The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; French: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, OCDE) is an intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries,[1][4] founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. It is a forum whose member countries describe themselves as committed to democracy and the market economy, providing a platform to compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practices, and coordinate domestic and international policies of its members.
Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques | |
Abbreviation |
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Established |
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Type | Intergovernmental organisation |
Headquarters | Château de la Muette Paris, France |
Membership |
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Official languages |
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Mathias Cormann | |
Deputy Secretaries-General |
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Budget | €975.2 million (2022)[3] |
Website | oecd.org |
The majority of OECD members are generally regarded as developed countries, with high-income economies, and a very high Human Development Index.
As of 2024[update] their collective population is 1.38 billion[5] people with an average life expectancy of 80 years and a median age of 40, against a global average of 30.[6] As of 2017[update], OECD Member countries collectively comprised 62.2% of global nominal GDP (USD 49.6 trillion)[7] and 42.8% of global GDP (Int$54.2 trillion) at purchasing power parity.[8] The OECD is an official United Nations observer.[9] OECD nations have strong social security systems; their average social welfare spending stood at roughly 21% of GDP.[10][11][12]
The OECD's headquarters are at the Château de la Muette in Paris, France, which housed its predecessor organization, the Organization for European Economic Co-operation.[13] The OECD is funded by contributions from member countries at varying rates and is recognised as a highly influential publisher of mostly economic data through publications as well as annual evaluations and rankings of member countries.[14]
The OECD is the successor organization to the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC),[15] established in April 1948 among the European recipients of Marshall Plan aid for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II.[16][17][18] Only Western European states were members of the OEEC, whose primary function was the allocation of American aid. Its Secretaries-General[19] were the Frenchmen Robert Marjolin (1948–1955) and René Sergent (1955–1960). It was headquartered in the Château de la Muette in Paris.
Following the end of Marshall aid in 1952, the OEEC focused on economic issues.[15] Its coordinating role was challenged after the 1957 Rome Treaties establishing the European Economic Community and Euratom. The OEEC provided a framework for negotiations aimed at setting up a European Free Trade Area, to bring the EEC's Inner Six and other OEEC members together on a multilateral basis. In 1958, a European Nuclear Energy Agency was set up in response to Euratom.
By this time, some leading countries felt that the OEEC had outlived its purpose but could be adapted to fulfil a more global mission, which proved to be a cumbersome task. Following several (occasionally unruly) meetings at the Hotel Majestic in Paris, which began in January 1960, a resolution was reached to create a body that would not only solve European and Atlantic economic issues, but also devise policies that could assist less developed countries. This reconstituted organisation would bring the US and Canada, who were already OEEC observers, on board as full members, and the OEEC would set to work straight away on convincing Japan to join the organisation.[20][21][22]
The Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development was signed on 14 December 1960, and the OECD officially superseded the OEEC in September 1961, consisting of the European founder countries of the OEEC, with the additions of the United States and Canada. Three countries, (Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Italy)—all OEEC members—ratified the OECD Convention after September 1961, but are nevertheless considered founding members. The official founding members are the following:
Japan became a member in 1964, and over the following decade, Finland, Australia, and New Zealand also joined the organisation. Yugoslavia had observer status in the organisation, starting with the establishment of the OECD, until its dissolution as a country.[23] The OECD also created agencies such as the OECD Development Centre (1961), International Energy Agency (IEA, 1974), and Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering.
The aims of the OECD are stated in Article 1 of the Convention[24] as:
Unlike the Organisations of the United Nations system, OECD uses the spelling "Organisation" with an "s" in its name rather than "organization", together with a hyphenated "Co-operation".
Following the Revolutions of 1989, the OECD began assisting countries in and Eastern Europe (especially the Visegrád Group) to prepare market economy reforms. In 1990, the Centre for Co-operation with European Economies in Transition (now succeeded by the Centre for Cooperation with Non-Members) was established, and in 1991, the programme, "Partners in Transition", was launched to offer a partnership to Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland,[25] including a membership option for these countries.[25] As a result of this, Poland,[26] Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as South Korea[27] and Mexico, became members of the OECD between 1996 and 2000.
