Browse by: "2015"

This brochure is published within the framework of the Scheme for the Application of International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables established by OECD in 1962. It comprises explanatory notes and illustrations to facilitate the uniform interpretation of the Chinese Cabbage. This brochure illustrates the standard text and demonstrates the quality parameters on high quality photographs. Thus it is a valuable tool for the inspection authorities, professional bodies and traders interested in international trade in Chinese Cabbage.

This report reviews trends and progress on climate change mitigation policies in 34 OECD countries and 10 partner economies (Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Russian Federation and South Africa), as well as in the European Union. Together, these countries account for over 80% of global GHG emissions. It covers three areas: 1) mitigation targets and goals, 2) carbon pricing instruments (such as energy and carbon taxation, emissions trading systems, as well as support for fossil fuels) and 3) key domestic policy settings in the energy and other sectors (including renewable energy, power generation and transport, innovation and R&D, and mitigation policies in agriculture, forestry, industry and waste sectors). The report is accompanied by an online country profiles tool containing more detailed information.

Climate change is giving rise to diverse risks, ranging from changing incidences of tropical diseases to increased risks of drought, varying widely in their potential severity, frequency and predictability. Governments must integrate the management of these climate risks into policy making if they are to successfully adapt to a changing climate. Economic analysis has a vital role to play in supporting these efforts, by identifying costs and benefits and supporting decision-making for an uncertain future. However, this analysis needs to be adapted to the institutions, policies and climate risks in a given country. Building on the experience of OECD countries, this report sets out how the latest economic evidence and tools can enable better policy making for adaptation.

In recent years, Colombia has made major economic and social advances. Despite this recent progress, Colombia faces significant structural challenges associated with the concentration of economic activity – particularly exports - in a few sectors, low levels of productivity, and high inequality. Embarking on a path towards inclusive growth is vital in the context of successfully eradicating poverty, providing opportunities for its growing middle class and solidifying progress towards lasting peace. The road ahead to high-income status will be demanding and calls for major policy initiatives in areas such as education, innovation, infrastructure and rural development, as embodied in the New Development Plan 2014-2018: Everyone for a new country. Furthermore, the country needs to work towards bolstering government capacities, building strong institutions, and effectively mobilising domestic revenues to facilitate effective implementation of its public policy priorities.

Peer reviews of competition law and policy are a valuable tool to reform and strengthen a country’s competition framework. This peer review of Denmark presents the evolution of its competition regime and assesses its competition law and policy.

This OECD Emission Scenario Document (ESD) is a complement document to the Coating Industry (Paints, Lacquers and Varnishes, ESD No. 22 and provides information on the sources, use pattern and release pathways of chemicals used as solvents for industrial coatings, so as to help estimating the amount of chemicals released into the environment.

This report provides an analysis of the impact of a range of corrupt practices on economic growth and development in four key sectors: utilities and infrastructure, extractive industries, health and education. As quantification of the impact of corruption on economic growth at a macro level remains challenging, this report presents evidence at the micro and sectoral level to capture the various consquences of this phenomenon. Prepared by the OECD as a contribution to the G20 efforts to fight corruption, this report aims at increasing the understanding of the channels by which corruption inhibits economic growth and assist countries in further integrating anticorruption in their efforts to foster inclusive, sustainable growth and development. Drawing lessons from the cross-cutting analysis, the report encourages countries to design comprehensive anti-corruption strategies for which progress could be measurable and which would be tailored to specific country circumstances and economies to achieve the best results for economic growth and value-for-money.

This report provides an overview of frameworks and experience in Latin America and internationally in dealing with the challenges associated with corporate governance of company groups. It describes their economic rationale, benefits and relevance in Latin America, and how they are defined, overseen and regulated. It also delves into some of the risks and more specific challenges involved in ensuring protection of minority shareholder rights and managing or minimising conflicts of interest within groups. It notes the rising importance of Latin American-based multinational company groups. Finally, it reviews existing international and regional guidance on corporate governance of company groups before assessing the more specific policy options and challenges in the region, and describing the conclusions reached by the Latin American Corporate Governance Roundtable and Task Force on Company Groups based on this report’s findings. Country-specific chapters provide more specific descriptions of the frameworks in place for corporate governance of company groups in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

The review analyses key areas of public governance in Costa Rica and identifies opportunities to improve the performance of the state in order to ensure more effective and efficient service delivery for all citizens. It examines co-ordination at the centre of government, public policy monitoring and evaluation and the use of the budget framework for strategic planning. It also looks at human resource management, integrity policies and public procurement, and multi-level governance. The review provides recommendations to assist the government in strengthening the capacity of the public sector to support social and economic development.

Preferential regimes continue to be a key pressure area. Current concerns are primarily about preferential regimes which can be used for artificial profit shifting and about a lack of transparency in connection with certain rulings. The report sets out an agreed methodology to assess whether there is substantial activity. In the context of IP regimes such as patent boxes, agreement was reached on the “nexus approach” which uses expenditures as a proxy for substantial activity and ensures that taxpayers can only benefit from IP regimes where they engaged in research and development and incurred actual expenditures on such activities. The same principle can also be applied to other preferential regimes so that such regimes are found to require substantial activity where the taxpayer undertook the core income generating activities.  In the area of transparency, a framework has been agreed for the compulsory spontaneous exchange of information on rulings that could give rise to BEPS concerns in the absence of such exchange. The results of the application of the existing factors applied by the FHTP, and the elaborated substantial activity and transparency factors, to a number of preferential regimes are included in this report.

The European Union’s Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) struggle with environmental challenges related to the consumption and end-of-life management of many harmful products. This policy manual considers the potential use and implementation of four categories of product-related economic instruments to address some of these challenges: product taxes, tax differentiation based on environmental factors, deposit-refund systems and extended producer responsibility (EPR).

OECD countries are developing strategies to improve the quality of life of those affected by dementia and to support long-term efforts for a disease-modifying therapy or cure. The OECD jointly hosted an international workshop in Toronto with the Ontario Brain Institute (OBI) and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME), University of Toronto on 14-15 September 2014. The aim of the workshop was to advance international discussion of the opportunities and challenges, as well as successful strategies, for sharing and linking the massive amounts of population-based health and health care data that are routinely collected (broad data) with detailed clinical and biological data (deep data) to create an international resource for research, planning, policy development, and performance improvement. The workshop brought together leading researchers and academics, industry and non-government experts to provide new insights into the opportunities and challenges in making “broad and deep” data a reality – from funding to data standards, to data sharing, to new analytics, to protecting privacy, and to engaging with stakeholders and the public. Government leadership and public-private partnership will be needed to create and sustain big data resources, including financing for data infrastructure and incentives for data sharing.

This report sets out recommendations in the form of building blocks for effective CFC rules. The recommendations are designed to ensure that jurisdictions that choose to implement them, have rules that effectively prevent taxpayers from shifting income into foreign subsidiaries. The report sets out the following six building blocks for the design of effective CFC rules: (1) definition of a CFC, (2) CFC exemptions and threshold requirements, (3) definition of income, (4) computation of income, (5) attribution of income, and (6) prevention and elimination of double taxation. Because each country prioritises policy objectives differently, the recommendations provide flexibility to implement CFC rules that combat BEPS in a manner consistent with the policy objectives of the overall tax system and the international legal obligations of the country concerned.