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The 2001 edition of Transfer Pricing Guidelines was substantially revised in July 2010. See the current edition .
This compact version of Transfer Pricing Guidelines provides the complete and current text of the OECD pricing guidelines accepted by member countries and to be used by multinational enterprises when transferring goods and services across boundaries and within the same group of companies. They maintain the arm's length principle of treating related entreprises within a multinational group and affirm traditional transaction methods as the prefered way of implementing the principle. These controversial issues are not just of interest to tax experts. National tax administrations, taxpayers, and businessmen alike all have a share in avoiding conflicting tax rules which might seriously hamper the development of world trade.
These guidelines have also been published in a loose leaf version.
The trade analysis and firm surveys conducted in several African countries in this study highlight an apparent mismatch between government policies and exporters’ needs in the provision and use of trade support services. While acknowledging the weaknesses of firms in these countries, the study does present evidence confirming the existence of a wide array of policy options for increasing business competitiveness and reducing dependence on primary commodities. Successful upgrading and diversification, however, require not only a right set of macroeconomic and structural policies, but also a substantial change in the policy-making process. A major governance problem undermines the implementation of a successful "business plan" for export diversification in these countries: the lack of involvement of private sector and civil society in policy formulation.
Developing and transition economies are seeking to accelerate their development by liberalising trade and investment, and taking advantage of the opportunities of the global market place. However, in the wake of recent financial crises, concerns have been expressed that some countries might turn away from open trade and investment. In fact, most crisis-affected countries are continuing to liberalise trade and investment, which they see as part of the solution to the crisis, not the cause.
This report reviews evidence of the benefits and challenges of trade and investment for development, drawing on experiences from economies in various parts of the world. Experience shows that open trade and investment have been beneficial for development, when accompanied by a coherent set of growth-oriented macroeconomic and structural policies, capacity-building, social policy and good governance. Further, countries like Korea and Mexico that have responded to economic crisis with liberalisation and structural reform have experienced positive results. All countries -- developed, developing and transition -- have a vital stake in a new Round of multilateral trade negotiations to prepare for the global economy of 21st century.
The development process can advance more rapidly than ever before in the new global economy. While opening their economies to trade and investment is a necessary condition for developing countries to achieve sustained high growth and reduce poverty, it is by no means a sufficient condition. Initiating a sustainable dynamic growth requires sound, market-oriented economic policies; appropriate social policy frameworks, including strong investment in human capital and adequate social safety-nets; and good governance. But, as shown by the Asian financial crisis, weaknesses in any of these basic foundations make even successful developing economies vulnerable to crisis.
OECD countries have a pivotal role to play in facilitating developing countries' efforts to fully exploit the benefits of open trade and investment. The key objective of this report is to identify how OECD countries can promote policy coherence by improving the framework for international investment and capital flows; addressing environmental concerns; facilitating participation of developing countries in the global information society; and enhancing the coherence of development co-operation policies. To be successful, policy coherence implies the broader agenda of consciously taking account of the needs and interests of developing countries in order for them to be effective rather than vulnerable and marginal players in the global economy.
Recent years have witnessed growing concern over the controversial issue of trade and labour standards. In a context of intensified international competition, alleged cases of child labour exploitation or of denial of rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining in some developing countries have been perceived by some in developed countries not only as a violation of human rights but also as unfair trade practices. On the other hand, developing countries generally respond that these concerns are unfounded and reflect disguised protectionist preoccupations. What are the relevant core labour standards in this discussion? Do countries with low levels of core labour standards gain an unfair trade advantage over countries with high standards? What are the advantages and disadvantages of possible mechanisms to promote core labour standards? This study provides the first comprehensive analysis of these questions and reviews evidence for a large number of countries throughout the world.
This collection of studies is intended as a practical tool to help negotiators navigate the numerous, complex issues that have arisen in international discussions over liberalising trade in environmental goods and services. In addition to explaining the background to the two earlier lists of environmental goods (stemming from separate efforts by the OECD and by the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum), the different chapters:
- Explore various practical issues related to the classification of environmental goods, including "dual use" goods.
