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This publication provides a unique overview and analysis of the main measures and practices which affect international insurance operations in OECD countries. The survey focuses in particular on main insurance fields where obstacles to a full liberalisation may still exist, i.e. cross-border trade and establishment of foreign branches. This is the first time since 1983 that such a work is undertaken by the OECD. This study will certainly contribute to further liberalisation of insurance markets in OECD countries and will provide an indispensable reference tool for any person involved in issues related to trade in insurance.
– Faire Geschäfts-, Werbe- und Marketingpraktiken;
– klare Informationen über die Identität von Online-Unternehmen, die angebotenen Waren oder Dienstleistungen sowie die Modalitäten und Bedingungen einer jeden Transaktion;
– transparente Verfahren für die Bestätigung von Transaktionen;
– sichere Zahlungsmechanismen;
– faire, zügige und finanziell tragbare Streitbeilegungs- und Abhilfeverfahren;
– den Schutz der Privatsphäre sowie
– die Aufklärung von Verbrauchern und Unternehmen.
Proponents of an active labour market policy are now claiming part of the credit for large falls in structural unemployment rates that have occurred in some OECD countries. Advances in information technology which facilitate matching job-seekers to jobs, modern management methods, and a favourable economic climate in recent years have encouraged innovative approaches and created new opportunities for the Public Employment Service to help the unemployed return to work.
This book presents the proceedings of a conference on Labour Market Policies and the Public Employment Service organised jointly by the OECD and the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Among the themes addressed are: front-line employment service operations, one-stop offices and decentralised management; customer service and employer service; the advanced use of information technology; eligibility conditions for unemployment benefits; job guarantees for the long-term unemployed and other strategies of intervention in the unemployment spell; and improving the accountability of the Public Employment Service through external audits, the use of performance indicators, appropriate financing mechanisms, and contestability in the provision of services. The papers reflect the views of key actors -- politicians, senior officials from national labour ministries and employment services, front-line managers, and prominent academic experts -- on these important issues.
The Guidelines for Consumer Protection in the Context of Electronic Commerce are designed to help ensure that consumers are no less protected when shopping on line than they are when they buy from their local store or order from a catalogue. By setting out the core characteristics of effective consumer protection for online business-to-consumer transactions, the Guidelines are intended to help eliminate some of the uncertainties that both consumers and businesses encounter when buying and selling on line. The Guidelines reflect existing legal protections available to consumers in more traditional forms of commerce. Their aim is to encourage: - fair business, advertising and marketing practices; - clear information about an online business’s identity, the goods or services it offers and the terms and conditions of any transaction; - a transparent process for the confirmation of transactions; - secure payment mechanisms; - fair, timely and affordable dispute resolution and redress; - privacy protection; and - consumer and business education.
¿Porqué se ha movilizado la OCDE, al igual que otros miembros de la comunidad internacional, para luchar contra la corrupción? La respuesta es sencilla: la corrupción no respeta fronteras, no hace distinciones económicas e infecta todo tipo de gobierno. En el largo plazo, ningún país puede asumir los costos sociales, políticos o económicos que trae consigo este negativo fenómeno.
No hace mucho tiempo que el cohecho de servidores públicos extranjeros con el fin de obtener negocios era una práctica, si no aceptable, al menos tolerable en muchos países de la OCDE. Hoy, la corrupción ha pasado a ocupar el lugar principal de la agenda política global conforme su severo impacto en el desarrollo económico y su corrosivo efecto sobre la estabilidad política y las instituciones democráticas se hace cada vez más evidente.
En el nuevo milenio, la OCDE y los países asociados, que representan poco más del 75% del comercio y la inversión en el mundo, aplicarán reglas más estrictas. La Convención contra el cohecho de servidores públicos extranjeros en transacciones comerciales internacionales prohibirá la práctica de sobornar a dichos servidores públicos, haciendo que la competencia en los negocios internacionales sea mucho más justa y abierta.
El cohecho en las transacciones comerciales internacionales es sólo parte del problema. Actualmente, se ha desarrollado todo un arsenal de instrumentos legales para combatir la corrupción y mejorar las normas de ética en el sector público, al igual que para terminar con la posibilidad de deducir fiscalmente el cohecho; para contrarrestar el lavado de dinero y para sanear las prácticas en las compras gubernamentales. El sector privado y la sociedad civil continuarán desempeñando un papel crucial para lograr que estas nuevas reglas se conviertan en una realidad.
