points to some ways forward.
Over the past two decades, Austria has become one of the most R&D intensive economies among OECD countries and in the world, dedicating 3.1% of its GDP on R&D in 2016, the second highest figure in the European Union. To fully harness this R&D capacity, Austrian innovation policy needs to put a stronger emphasis on efficiency in transforming R&D inputs into impacts. To achieve higher impacts, Austria also needs to steer its research and innovation system towards leadership excellence in global markets. This requires enhanced international attractiveness for top-level researchers and talent, and a conducive environment for highly innovative enterprises. Austria could also benefit from strengthening R&D and innovation to support key transitions, such as digitalisation and Industry 4.0, and to tackle key societal challenges. The STI policy mix and governance arrangements should be adapted accordingly.
This report makes use of a unique set of data on premiums and claims provided by global reinsurance companies to examine the contribution that reinsurance has made to enhancing the capacity of the primary insurance market to manage catastrophe risk and to reducing the economic and insurance market disruption that often follows catastrophic events.
BEPS Action 5 is one of the four BEPS minimum standards which all Inclusive Framework members have committed to implement. One part of the Action 5 minimum standard is the transparency framework for compulsory spontaneous exchange of information on certain tax rulings which, in the absence of transparency, could give rise to BEPS concerns. Over 120 jurisdictions have joined the Inclusive Framework and take part in the peer review to assess their compliance with the transparency framework.
Specific terms of reference and a methodology have been agreed for the peer reviews to assess a jurisdiction’s implementation of the minimum standard. The review of the transparency framework assesses jurisdictions against the terms of reference which focus on five key elements: i) information gathering process, ii) exchange of information, iii) confidentiality of the information received; iv) statistics on the exchanges on rulings; and v) transparency on certain aspects of intellectual property regimes. Recommendations are issued where improvements are needed to meet the minimum standard.
This report reflects the outcome of the second annual peer review of the implementation of the Action 5 minimum standard and covers 92 jurisdictions. It assesses implementation for the 1 January 2017 – 31 December 2017 period.
Le 20 février 2019, le Conseil de l'OCDE a adopté la Recommandation du Conseil sur la lutte contre le commerce illégal de pesticides afin de renforcer la coopération entre les pays et les inspecteurs. Un guide des meilleures pratiques a été élaboré pour fournir des conseils aux inspecteurs et aux autorités de réglementation sur les meilleures pratiques pour identifier et lutter contre les pesticides illégaux tout au long du cycle de vie complet d'un pesticide, depuis la fabrication, en passant par la formulation, le commerce et l'utilisation jusqu'à la destruction.
On 20 February 2019, OECD Council adopted the Recommendation on Countering the Illegal Trade of Pesticides to strengthen cooperation between countries and inspectors. A Best Practice Guidance was developed to provide guidance for inspectors and regulatory authorities on best practices for identifying and tackling illegal pesticides throughout the complete lifecycle of a pesticide, from manufacture, through formulation, trade and use to destruction.
This study examines the potential for the misuse of small parcels for trade in counterfeit and pirated goods. It presents the legal and economic contexts of the operation of express and postal services. It also looks at the available data on volumes of small consignments, via postal and courier streams, in the context of seizures of counterfeit and pirated goods. Furthermore it analyses the links between the observed dynamics in markets for small parcels and the available information on misuse of this service by traffickers in counterfeit and pirated goods.
Tackling mental health problems of the working-age population is a key issue for labour market and social policies in OECD countries, not just for health systems. Governments increasingly recognise that policy has a major role to play in keeping people with mental health conditions in employment or bringing those outside of the labour market into it, and in preventing mental illness. This report on New Zealand is the tenth in a series of reports looking at how broader education, health, welfare and labour market policy challenges are being tackled in a number of countries. The report is also the first one published after the endorsement of the OECD Recommendation of the Council on "Integrated Mental Health, Skills and Work Policy" and assesses New Zealand's performance against the strategic policy framework agreed by all OECD countries. The report concludes that awareness and policy thinking is well developed in New Zealand but that structural and institutional weaknesses limit the provision of timely, integrated health and employment services, with particularly disappointing outcomes for the indigenous population. Against the background of the OECD Council Recommendation, the report proposes improvements in policy development and policy implementation to make youth, workplace, health and welfare policies ready for the challenge.