East Germany joined on 3 October 1990 through reunification with West Germany. In the 1990s, several European countries, now members of the European Union, expressed their willingness to join the Organisation. In 1995, Cyprus applied for membership, but according to the Cypriot government, it was vetoed by Turkey.[28] In 1996, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania signed a Joint Declaration expressing willingness to become members of the OECD,[29] and Slovenia also applied for membership that same year.[30] In 2005, Malta applied to join the Organisation.[31] The EU is lobbying for the admission of all EU member states.[32] Romania reaffirmed in 2012 its intention to become a member of the Organisation through the letter addressed by Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta to OECD Secretary-General José Ángel Gurría.[33] In September 2012, the government of Bulgaria confirmed it would apply for membership before the OECD Secretariat.[34]
The OECD established a working group headed by ambassador Seiichiro Noboru to work out a plan for the enlargement with non-members. The working group defined four criteria that must be fulfilled: "like-mindedness", "significant player", "mutual benefit" and "global considerations." The working group's recommendations were presented at the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting on 13 May 2004, and on 16 May 2007, the OECD Ministerial Council decided to open accession discussions with Chile, Estonia, Israel, Russia, and Slovenia, and to strengthen cooperation with Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and South Africa through a process of enhanced engagement.[35] Chile, Slovenia, Israel, and Estonia all became members in 2010.[36] In March 2014, the OECD halted membership talks with Russia in response to its role in the 2014 Annexation of Crimea.[37][38]
In 2013, the OECD decided to open membership talks with Colombia and Latvia. In 2015, the Organisation opened talks with Costa Rica and Lithuania.[39] Latvia became a member on 1 July 2016, and Lithuania soon followed on 5 July 2018.[40][41] Colombia signed the accession agreement on 30 May 2018 and became a member on 28 April 2020.[42] On 15 May 2020, the OECD decided to extend a formal invitation for Costa Rica to join the OECD,[43] which joined as a member on 25 May 2021.[2]
Other countries that have expressed interest in OECD membership are Argentina, Brazil,[44] Croatia,[45] Malaysia[46] and Peru.[47]
In January 2022, the OECD reported that membership talks were underway with Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru and Romania.[48]
In March 2022, the OECD suspended the participation of Russia and Belarus due to the ongoing 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[49]
In June 2022, during the annual OECD Ministerial Council Meeting, the Roadmaps for the Accession to the OECD Convention for Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru and Romania were adopted.[50]
The OECD sets the rules governing international taxation for multinationals through the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations, a Model Tax Convention and country-by-country reporting rules.
The OECD publishes and updates a model tax convention that serves as a template for allocating taxation rights between countries. This model is accompanied by a set of commentaries that reflect OECD-level interpretation of the content of the model convention provisions. In general, this model allocates the primary right to tax to the country from which capital investment originates (i.e., the home, or resident country) rather than the country in which the investment is made (the host, or source country). As a result, it is most effective between two countries with reciprocal investment flows (such as among the OECD member countries), but can be unbalanced when one of the signatory countries is economically weaker than the other (such as between OECD and non-OECD pairings). Additionally, the OECD has published and updated the Transfer Pricing Guidelines since 1995. The Transfer Pricing Guidelines serve as a template for the profit allocation of inter-company transactions to countries. The latest version, of July 2017, incorporates the approved Actions developed under the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project initiated by the G20.[citation needed]
It is not certain when the proposals will be implemented.
All the major economies agreed to pass national laws that would require corporations to pay at least 15% income tax in the countries they operate. This new policy would end the practice of locating world headquarters in small countries with very low taxation rates. Governments hope to recoup some of the lost revenue, estimated at $100 billion to $240 billion each year. The new system was promoted by the Biden Administration in the United States and the OECD. Secretary-General Mathias Cormann of the OECD said, "This historic package will ensure that large multinational companies pay their fair share of tax everywhere."[51]
The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises are a set of legally non-binding guidelines attached as an annex to the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises. They are recommendations providing principles and standards for responsible business conduct for multinational corporations operating in or from countries adhering to the Declaration.[52]
The OECD publishes books, reports, statistics, working papers, and reference materials. All titles and databases published since 1998 can be accessed via OECD iLibrary. The OECD Library & Archives collection dates from 1947, including records from the Committee for European Economic Co-operation (CEEC) and the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), predecessors of today's OECD. External researchers can consult OECD publications and archival material on the OECD premises by appointment.[53]
The OECD releases about 600 books and over 400 papers yearly on topics spanning public policy. The publications are updated to the OECD iLibrary. Most books are published in English and French. The OECD flagship titles include:
All OECD books are available on the OECD iLibrary, the online bookshop or OECD Library & Archives.[53]
OECD Observer, an award-winning magazine,[n 1] was launched in 1962.[56] The magazine appeared six times a year until 2010, and became quarterly in 2011 with the introduction of the OECD Yearbook, launched for the 50th anniversary of the organisation.[57] The online and mobile[58] editions contained news, analysis, reviews, commentaries and data on global economic, social and environmental challenges and listings of the latest OECD books.[59] An OECD Observer Crossword was introduced in Q2 2013.[60] The OECD Observer was last issued in the fourth quarter of 2019, with a double edition looking ahead at artificial intelligence, and a cover leading on why statistical offices should hire a comedian. The OECD Observer website closed in the first quarter of 2021; the archive can be consulted at www.oecd.org.