- Provide concrete examples of synergies between trade in environmental services and environmental goods.
- Synthesise the findings of various country studies on environmental goods and services undertaken by the OECD and other inter-governmental organisations.
The services sector plays a vital infrastructure role in national economies, employs more people than other sectors, and is the most dynamic sector of world trade. New negotiations under the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services, which began in January 2000, offer an important opportunity to reap the benefits of greater openness in services markets worldwide. The papers in this volume, produced as part of the OECD Trade Directorate's services project, explore fundamental issues for the services negotiations: what are the barriers to trade in services? How can those barriers be addressed in negotiations to ensure meaningful results? How can services liberalisation be bolstered and underpinned by improved regulatory transparency? Ranging from the incidence and impact of economic needs tests, through quantitative and qualitative formulas for reducing the barriers to trade in services, to possible disciplines affording interested parties the opportunity to comment before regulations are enacted, this volume identifies and analyses innovative solutions to the challenges facing services negotiators.
Trade and Structural Adjustment: Embracing Globalisation identifies the requirements for successful reallocation of labour and capital to more efficient uses in response to the emergence of new sources of competition, technological change and shifting consumer preferences. At the same time, it focuses on limiting adjustment costs for individuals, communities and society as a whole. Based on specific sectoral case studies, this volume includes analysis of the adjustment challenge and policy framework in both developed and developing countries, together with practical recommendations for good practice.
International competition, accelerating technological change and shifting societal concerns are important drivers of structural change, both within and across firms, industries and regions. As well as bringing undoubted opportunities, structural adjustment raises acute challenges. This must be acknowledged in making the case for open markets. This brochure aims to identify, for both developed and developing countries, the requirements for successful trade-related structural adjustment via the reallocation of labour and capital to more efficient uses, while limiting adjustment costs for individuals, communities and society as a whole. It draws on a longer study incorporating detailed sectoral case studies...
As trade barriers at the border have fallen through successive trade negotiations, domestic regulation has emerged as a source of residual but potentially significant trade barriers. Recognising the importance of participating in intensified global competition, countries increasingly see regulatory reform as an inescapable policy to ensure that the expected benefits of globalisation are realised and that differences in national regulatory systems do not become barriers to international trade and investment. In this light, OECD has undertaken a broad-ranging project on regulatory reform, for which market openness is seen as a key objective.
The papers collected in this volume were presented at a workshop at OECD that aimed to share national experiences of regulatory reform and trade and to foster consensus-building on best practices. Such practices include enhanced transparency, non-discriminatory due process, independence of regulators and active implementation of competition policy. Other issues raised at the workshop included the challenges for developing countries in pursuing regulatory reform and enhancing market openness, and insights for multilateral trading rule-making emerging from country experiences.
The discussions reveal the pervasiveness of the issues raised at the workshop. In examining the recent development of regulatory issues in trade policy making, this volume brings new light to experiences in some parts of Asia and the Western hemisphere as well as to the growing links among trade, regulation and governance.
This book focuses on the role of exchange rate regimes, market imperfections and trade policy to support the strengthening and diversification of the tradable sector in Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Moreover, it analyses the agro-food sector, one of the pillars of the tradable sector in the region, and the role of foreign direct investment and competition policy. Overall it provides an integrated and original policy perspective on the factors underlying international competitiveness.
The links between trade policy and competition policy have become more important in recent years. With tariff reductions, trade negotiators are looking increasingly at non-border policies that distort trade and at non-governmental barriers to trade. And, as official barriers to trade and investment fall, firms may have a greater incentive to engage in anti-competitive conduct to protect markets. Hence the need for coherent trade and competition policies. Trade and competition policies each seek to improve the allocation of resources; they complement and reinforce each other. These papers from the OECD Joint Group on Trade and competition examine aspects of those complementarities and relationships and in so doing draw on the OECD’s capacity to analyse questions in a multidisciplinary way. This book -- which includes a whole chapter on the telecommunications sector -- throws new light on all these issues in the lead up to the WTO's new round of negotiations. But whatever the outcome of Seattle, the questions raised in this volume will remain relevant.
