Implementing the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises: Review of Recent Developments
The OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises have provided an internationally agreed benchmark to help governments assess and improve the way they exercise their ownership functions since 2005. This report documents changes in state ownership and SOE governance in both OECD and partner economies and assesses the extent to which the Guidelines have served as a “roadmap for reform” in individual countries since 2015, following the most recent update of the Guidelines. Drawing on practices in up to 31 jurisdictions, it covers organising the state enterprise ownership function; safeguarding a level playing field between SOEs and private businesses; equitable treatment of shareholders and other investors; stakeholder relations and responsible business; transparency and disclosure practices; and professionalising boards of directors. The report supports policy makers by facilitating greater awareness and more effective implementation of the Guidelines.
Legal and regulatory framework for the state ownership function (Chapter I and Chapter II of the SOE Guidelines)
According to the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises, the state should act as an informed and active owner, ensuring that the governance of SOEs is carried out in a transparent and accountable manner. This chapter provides an overview of various country efforts on improving the legal regulatory framework for the exercise of the state ownership function through adoption of the co-ordinating agency model and/or other requirements of the law. Insofar as these changes have introduced greater transparency regarding the rationales for state ownership and improved coordination of state ownership practices across the public administration, around two thirds of the reviewed countries have brought national practices closer to the standards of the SOE Guidelines during the review period. However, in several other countries, ownership of SOEs is still exercised on an ad-hoc basis by individual ministries rather than on a whole-of-government basis.
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