Government debt issuance procedures and policies differ across OECD jurisdictions, in particular in terms of technical standards for selling techniques, primary dealer systems and other primary market arrangements.

However, the increased integration of global financial markets (including the jump in the integration of European government debt markets since the introduction of the Euro) has been an important catalyst in the standardisation of the structure and types of instruments as well as the convergence of general procedures and policies for the issuance government debt. In many countries, the ongoing credit and economic crises have prompted a review of existing issuance procedures and policies.

This article provide (a) a survey of the general characteristics of government debt issuance procedures and related primary dealer (PD) arrangements in the OECD area; and (b) an evaluation of the challenges and changes generated by the impact of the turmoil in global financial markets on issuance procedures and policies.