Browse by: "2020"
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Countries are faced with the growing challenge of managing increasing risks from climate change and climate variability, putting development and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals at risk. The adoption in 2015 of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Paris Agreement on climate change provides a clear mandate for increased coherence in countries’ approaches to climate and disaster risk reduction. Countries increasingly recognise the benefits of improved coherence between the two policy areas, exemplified by the number of countries that either have developed joint strategies or put in place processes that facilitate co-ordination.
Informed by the country approaches of Ghana, Peru and the Philippines, in addition to a review of relevant literature, this report examines the potential for increased coherence in approaches to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction across levels of government and sectors. It identifies ways in which government officials, development co-operation and other stakeholders can support efforts to further enhance coherence between the two policy areas, not only in the three case study countries, but also those in other countries as well as providers of development co-operation.
RNA interference (RNAi) is a biological process in which small ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules inhibit gene expression, typically by causing the enzymatic destruction of specific messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules, which are the templates for the synthesis of proteins. This process is commonly referred to as post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS); that is, mRNA is transcribed from the DNA gene but before the message is translated into proteins by ribosomes, the mRNA is blocked or otherwise destroyed by an enzymatic process guided by a specific non-coding small interfering RNA (siRNA) or microRNA (miRNA). The purpose of the OECD work leading to this paper was to develop a broad set of recommendations relating to risk assessment considerations for exogenously-applied dsRNA-based products, with a focus on issues relating to data requirements for determining the environmental fate of sprayable RNA molecules and for examining the potential risks to non-target organisms.
Consumption Tax Trends provides information on Value Added Taxes/Goods and Services Taxes (VAT/GST) and excise duty rates in OECD member countries. It also contains information about international aspects of VAT/GST developments and the efficiency of this tax. It describes a range of other consumption taxation provisions on tobacco, alcoholic beverages, motor vehicles and aviation fuels.
Finland’s skill development system is one of the most successful in the OECD. The country’s 15-year old students have been amongst the top performers of all the countries participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) since its first edition in 2000. Its adult population has some of the highest levels of literacy and numeracy in the OECD, according to the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), surpassed only by Japan. To maintain these remarkable performances, the skill development system needs to adapt to a rapidly changing labour market. Globalisation, technological change and population ageing are affecting the types of jobs that are and will be available in Finland and how they are carried out. Today, the vast majority of new jobs created require high levels of skills, while meta-cognitive and digital skills are becoming more important in working life. Skill shortages in the Finnish labour market are increasingly apparent and there are growing concerns about the supply of higher-level skills, given demographic change and stagnating educational attainment levels. Finland’s skill development system must get future-ready. This report analyses the status quo of the Finnish continuous learning system for adults, highlights its key challenges and makes actionable policy recommendations.
This study looks at why companies adopt anti-corruption compliance mechanisms and forms part of a three-part project on corporate anti-corruption measures to support sustainable business, prepared with the support of the Government of Sweden.
This review of Corporate Governance in Costa Rica was prepared as part of Costa Rica’s accession process for OECD membership. During the three-year period of the review, the government made substantial progress in strengthening its institutional and legal framework in line with the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance and OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). The report evaluates Costa Rica’s corporate governance policies and practices for both listed and state-owned companies. It finds that while Costa Rica’s capital market is quite small, its framework for corporate governance of listed companies is largely consistent with the Principles. Costa Rica has seen particular progress in issuing a new corporate governance code and requirements related to ownership disclosure. For SOEs, which play a key role in the Costa Rican economy, the Presidency has taken important steps to establish a co-ordinating unit which has spearheaded numerous reforms. These reforms include issuing a government ownership policy, more transparent and structured appointments of SOE board members (while removing politicians from boards), and reporting on SOEs’ performance. To further strengthen SOE performance and accountability, the report recommends additional steps to improve board practices, clarify performance objectives and implement International Financial Reporting Standards.
Corporate Tax Statistics is a flagship OECD publication on corporate income tax, bringing together a range of information on corporate taxation, MNE activity, and base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) practices. This second edition of Corporate Tax Statistics includes, for the first time, anonymised and aggregated Country-by-Country reporting data. This data is a key outcome of the OECD/G20 BEPS Project and its package of 15 measures adopted in 2015 to address tax avoidance. It provides an overview on the global tax and economic activities of thousands of multinational enterprise groups operating worldwide. This year’s edition of Corporate Tax Statistics also expands the data series from previous years on corporate tax rates, revenues, effective tax rates, and tax incentives for R&D and innovation, and contains new data series on intellectual property regimes, controlled foreign company rules, and interest limitation rules.
