Browse by: "2008"

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the legal and institutional framework for extradition and mutual legal assistance in corruption cases in 27 of the 28 jurisdictions which have endorsed the Anti-Corruption Action Plan for Asia-Pacific of the ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia-Pacific: Australia; Bangladesh; Cambodia; P.R. China; the Cook Islands; the Fiji Islands; Hong Kong, China; India; Indonesia; Japan; Kazakhstan; Korea; the Kyrgyz Republic; Macao, China; Malaysia; Mongolia; Nepal; Pakistan; Palau; Papua New Guinea; Philippines; Samoa; Singapore; Sri Lanka; Thailand; Vanuatu; and Vietnam. This report does not cover Bhutan which became the 28th member of the Initiative in September 2007 after the thematic review began.

Over the past 20 years, the management of the public service has changed tremendously in most OECD countries. First, governments have tried to reduce the size of their public employment to decrease the costs of producing government services, either directly or indirectly by contracting out the production of services to the private sector under the assumption that it would be more efficient. Second, in many cases, governments have tried to apply general good management principles to the management of public employees. As a consequence, many areas of public employment have lost their uniqueness and have become quite similar to the general employment system in the different countries. This book takes stock of the main changes in the management of public services across OECD countries. It also examines how countries manage to find a balance between, on the one hand, attention to fundamental values such as fairness, equity, justice and social cohesion to maintain political confidence in the government system as a whole and, on the other hand, a focus on efficiency, productivity and effectiveness.

Although Poland has managed to maintain high growth levels since the mid-1990s, with the second-best performance in the OECD in 2006-07, territorial disparities are persistent and rising, especially between large urban areas and rural ones. Like many OECD countries, Poland must seek to achieve an appropriate balance between support for poles of growth and the development of lagging regions, particularly its eastern peripheral regions, which are among the poorest in the European Union. This report explores the various challenges and opportunities for Polish regional development policy, and provides recommendations to best design and implement the policy mix, looking in particular at governance challenges.

The OECD has collectively underlined the importance of a high quality regulatory environment since the mid 1990s when the Council adopted the 1995 Recommendation on Improving the Quality of Government Regulation and its checklist as the first international standard on regulatory quality, and the 1997 Report on Regulatory Reform and its Principles of good regulation.
Since 1997, the OECD has carried out a series of country reviews based on the Principles, which have documented progress in the reviewed countries. Twenty OECD countries have been reviewed. The reviews have been multidisciplinary, covering the broader economic context, competition policy, market openness, sectoral reforms and not least, the development of regulatory policies, institutions and tools to build up capacities for a high quality rule-making environment supportive of economic growth and specific policy goals. This work has been complemented by the specific research of the OECD secretariat and others on issues such as the link between product market reforms and economic performance. Ample material is now available to take stock of the progress made in OECD countries and to reflect on the continued relevance of the 1997 Principles.
This report integrates more detailed papers prepared for the committees and working parties responsible for regulatory management, competition policy and trade, as well as relevant papers prepared for the Economic Policy Committee.

Belgian citizens want the look and feel of a single public sector entity and the provision of integrated e-government services customised to their needs rather than to have to understand the complex division of governmental responsibilities. Belgium already has internationally recognised examples to show: most importantly the transformation of the social sector administration through e-governance tools, and more recently the link of e-government services to administrative-burden reduction. Future transformation will be enabled by the common electronic identity card (eID) that has been adopted by all governments. This report shows that the development and provision of the next generation of user-focused services will require the maximisation of synergies between the federal, regional and community governments and local authorities in Belgium.

El estado mexicano de Yucatán, con su ubicación de importancia estratégica cerca de Estados Unidos de América, América Central y el Caribe, es una de las regiones más dinámicas de la OCDE. Yucatán es también una tierra de contrastes. Es una región rezagada pero en crecimiento, que ofrece una alta calidad de vida y vastos recursos naturales, pero que a la vez padece problemas de sustentabilidad. Sus atracciones turísticas se localizan en zonas rurales que no se benefician de ellas. Cuenta con servicios médicos estatales y peninsulares, pero su cobertura de servicios de salud es desequilibrada. Yucatán es un centro de educación superior en la península y, sin embargo, sus graduados no consiguen empleo. Tienen varias comunidades marginadas en organismos administrativos fragmentados y, si bien los estados que pertenecen a la península comparten un legado y un atractivo culturales comunes, sus instituciones no cooperan entre sí.
Resulta claro que Yucatán no aprovecha por completo sus múltiples recursos y, de hecho, los desafíos que prevalecen en la región amenazan con debilitar los bienes locales. Entre estos desafíos se encuentra la necesidad de convertir determinadas actividades en procesos de innovación y diseño de un valor agregado más alto, así como fomentar el que las actividades primarias lleguen a los mercados internacionales. Pese a que el gobierno estatal ha propuesto programas para estimular la formalización de la economía informal, medidas como una mejor reglamentación, la reducción de la burocracia y la oferta de oportunidades de empleo y el acceso al crédito formal podrían causar un mayor impacto. La falta de una visión a largo plazo compartida y coherente es un reto fundamental para mejorar la competitividad regional y la cohesión social en Yucatán. Las recomendaciones de la OCDE sólo pueden ser parte de una estrategia de mayor envergadura para desarrollar una visión colectiva del futuro del estado.

The goal of regulatory reform is to improve national economies and enhance their ability to adapt to change. Better regulation and structural reforms are necessary complements to sound fiscal and macroeconomic policies. Continual and far-reaching social, economic and technological changes require governments to consider the cumulative and inter-related impacts of regulatory regimes, to ensure that their regulatory structures and processes are relevant and robust, transparent, accountable and forward-looking. Regulatory reform is not a one-off effort but a dynamic, long-term, multi-disciplinary process...

Corruption is a serious concern in many parts of the world. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, transition processes provided particularly rich ground for corruption. This volume analyses a broad range of anti-corruption measures recently implemented in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and identifies where interim progress has been achieved, and where further or reinforced action is needed. The book covers such areas as: anti-corruption strategies, and action plans and mechanisms to monitor their implementation; as well as anti-corruption criminal legislation and its application in practice, including the key role of specialised, independent and well-resourced anti-corruption law-enforcement bodies. The volume also examines a diverse range of measures to prevent corruption among public officials, in political parties, and in the private sector. It  is rich with country data and practical examples, and will provide a useful source of information for anti-corruption decision makers and practitioners in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and beyond. 

In order to curb rising unemployment and to upgrade low value-added activities, the competitive edge lost in low-cost labour must be earned back through education and innovation. Regional policy stands as a key tool to achieve this shift in a relatively small yet diverse country with moderate economic growth and limited public spending capacity. This report analyses how a paradigm shift in regional policy, building on the knowledge of both public and private stakeholders in specific regions (ranging from dynamic urban areas on the coast to lagging inland areas), could help Portugal fully exploit its potential for sustainable development.

This volume provides quantitative information on central government debt instruments for the 30 OECD member countries to meet the analytical requirements of users such as policy makers, debt management experts and market analysts. Statistics are presented according to a comprehensive standard framework to allow cross-country comparison.  Country notes provide information on debt issuance in each country as well as on the institutional and regulatory framework governing debt management policy and selling techniques.