Browse by: "2013"

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes is the multilateral framework within which work in the area of tax transparency and exchange of information is carried out by over 100 jurisdictions which participate in the work of the Global Forum on an equal footing.

The Global Forum is charged with in-depth monitoring and peer review of the implementation of the standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.  These standards are primarily reflected in the 2002 OECD Model Agreement on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters and its commentary, and in Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital and its commentary as updated in 2004, which has been incorporated in the UN Model Tax Convention.

The standards provide for international exchange on request of foreseeably relevant information for the administration or enforcement of the domestic tax laws of a requesting party. “Fishing expeditions” are not authorised, but all foreseeably relevant information must be provided, including bank information and information held by fiduciaries, regardless of the existence of a domestic tax interest or the application of a dual criminality standard.

All members of the Global Forum, as well as jurisdictions identified by the Global Forum as relevant to its work, are being reviewed. This process is undertaken in two phases. Phase 1 reviews assess the quality of a jurisdiction’s legal and regulatory framework for the exchange of information, while Phase 2 reviews look at the practical implementation of that framework.  Some Global Forum members are undergoing combined – Phase 1 plus Phase 2 – reviews. The ultimate goal is to help jurisdictions to effectively implement the international standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.

All review reports are published once approved by the Global Forum and they thus represent agreed Global Forum reports.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes is the multilateral framework within which work in the area of tax transparency and exchange of information is carried out by over 100 jurisdictions which participate in the work of the Global Forum on an equal footing.

The Global Forum is charged with in-depth monitoring and peer review of the implementation of the standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.  These standards are primarily reflected in the 2002 OECD Model Agreement on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters and its commentary, and in Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital and its commentary as updated in 2004, which has been incorporated in the UN Model Tax Convention.

The standards provide for international exchange on request of foreseeably relevant information for the administration or enforcement of the domestic tax laws of a requesting party. “Fishing expeditions” are not authorised, but all foreseeably relevant information must be provided, including bank information and information held by fiduciaries, regardless of the existence of a domestic tax interest or the application of a dual criminality standard.

All members of the Global Forum, as well as jurisdictions identified by the Global Forum as relevant to its work, are being reviewed. This process is undertaken in two phases. Phase 1 reviews assess the quality of a jurisdiction’s legal and regulatory framework for the exchange of information, while Phase 2 reviews look at the practical implementation of that framework.  Some Global Forum members are undergoing combined – Phase 1 plus Phase 2 – reviews. The ultimate goal is to help jurisdictions to effectively implement the international standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.

All review reports are published once approved by the Global Forum and they thus represent agreed Global Forum reports.

How can assessment and evaluation policies work together more effectively to improve student outcomes in primary and secondary schools? Countries increasingly use a range of techniques for student assessment, teacher appraisal, school evaluation, school leader appraisal and education system evaluation. However, they often face difficulties in implementing evaluation and assessment policies. This may arise as a result of poor policy design, lack of analysis of unintended consequences, little capacity for school agents to put evaluation procedures into practice, lack of an evaluation culture, or deficient use of evaluation results.

This report provides an international comparative analysis and policy advice to countries on how evaluation and assessment arrangements can be embedded within a consistent framework to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of school education. It builds upon a major 3-year review of evaluation and assessment policies in 28 countries, the OECD Review on Evaluation and Assessment Frameworks for Improving School Outcomes. As well as analysing strengths and weaknesses of different approaches, the report provides recommendations for improvement including how results should be incorporated into policy and practice.

Few subjects are as controversial – and poorly understood – as globalisation. While in its broadest sense, economic globalisation is as old as trade itself, the recent financial crisis has amplified the complexity associated with the global interconnectedness of the world’s economies and its ramifications on our livelihoods.

This publication reviews the major turning points in the history of economic integration, and in particular the pace at which it has accelerated since the 1990s. It also considers its impact in four crucial areas, namely employment, development, the environment and financial stability: does globalisation foster development or create inequality? Does it promote or destroy jobs? Is it damaging to the environment or compatible with its preservation? Are we heading towards de-globalisation or can globalisation in fact enable recovery?

Over the last decade Mexico has implemented a variety of policies to support business innovation. Support instruments have included direct subsidies to firms in the framework of competitive calls and R&D tax credit schemes. Specific policies have aimed at supporting public-private partnerships and technological collaboration between public research institutes and higher education institutions and enterprises. In many instances support focused on  priority sectors or technology areas, but in recent years more emphasis has been placed on support to small and medium-sized enterprises and the build-up of technology transfer capacities. This report evaluates the performance of the knowledge-based sector in Mexico and provides policy recommendations for improving the financing, creation and expansion of innovative knowledge-based start-ups.

In some countries the concept – not to mention the use – of teacher appraisal sparks discussion whenever it is mentioned. According to what criteria? Who decides? And what should the results of teacher appraisals be used for? But education stakeholders are beginning to find some agreement in the idea that teacher appraisal can be a key lever for focusing more on teaching quality and continuous professional development for teachers, in keeping with the growing recognition that the quality of teaching affects student learning outcomes. Teacher appraisal also provides opportunities to incentivise, recognise and reward teaching competence and high performance, which, in turn, may help to address concerns about the attractiveness of teaching as a career choice and about the image and status of teachers, including teachers’ feelings that their work is not sufficiently valued.