This report evaluates Costa Rica’s willingness and ability to implement the substantive OECD legal instruments within the Competition Committee’s competence, and to assess Costa Rica’s policies and practices in comparison to OECD best policies and practices in the field of competition policy.
This report takes stock of approaches taken by public organisations to counter external fraud in social benefit programmes (SBP) and suggests areas for improvement. It provides insights on preventive and detective measures, and promotes a risk-based approach to addressing fraud and error in SBPs in line with the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Public Integrity. It explores how public organisations can leverage data-driven approaches to improve fraud detection, and how strengthening evaluation activities can promote continuous improvement of anti-fraud measures.
Under the Action 13 Minimum Standard, jurisdictions have committed to foster tax transparency by requesting the largest multinational enterprise groups (MNE Groups) to provide the global allocation of their income, taxes and other indicators of the location of economic activity. This unprecedented information on MNE Groups’ operations across the world will boost tax authorities’ risk-assessment capabilities. The Action 13 Minimum Standard has been translated into specific terms of reference and a methodology for the peer review process.
The peer review of the Action 13 Minimum Standard is proceeding in stages with three annual reviews in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The phased review process follows the phased implementation of CbC Reporting. Each annual peer review process will therefore focus on different aspects of the three key areas under review: the domestic legal and administrative framework, the exchange of information framework, and the confidentiality and appropriate use of CbC reports. This third annual peer review report reflects the outcome of the third review which considered all aspects of implementation. It contains the review of 131 jurisdictions which provided legislation or information pertaining to the implementation of CbC Reporting.
For the first time, the OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030 project conducted comprehensive curriculum analyses through the co-creation of new knowledge with a wide range of stakeholders including policy makers, academic experts, school leaders, teachers, NGOs, other social partners and, most importantly, students. This report is one of six in a series presenting the first-ever comparative data on curriculum at the content level summarising existing literature, examining trends in curriculum change with challenges and strategies, and suggesting lessons learned from unintended consequences countries experienced with their curriculum reforms.
Schools are constantly under pressure to keep up with the pace of changes in society. In parallel, societal demands for what schools should teach are also constantly changing; often driven by political agendas, ideologies, or parental pressures, to add global competency, digital literacy, data literacy, environmental literacy, media literacy, social-emotional skills, etc. This “curriculum expansion” puts pressure on policy makers and schools to add new contents to already crowded curriculum. This report aims to support reflecting on questions such as “how to avoid creating a ‘mile wide – inch deep’ curriculum?” and “how to shift a paradigm to curriculum centred around student well-being?” It also discusses the trade-offs tied to design choices.
The report presents an in-depth analysis of various policies that aim to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of urban transport. Decarbonising transport lies at the core of efforts to mitigate climate change and has close links to urban sustainability and housing affordability. The report identifies the drivers of rising emissions in the urban transport sector and offers pathways to reduce them through a combination of transport and land use policies. The analysis yields a holistic welfare evaluation of these policies, assessing them according to their environmental effectiveness, their economic efficiency and their impact on fiscal balance and housing affordability. The report concludes that significant reductions in emissions from urban transport can be achieved through a careful alignment of transport policies designed to promote the use of public transit and electric vehicles, and land use policies, which foster a more compact urban form. The study is based on the case of Auckland, New Zealand but the lessons drawn are relevant for institutions and governments working on issues relating to urban sustainability, transport, housing and climate change mitigation.
This report has been prepared by the OECD upon request by the Portuguese Independent Commission for Decentralisation. Decentralisation and regionalisation reforms have recently emerged on the Portugal’s policy agenda, with two main objectives: assigning more tasks to municipalities and strengthening regional level governance. The report presents a diagnosis of Portugal multi-level governance in international perspectives and highlights the strengths and challenges of the system. It then presents three potential policy paths of regional reform for Portugal. As the options are not mutually exclusive, they could work as complements to each other. The report analyses the conditions under which the reforms may deliver more economic efficiency and regional equity.
Functional areas such as integrated local labour markets exist across countries’ entire national territory. However, most OECD countries have focused their work on larger cities and their surrounding area of economic influence by establishing the concept of functional urban areas. Extending this concept to non-urban areas can help policy makers analyse subnational developments and design spatially better-targeted policies.