Este libro presenta los elementos clave que se requieren para establecer y mantener libres de corrupción a instituciones, sistemas y empresas privadas.
To better respond to a new set of concerns of the population and promote sustainable development, governments today actively seek a broad partnership with civil society and the private sector. Yet, it is at local and regional levels, closer to the problems and the individuals, that partnerships are most often formed. Partnerships are being established throughout OECD countries to tackle issues of economic development, employment, social cohesion and the quality of life. What all partnerships share is a common desire to improve governance -- how society collectively solves its problems and meets its needs. Through partnerships, civil society and its NGOs, enterprises and government at different levels work together to design area-based strategies, adapt policies to local conditions and take initiatives consistent with shared priorities. An ambitious mission, which raises the challenge of harmonising public accountability and participatory democracy.
Local Partnerships for Better Governance presents the lessons learnt from the most recent experiences in seven countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy and the United States. This book proposes a strategy that governments can implement to improve governance through partnerships. Applying this strategy will enforce local capacities in a globalising economy, and contribute to reconcile economic competitiveness, social cohesion and environmental progress.
The September 11th terrorist attacks, the Chernobyl nuclear accident, Hurricane Andrew and the Kobe earthquake are all recent examples of large-scale disasters that have taken a massive toll in human lives, wealth and property. They have disrupted vital systems such as transport and energy supplies and spilled over into neighbouring as well as distant regions. They have also generated widespread anxiety, and in some cases created deep-seated public mistrust of governments' ability to protect their citizens.
This book is based on a report prepared between May and July 2003 by a multi-disciplinary team of experts from inside and outside of the OECD. It examines the economic and social impacts of past large-scale disasters, and draws a number of key lessons for the future. Its focus is on better prevention of disasters, and on restoring trust and securing recovery in their aftermath.
Governments need to ensure that public officials perform their duties in a fair and unbiased way. The pressure comes from a society and a business community that are increasingly well-informed, and specifically from a general demand for unbiased and transparent public decision-making. The OECD Guidelines for Managing Conflict of Interest in the Public Service provide the first international benchmark in this field. They help governments review and modernise their conflict-of-interest policies in the public sector. The report highlights trends, approaches and models across OECD countries in a comparative overview that also presents examples of innovative and recent solutions. Selected country case studies give more details on the implementation of policies in national contexts and on key elements of legal and institutional frameworks
Innovation, skills, entrepreneurship and social cohesion are key drivers of growth, and essential goals of effective economic development strategies. Each has a strong governance component, which requires real partnership between government, business and civil society. In this book, the OECD has brought together top world experts to translate policy lessons into concrete recommendations that will help policy makers and practitioners make the best governance decisions to stimulate growth.
A trend toward decentralisation has meant that sub-national governments increasingly find themselves responsible for providing a host of public goods and services. Rarely, however, can they "go it alone". Co-ordination among levels of government is imperative. This book offers a unique analytic framework for assessing multi-level governance arrangements, which is subsequently applied to five case studies of regional development policy: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The book reveals the importance of contractual arrangements for customised management of interdependencies, for clarifying responsibilities among actors, for dialogue, and for learning.
Local development strategies represent an important response to the challenges of globalisation, while providing a mechanism for seizing the new opportunities that globalisation offers. Nearly two decades after the fall of the Berlin wall, this book evaluates progress made and identifies what needs to be done to speed up the drive towards prosperity in Central and Eastern Europe. It demonstrates that the success of local development strategies depends on the capacity of the government and its partners to accelerate change within the policy and governance aspects of economic and social development.
Lobbying can improve policy making by providing valuable insights and data, but it can also result in unfair advantages for vested interests if the process is opaque and standards are lax. Lobbying is resource intensive. The financial services sector in the United States spent USD 3.4 billion lobbying the federal government between 1998 and 2008, principally promoting the deregulation of the financial sector. Legions of lobbyists provide “guns for hire” worldwide. In 2008, there were over 5 000 registered lobbyists in Canada at the national level, while the European Commission in Brussels had over 2 000 registered as of August 2009.
This report reviews the experiences of Australia, Canada, Hungary, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States with government regulations designed to increase scrutiny for lobbying and lobbyists. Current approaches, models, trends and state-of-the-art solutions are examined to support a deeper understanding of the potential and limitations of existing norms. The report also presents building blocks for developing a framework for lobbying that meets public expectations for transparency, accountability and integrity
De todas las actividades gubernamentales, la contratación pública es la más vulnerable a la corrupción. Basta un ejemplo: el soborno realizado por empresas internacionales en los países de la OCDE tiene mucha mayor penetración en las compras públicas que en los de suminis¬tros, impuestos o en los tribunales. Dado que la contratación pública es una actividad económica de gran im¬portancia de los gobiernos, calculada en el 15% del PIB, tiene un considerable impacto en cómo se gasta el dinero de los contribuyentes.