The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention is the foremost global legal instrument for fighting the supply side of foreign bribery. The supply side of foreign bribery relates to what bribers do – it involves offering, promising or giving a bribe to a foreign public official to obtain an improper advantage in international business. In contrast, the demand side of foreign bribery refers to the offence committed by public officials who are bribed by foreign persons.
This study explores whether there is a "flip side" to enforcement actions that ended in sanctions for the supply-side of a foreign bribery transaction. It focuses on what happened on the receiving end of this transaction. That is to say, were the public officials in the demand-side country also sanctioned or otherwise disciplined?
These case studies complement the 2018 Development Co-operation Report: Joining forces to leave no one behind. Case study contributors share knowledge and lessons on what it takes to answer the pledge of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to leave no one behind through national and sub-national policies, strategies and programmes as well as international development co-operation projects, programmes and partnerships. The insights, good practices and lessons shared in these case studies were provided by diverse actors. These include official development co-operation ministries and agencies from members of the OECD and the Development Assistance Committee, international organisations, developing country governments, civil society organisations, business, and research bodies.
The case studies highlight experiences from projects and programmes in leaving no one behind and reaching the furthest behind. They are organised and presented under two broad categories:
1. Reaching and including people and places;
2. The enabling role of international co-operation: policies, partnerships and data.
When Member States of the United Nations approved the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015, they agreed that the Sustainable Development Goals and Targets should be met for all nations and peoples and for all segments of society. Governments and stakeholders negotiating the 2030 Agenda backed the ambition of leaving no one behind, an ambition increasingly referred to in development policies, international agendas and civil society advocacy.
How can we transform this ambition into reality? Policy makers, civil society and business are asking for more clarity on how to ensure that no one is left behind in practice. What does it mean for the design and delivery of economic, social and environmental policies? How should development co-operation policies, programming and accountability adapt? What should governments, development partners and the international community do differently to ensure that sustainable development goals benefit everyone and the furthest behind first?
The 2018 Development Co-operation Report: Joining Forces to Leave No One Behind addresses all of these questions and many more. Informed by the latest evidence on what it means to be left behind, it adopts a wide range of perspectives and draws lessons from policies, practices and partnerships that work. The report proposes a holistic and innovative framework to shape and guide development co-operation policies and tools that are fit for the purpose of leaving no one behind.
The OECD DAC Blended Finance Principles for Unlocking Commercial Finance for the SDGs give a clear definition and provide a five-point checklist to ensure blended finance meets accepted quality standards and achieves impact, based on a development rationale promoted by Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members. These Principles represent a critical first step towards ensuring that donors engage in the right way, by guaranteeing that the policy framework is fit for purpose. Whether a donor is looking to begin a blending programme or already has one, we recommend that the OECD DAC Principles be used to test assumptions about how blending is currently being undertaken on critically important aspects such as the engagement of local capital markets, the use of concessionality as a precondition to blending, or the provision of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
Australia's long span of positive output growth continues, demonstrating the economy's resilience. In the absence of negative shocks, policy rates should start to rise soon, as wage growth and price-inflation pick up. Fiscal discipline will nevertheless still be required to bring balances to surplus. Despite countervailing measures, the housing market and related debt pose macroeconomic risks. Furthermore, as flagged in previous Surveys, there is room to improve the tax system, notably through greater use of value-added tax and less use of inefficient and distorting taxes, such as real-estate transactions tax.
Levels of well-being are generally high but climate-change policy still lacks clarity and stability and there are socio-economic challenges. Some groups are at high risk of being disrupted by globalisation and technological change and this is the theme of this Survey’s in-depth chapter. Further reforms to education, including efforts to improve PISA scores and vocational education, and better target disadvantaged students, are important. So too is activation policy where there is scope to improve employment services, support for displaced workers and measures helping parents combine work and family life. Australia’s highly urbanised population means that good metropolitan transport, planning and housing policy can importantly boost labour-market flexibility, as well as living standards.