The report Delineating Functional Areas for all Territories provides a comprehensive review of existing approaches to delineating functional areas across countries’ entire national territory as a tool for territorial statistics and regional policy making. The report explains the rationale for functional territories as a complement to established administrative geographies. It discusses the most important challenges and the methodological aspects of delineating functional areas based on travel-to-work commuting flows or novel sources of data and develops a set of methodological guidelines that are applied in five OECD countries, demonstrating the feasibility of delineating functional areas across diverse types of country geographies in a consistent manner.
A number of countries have created official definitions of sustainable finance as well as more comprehensive classification systems, referred to as sustainable finance taxonomies. This report maps sustainable finance definitions and taxonomies in five jurisdictions: the European Union, People’s Republic of China, Japan, France and the Netherlands. Taxonomies answer a need for greater certainty on the environmental sustainability of different types of investments. When appropriately designed, they can improve market clarity, bring confidence and assurance to investors, and facilitate the measurement and tracking of sustainable finance flows. The report lays out preliminary considerations for good design of taxonomies, which can support policy makers to develop and grow sustainable finance markets to help achieve environmental and sustainable development goals. It also identifies differences among the taxonomies in scope as well as commonalities. These commonalities could provide a basis for creating comparable frameworks that facilitate international investment while also reflecting differing national circumstances.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is clear on the need to engage civil society organisations (CSOs) in implementing and monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals. With their capacity to bring the voices of those on the frontlines of poverty, inequality and vulnerability into development processes, CSOs can help to ensure no one is left behind. In order to work to their maximum potential, CSOs need members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) to provide and promote enabling environments.
This study provides a comprehensive review of the various ways in which DAC members support and engage with civil society. It argues that they can do more to make their civil society policies and practices effective. To that end, the study provides action points for further discussion with DAC members, CSOs, and others, to be developed into a guidance or a recommendation for how members can improve the effectiveness of their work with civil society, and, by extension, make environments for CSOs more enabling.
The devastating impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19) on developing countries have tested the limits, ingenuity and flexibility of development co-operation while also uncovering best practices. This 58th edition of the Development Co-operation Report draws out early insights from leaders, OECD members, experts and civil society on the implications of coronavirus (COVID-19) for global solidarity and international co-operation for development in 2021 and beyond. The report suggests ways forward for the international development community as a whole for bold action and systemic reform to build resilient national and international systems capable of coping with global shocks, and providing and protecting global public goods while reinforcing the fundamental building blocks for sustainable development. The annual “development co-operation at a glance” infographics showcase the latest trends in development finance for over 80 providers of development co-operation, including members of the OECD, the Development Assistance Committee, other countries and philanthropic foundations.
The e-government era saw efforts to move government services online, automate internal processes and reduce administrative overheads for the public. Often technology led, those efforts sometimes led to the exclusion of some users and created digital-by-default siloes rather than coherent, cross-government, omni-channel services. Now, with the move toward digital government, OECD countries are giving greater priority to how services are designed and delivered, to ensure that digital progress benefits everyone, including those who rely on face-to-face interactions.
This report presents a conceptual model for service design and delivery that challenges governments to develop a design-led culture and ensure access to the enabling tools and resources necessary to deliver services that improve outcomes, efficiency, satisfaction and well-being. This model is used to analyse the situation in Chile and provide recommendations about how the ChileAtiende service delivery network can bring the state closer to citizens through a simpler, more efficient and transparent approach. By considering the intersection of digital, telephone and physical service channels, it recommends digital government approaches that ensure consistently high-quality service experiences for all users, in all contexts, and through all channels.
This study explores how Lebanon can strengthen the governance of the digital transformation of its public sector to better serve the needs of its citizens and businesses. Three facets of Lebanon's governance are analysed: contextual factors, institutional models and policy levers. The study identifies challenges and opportunities in each area and provides policy recommendations to help Lebanon implement its digital government policy in a coherent and sustainable way.
Digital Government in Mexico discusses and assesses the efforts of the Mexican Government to build a stronger system of digital government under the Coordination of the National Digital Strategy of the Office of the President. It presents the key policy actions, achievements and co-ordination challenges, and looks at how policy objectives are implemented. The study examines the main initiatives for promoting digital inclusion, reinforcing public sector capacity, and achieving efficient public service design and delivery. This report also assesses the state of data governance, open government data and its strategic use, and the sharing of public sector data both within and beyond the public sector.