Browse by: "2013"

At this time, there is no overarching global framework to regulate the development of the nuclear power industry. Laws concerning the export of nuclear technology vary across jurisdictions, and politically-binding arrangements such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) help ensure that weapons-usable or dual-use technologies are not exported, but no single international regime or agreement manages the gamut of potential risks that may arise from the export of civilian nuclear power plants.

The paper was prepared on the basis of interviews conducted by the author with former and current staff members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) who were involved in the development of the Model Additional Protocol (INFCIRC/540) or who currently participate in activities related to the implementation of Additional Protocols. It is also based on publicly available information provided by representatives of member states at IAEA symposia or workshops in connection with the implementation of their Additional Protocols.

This article describes the status of multilateral agreements in the field of nuclear energy as of December 2012.

In spite of the active role Switzerland played during the negotiation process of the Paris Convention, it only recently ratified the Convention including all its amending Protocols. The whole Paris regime will become binding for Switzerland only upon entry into force of the Protocols of 2004. Concurrently, the Federal Council will put into force a revised Swiss Nuclear Liability Act and ratify the Joint Protocol. Being a party to the Paris regime and the Joint Protocol, Switzerland will be in treaty relationships with Paris states and with Vienna states which are party to the Joint Protocol.

Canada
Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012
Japan
Act for Establishment of a Nuclear Regulation Authority (Act No. 47 of 2012)
Nuclear Power Plant Exporters’ Principles of Conduct
International Expert Group on Nuclear Liability (INLEX)

On 23 December 2010, a cargo ship carrying 350 000 kilograms (kg) of uranium ore concentrates (U3O8) belonging to the Canadian resource corporation Cameco left Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and encountered severe weather conditions between Hawaii and the Midway Islands in international waters en route to Zhanjiang, People’s Republic of China (PRC). The ship, the MCP Altona, suffered some damage to its hull but was able to continue to operate through the storm. Once the sea had calmed, the crew noticed that some of the containers on the ship had shifted and had been damaged. The captain, however, was unable to secure the necessary authorizations to obtain safe harbour in the area as there were no signs of immediate risk to the health and safety of the ship’s crew. On Cameco's recommendation, the ship returned to British Columbia.

This article summarises the conclusions of Gerhard Steger, chair of the OECD Working Party of Senior Budget Officials, which he presented at the 2nd International Policy Forum on Budgeting in Seoul in November 2011.

The history of the Netherlands reveals major shifts from centralisation of government tasks towards decentralisation and vice versa. In the 17th century, the Republic of United Provinces was the first federal state in modern history. Many transformations later, the Kingdom of the Netherlands became a big centralised welfare state. Since the 1980s, a reverse development has started: the welfare state is being downsized and decentralised. This article describes and discusses this evolution in view of a broad spectrum of economic theories. Four conclusions are drawn. First, the major changes in Dutch fiscal decentralisation arrangements were introduced as policies to overcome a severe economic and political crisis. Second, many other factors – like the increase in communication, mobility, population density, urbanisation and the role of government – also necessitated changes. Third, in order to ensure efficient and financially solid government, the accountability and transparency of central and local government and their interrelationships have been improved substantially. Fourth, current arrangements are not optimal and should be changed. For example, Dutch municipalities should increase further in scale, and the role of Dutch provinces should be reconsidered.

The aim of this study is to examine the validity of the day-of-the-week effect on both mean and volatility for changes in Consumer Confidence Index in Turkey. To the best of our knowledge, there is no previous study on this topic for an emerging market. Employing the E-GARCH method, we are able to validate day-of-the-week effect both in mean and volatility of the daily changes in the Consumer Confidence Index. In our findings, the mean equation exhibits only a Friday effect and the lowest volatility is also observed for Friday. Additionally, we use nonparametric stochastic dominance (SD) approach by employing several SD tests and verify the existence of Friday effects.

This study investigates the usefulness of business tendency surveys collected at the KOF Swiss Economic Institute and aggregated in the form of the KOF Employment Indicator for short-term forecasting of employment in Switzerland. We use a real-time dataset in order to simulate the actual predictive process using only information that was available at the time when predictions were made. We evaluate the predictive content of the KOF Employment Indicator both for nowcasts that are published two months before the first official release, and for one-quarter ahead forecasts published five months before the first official release. We find that inclusion of the KOF Employment Indicator leads to a substantial improvement in prediction accuracy of both point and density forecasts compared to the performance of a benchmark autoregressive model.

From its beginning, Asia has been an important region for the OECD in terms of its members and partners. While the region’s economic performance is still strong, structural reforms, underpinned by coherent macroeconomic polices, need to be put in place to maintain this positive momentum. This note focuses on three specific medium- to long-term issues that are important in shaping the future of the Asian economic and financial community: First, in the area of trade, the importance of measuring trade in value added terms; second, funding long-term investment, especially in infrastructure, and making these investments “greener”; third, regional financial cooperation in Asia that should become more solid and robust. Some further policy challenges are shortly addressed at the end where several areas of co-operation between the OECD and the Asian region are highlighted and further possibilities for joint work are briefly explored.