SPECIAL FEATURE: COPING WITH GLOBALISATION AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE
Asian cities are particularly vulnerable to risks associated with natural disasters. While they are exposed to various types of natural hazards, flooding and other water-related disasters pose particularly significant risks and undermine long-term economic growth, especially in coastal cities. Managing such natural disaster risks is an essential component of urban policies in fast-growing Southeast Asian cities, especially as the impacts of climate change worsen.
In addition to providing a framework for assessing disaster risk management policies in cities, this report also presents the results of assessment and locally tailored policy recommendations in five cities of different institutional, geographic, socio-economic and environmental contexts in Southeast Asia. They include Bandung (Indonesia), Bangkok (Thailand), Cebu (Philippines), Hai Phong (Viet Nam) and Iskandar (Malaysia). The study highlights that Southeast Asian cities are largely underprepared for natural disaster risks.
Through an assessment of disaster risk management (DRM) policies at national and subnational levels, the study aims to enhance urban resilience by: i) identifying policy challenges related to DRM ; ii) assessing the impacts of current DRM policy practices; and iii) proposing more efficient and effective policy options to enhance urban resilience.
In the past several decades, there has been a substantial increase in the availability of in vitro test methods for evaluating chemical safety in an international regulatory context. To foster confidence in in vitro alternatives to animal testing, the test methods and conditions under which data are generated must adhere to defined standards to ensure resulting data are rigorous and reproducible. Good In vitro Method Practices (GIVIMP) for the development and implementation of in vitro methods for regulatory use in human safety assessment aims to help reduce the uncertainties in cell and tissue-based in vitro method derived chemical safety predictions. GIVIMP provides guidance for test method developers and end users of resulting data on key elementes of in vitro methods. GIVIMP tackles ten important aspects related to in vitro work: (1) Roles and responsibilities, (2) Quality considerations, (3) Facilities (4) Apparatus, material and reagents, (5) Test systems, (6) Test and reference/control items, (7) Standard operating procedures (SOPs), (8) Performance of the method, (9) Reporting of results, (10) Storage and retention of records and materials.
Le Comité d’aide au développement (CAD) de l’OCDE procède à des examens périodiques des efforts individuels de coopération pour le développement des membres du CAD. Les politiques et les programmes de chacun des membres font l’objet d’un examen critique une fois tous les cinq ans. Les examens par les pairs évaluent la performance du membre considéré, sans se limiter au seul organisme de coopération, et examinent les aspects ayant trait tant à la définition de la politique qu’à sa mise en œuvre. Ils couvrent dans leur globalité les activités de coopération pour le développement et d’aide humanitaire du membre soumis à examen, en les replaçant dans le système envisagé dans son entier.
Le rapport montre notamment comment l’Union européenne a fait preuve d’un rôle central pour établir et orienter les accords mondiaux sur le développement durable et le changement climatique ; et suggère l’amélioration d’une approche holistique de toute l’Union européenne, centrée sur la réduction de la pauvreté et les pays étant le plus dans le besoin.
This report provides an overview of financial literacy in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It provides these six countries with an opportunity to see how their financial literacy levels compare to the other countries participating in the Project on Financial Education in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
The OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) conducts periodic reviews of the individual development co-operation efforts of DAC members. The policies and programmes of each DAC member are critically examined approximately once every five years. DAC peer reviews assess the performance of a given member, not just that of its development co-operation agency, and examine both policy and implementation. They take an integrated, system-wide perspective on the development co-operation and humanitarian assistance activities of the member under review.
Among other issues, this review looks at how the European Union has shown leadership in forging global agreements on sustainable development and climate change, and suggests the enhancement of a whole of EU approach in focusing on poverty reduction and countries that are most in need.
This joint OECD-European Commission publication presents a comprehensive international comparison across all EU and OECD countries - as well as selected G20 countries - of the integration outcomes of immigrants and their children, using 74 indicators based on three strands: labour market and skills; living conditions; and civic engagement and social integration. To place the comparison in its proper context, the publication also provides detailed data on the characteristics of immigrant populations and households. Three special-focus chapters are dedicated to examining gender issues, youth with a migrant background, and third-country nationals in the European Union.