The third International Summit on the Teaching Profession, hosted by the Netherlands, the OECD and Education International, brings together education ministers, union leaders and other teacher leaders from high-performing and rapidly improving education systems, as measured by the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), to discuss how teacher quality is defined and what standards are set and by whom; what systems are in place for teacher evaluation and how evaluations are conducted; and how teacher evaluation contributes to school improvement and teacher self-efficacy.

Proces uczenia się od dawna stanowi przedmiot zainteresowania pedagogów oraz jest obiektem badań naukowców. Zarówno nauczycieli, jak i polityków oświaty nurtują m.in. następujące pytania:

• Co wiemy o sposobie, w jaki zdobywamy wiedzę i nabywamy nowe umiejętności?
• Jakie są biologiczne podstawy tego procesu?
• W jaki sposób motywacja, emocje oraz sposób oceniania wpływają na efektywność uczenia się?
• Jakie korzyści może przynieść praca w grupach, realizacja projektów przez uczniów, ewaluacja formatywna oraz zastosowanie nowoczesnych technologii?
• Jaki wpływ na skuteczność uczenia się ma środowisko rodzinne?

Jest to lektura dla wszystkich, którzy chcą się dowiedzieć, w jaki sposób zoptymalizować proces pracy z uczniami w klasie oraz poza nią. Jej głównym celem jest dostarczenie niezbędnych informacji do zastosowania nie tylko w praktyce nauczania, ale także przy kształtowaniu polityki edukacyjnej. Czołowi badacze z całego świata przedstawiają w książce wyniki badań dotyczących zarówno procesu uczenia się, jak również metod i technik stosowanych w szkołach i innych ośrodkach edukacyjnych.

Publikacja jest skierowana przede wszystkim do nauczycieli, metodyków, szkoleniowców, pracowników administracji oświaty oraz polityków kształtujących system szkolnictwa.

Dzięki patronatowi OECD przedstawione w książce analizy mają zakres międzynarodowy oraz są źródłem cennych informacji dla działań mających na celu wprowadzenie innowacji w systemach edukacyjnych krajów całego świata.

„Istota uczenia się. Wykorzystanie wyników badań w praktyce to ważna publikacja, której istnienie w naszym kraju może mieć znaczący wpływ na sposób myślenia o edukacji i stan badań pedagogicznych”.

Prof. Andrzej Janowski

For most citizens, buying a residential property (dwelling) is the most important transaction during their lifetime. Residential properties represent the most significant component of households’ expenses and, at the same time, their most valuable assets. The Residential Property Prices Indices (RPPIs) are index numbers measuring the rate at which the prices of residential properties are changing over time. RPPIs are key statistics not only for citizens and households across the world, but also for economic and monetary policy makers. Among their professional uses, they serve, for example, to monitor macroeconomic imbalances and risk exposure of the financial sector.

This Handbook provides, for the first time, comprehensive guidelines for the compilation of Residential Property Price Indexes and explains in depth the methods and best practices used to calculate an RPPI. It also examines the underlying economic and statistical concepts and defines the principles guiding the methodological and practical choices for the compilation of the indices. The Handbook primarily addresses official statisticians in charge of producing residential property price indices; at the same time, it addresses the overall requirement on RPPIs by providing a harmonised methodological and practical framework to all parties interested in the compilation of such indices.

The RPPIs Handbook has been written by leading academics in index number theory and by recognised experts in RPPIs compilation. Its development has been co-ordinated by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, with the collaboration of the International Labour Organization (ILO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the World Bank.

The Southeast Asian (SEA) region is one of the most dynamic in the world. It is in a period of transition as its national economies become strongly integrated into global knowledge networks. Science and technology (S&T) offer opportunities for countries to ‘move up the value chain’. A better understanding of existing capabilities helps enhance mutually beneficial S&T and innovation co-operation between SEA and OECD countries.

This review provides a quantitative and qualitative assessment of Southeast Asian countries’ capacity in S&T and innovation. A regional synthesis highlights current performance and intra- and extra-regional knowledge circulation, including flows between the Southeast Asian region and the established centres of knowledge production such as the EU, Japan and the United States. The country profiles describe the dynamics of national innovation systems and their relation to international knowledge flows, taking into account the wider framework conditions for innovation.

The world is becoming increasingly global. This raises important challenges for regulatory processes which still largely emanate from domestic jurisdictions.   In order to eliminate unnecessary regulatory divergences and to address global challenges pertaining to systemic risks, the environment, and human health and safety, governments increasingly seek to better articulate regulations across borders and to ensure greater enforcement of rules and their application across jurisdictions.

This report gathers in a synthetic manner the knowledge and evidence available to date on the various mechanisms available to governments to promote regulatory co-operation, and their benefits and challenges. The review of evidence confirms the increased internationalisation of regulation, which takes place through a wide variety of mechanisms and multiple actors, and highlights a shift in the nature of IRC from complete 'harmonisation' of regulation to more flexible options - such as mutual recognition agreements. Despite growing regulatory co-operation, however, decision making on IRC is not informed by a clear understanding of benefits costs and success factors of the diverse IRC options.

This report presents the results of the assessment of the organisation of the central government of Sweden. The study looks at reforms that are aimed at improving the quality of services (more value) and efficiency (less money) in central government. Starting with facts and quantitative benchmarks on the Swedish central government, the study reviews recent reforms in Sweden, and makes recommendations in ten selected areas. The study concludes with a survey of the effects on the quality of services and the potential savings.