The OECD Joint Group on Trade and Competition was established in 1996 to help deepen understanding of the complex issues arising at the interface of these two policy domains against a globalising backdrop and explore how best to ensure that both sets of policies are mutually supportive in promoting greater economic efficiency. This publication, the third to arise from Joint Group activities, brings together a series of working papers that Member countries’ trade and competition authorities have considered during the past two years. The objective of the publication is to share with a broader audience the tangible progress made recently by the two communities in the analysis of important issues at the interface between trade and competition policies.
This publication presents a synthesis of recent work of the OECD Joint Group on Trade and Competition focussing on the interface between these two policy domains against the backdrop of an increasingly globalised economy. A Global Forum hold on May 2003 presented an occasion to explore some of the complex issues arising at the trade and competition interface.
It also contains a report of those discussions prepared by Dr. Simon Evenett of the World Trade Institute. This book is structured around a number of key themes, including capacity building, combatting hard core cartels, co-operation between competition authorities and core principles for a multilateral framework.
This book analyses the role of regional governments in the trade policy of the Russian Federation. It examines regional trade-related policies, such as subsidies, taxes and licensing, and their implications for Russia's international trade commitments, and in particular its negotiations for accession to the World Trade Organisation. In effect, when the Russian Federation accedes to the WTO, it will be required to ensure that the laws and administrative practices of its sub-national governments are in conformity with its WTO commitments.
International conventions designed to combat global environmental problems -- known as Multilateral Environmental Agreements or MEAs -- often use trade measures, among other instruments. But in fact the term trade measures covers a variety of provisions, ranging from simple reporting requirements of transboundary movements to the use of trade sanctions imposed to change a country’s environmental behaviour. MEA use of trade measures has not been without controversy in both trade policy and environment policy circles. In order to try and disentangle the various strands of this important set of trade and environment issues, the OECD Joint Session of Trade and Environment Experts focused on the actual experience with the use of trade measures in three universally subscribed MEAs -- CITES (on endangered species), the Montreal Protocol (on ozone layer depleting substances) and the Basel Convention (on hazardous wastes). Whilst the case studies unsurprisingly reveal varying experiences, common issues and main themes, as well as a series of lessons learned, could nonetheless be drawn together from the case study analyses and have been assembled in the concluding chapter of this volume.
This study provides a number of case studies that illustrate how the international trade system has been exploited by criminal organisations. It also presents the results of a survey gathering information on the current practices of more than thirty countries in fighting money laundering. This information focuses on the ability of various government agencies to identify suspicious activities related to trade transactions, to share this information with domestic and foreign partner agencies, and to act on this information.
The path towards Arab and Euro-Mediterranean integration is challenging for all countries involved but the potential long term benefits are substantial. Multilateral trade initiatives which run parallel to "open" regional integration with the European Union and among Arab states can generate higher economic growth by promoting free trade in goods, services and assets between developed and developing countries. However these agreements have profound implications for Arab states in the region raising old and new issues in the political economy of regional co-operation and development. The body of evidence presented suggests that if these regional trade arrangements combined, allow for "deeper" forms of integration, competitiveness and cohesion can improve well beyond the Eastern and Southern borders of the EU.
Poverty reduction through economic growth is becoming a more urgent shared objective at this time of crisis and represents another potential long term benefit from deeper Euro-Med and Arab integration. In negotiating free trade agreements the EU must therefore strive to make such agreements as equitable as possible; in implementing them, partner countries must focus reform efforts to ensure their efficacy. Arab and Euro-Mediterranean integration can ideally maximise benefits for all countries involved, in spite of signficant legal, institutional and administrative hurdles that will have to be overcome to make such relationships workable.
The new issues examined in this book (the dynamics of open regionalism, the expansion of domestic markets from increased FDI and monetary stability, and the optimal mix of regional trade agreements) build on conclusions from previous studies regarding modest gains from shallow integration. Deeper regional agreements can be good for growth and stability in a region which has experienced very little of both in recent years.