A pesar que existe un amplio acuerdo en que todas las reformas a las compras públicas deben apegarse a los principios de buen gobierno, los esfuerzos internacionales se han centrado tradicionalmente en el proceso de la licitación. Sin embargo, éste es solamente la “punta del iceberg”. Escándalos recientes de corrupción han atraído la atención a zonas oscuras del ciclo completo de las compras públicas, incluyendo la evaluación de necesidades y la gestión de contratos. Los esfuerzos de reforma frecuentemente han descuidado las excepciones a los procedimientos competitivos tales como la contratación de emergencia y adquisiciones para la defensa.
Esta obra va más allá de una declaración general de la importancia del buen gobierno y la prevención en las compras públicas. Ofrece una perspectiva práctica sobre cómo la profesión de la contratación pública está evolucionando para hacer frente a la creciente demanda de integridad, recurriendo a la experiencia de los profesionales en adquisiciones, y así también en especialistas en auditoría, competencia y anticorrupción.
El estudio provee, por primera vez, una visión comparativa de prácticas dirigidas a impulsar la integridad a lo largo del ciclo completo de contratación. Asimismo incluye numerosos “elementos de buenas prácticas” identificados no solamente en los países de la OCDE sino también en Brasil, Chile, Dubai, Eslovenia, India, Pakistán, Rumania, y Sudáfrica.
This second volume of OECD's study on lobbying examines regulation and self-regulation of lobbying. It includes chapters defining and examining lobbying, describing the role of professional lobbying associations, exploring various codes of conduct and examining specific codes in various countries, examining lobbyists' attitudes toward regulation and self-regulation, and exploring various options for enhancing transparency and accountability.
La presente edición 2011 de las Líneas Directrices de la OCDE para Empresas Multinacionales compromete 42 países a nuevas y más estrictas normas de conducta empresarial. Las Directrices actualizadas incluyen nuevas recomendaciones sobre el abuso de los derechos humanos y responsabilidad empresarial de su cadena de suministro, siendo estas el primer acuerdo intergubernamental en este rubro.
Las Directrices establecen, por ejemplo, que las empresas deben respetar los derechos humanos en cada uno de los países en los que tienen operaciones. Las empresas deben también respetar las normas ambientales y laborales, y contar con la debida diligencia de procesos que aseguren que se cumplan. Estas incluyen cuestiones como el pago de salarios decentes, lucha contra la corrupción, las peticiones de soborno y la extorsión, y la promoción del consumo sustentable.
Las Directrices son un código de conducta amplio, no vinculatorio que los países miembros de la OCDE y otros adherentes han acordado para promover el sector empresarial. Se ha establecido también un nuevo proceso de mediación más estricto para atender quejas.
La innovación bien planeada y orientada impulsa la productividad, aumenta el crecimiento económico y ayuda a solucionar los problemas sociales. Pero, ¿de qué manera los gobiernos motivan a las personas a innovar más? Y, ¿cómo los gobiernos mismos pueden ser más innovadores?
La Estrategia de Innovación de la OCDE brinda una serie de principios para fomentar la innovación en las personas (tanto trabajadores como consumidores), las empresas y los gobiernos. Analiza detenidamente el ámbito de la innovación, de qué forma está cambiando y dónde y cómo se lleva a cabo. Como resultado, la Estrategia plantea políticas de largo alcance que favorecen la innovación, las cuales aprovechan las investigaciones y los datos más recientes.
This report takes stock of progress made in implementing the 2010 Recommendation on Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying – the only international instrument addressing major risks in the public decision-making process related to lobbying. The review process found that although there is an emerging consensus on the need for transparency to shed light on lobbying, new regulations are often scandal-driven instead of forward looking.
In countries that have regulations in place, the degree of transparency in lobbying varies considerably across OECD members. Moving forward, it will be essential for countries to focus efforts on the implementation of the Recommendation, in order to strengthen confidence in the public decision-making process and restore trust in government. It will also be crucial to strengthen the implementation of the wider integrity framework, as it is the prime tool for safeguarding transparency and integrity in the decision-making process in general and lobbying practices in particular.