The OECD's multilateral surveillance was systematically reviewed for the first time in Kumiharu Shigehara, “Multilateral Surveillance: What the OECD can offer?” (the 1996 Global Finance Lecture, the University of Birmingham, 1996; OECD publication, Paris, 1996) at a time when Shigehara was OECD Chief Economist and Head of Economics Department (1992–1997); he was subsequently OECD Deputy Secretary-General (1997–1999).
It was also discussed in: - Kumiharu Shigehara, “Surveillance by International Institutions: Lessons from the Global Financial and Economic Crisis” (OECD Working Papers No.860, May 2011, co-authored with Paul Atkinson). https://www.oecd- ilibrary.org/economics/surveillance-by-international-institutions_5kgchzchkvd2-en - Kumiharu Shigehara, “Multilateral Surveillance: the IMF, the OECD and G20” (Ligue Européenne de Coopération Économique, Paris, 2011). https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xh5xan - Kumiharu Shigehara, “The Limits of Surveillance and Financial Market Failure: Lessons from the Euro-Area Crisis” (Palgrave Macmillan 2014) https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137471475
The history of OECD multilateral surveillance from the 1960s to the end of the 1990s was also described in the memoirs titled “the Bank of Japan and the OECD: Recollections and Reflections”, written in Japanese by Kumiharu Shigehara and published in December 2019. In his letter of 5 February 2019, Donald Johnston, OECD Secretary-General (1996- 2006), noted that Shigehara's “book is very important for the OECD where there is little living institutional memory”. The English edition of Shigehara's memoirs titled ‘The Bank of Japan, the OECD, and Beyond’ was published by Palgrave Macmillan in September 2024. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-97-5307-9
The OECD is known as a statistical agency, as it publishes comparable statistics on numerous subjects. In July 2014, the OECD publicly released its main statistical databases through the OECD Data Portal, an online platform that allows visitors to create custom charts based on official OECD indicators.[61][62]
OECD statistics are available in several forms:
In July 2024, the OECD announced that it "has transitioned to [an] open-access information model" and that Creative Commons CC‑BY‑4.0 attribution licenses will be used on all data and publications. [63]
There are 15 working papers series published by the various directorates of the OECD Secretariat. They are available on iLibrary, as well as on many specialised portals.
The OECD is responsible for the OECD Guidelines for the Testing of Chemicals, a continuously updated document that is a de facto standard (i.e., soft law).[64]
It published the OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030 in March 2008, which argues that tackling key environmental problems—including climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, and the health impacts of pollution—is both achievable and affordable.[65]
In 2020, the inaugural University Press Redux Sustainability Award was given to OECD by the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) and Cambridge University Press.[66] The award recognized the development of the SDG Pathfinder, an open-access digital discovery tool for finding content and data relating to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).[67][68]
The OECD's structure consists of three main elements:[69]
Delegates from the member countries attend committee and other meetings. Former Deputy Secretary-General Pierre Vinde estimated in 1997 that the cost borne by the member countries, such as sending their officials to OECD meetings and maintaining permanent delegations, is equivalent to the cost of running the secretariat.[70] This ratio is unique among inter-governmental organisations.[citation needed] In other words, the OECD is more a persistent forum or network of officials and experts than an administration.
The OECD regularly holds minister-level meetings and forums as platforms for a discussion on a broad spectrum of thematic issues relevant to the OECD charter, member countries, and non-member countries.[71]
Noteworthy meetings include:
Exchanges between OECD governments benefit from the information, analysis, and preparation of the OECD Secretariat. The secretariat collects data, monitors trends, and analyses and forecasts economic developments. Under the direction and guidance of member governments, it also researches social changes or evolving patterns in trade, environment, education, agriculture, technology, taxation and other areas.
The secretariat is organised in Directorates:[73]
The head of the OECD Secretariat and chair of the OECD Council is the Secretary-General. Secretary-General selections are made by consensus, meaning all member states must agree on a candidate.[74]
No. | Secretary-General | Time served | Country of origin |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Robert Marjolin | 1948 – 1955 | France |
2 | René Sergent | 1955 – 1960 | France |
3 | Thorkil Kristensen | 1960 – 30 September 1961 | Denmark |
No. | Secretary-General | Time served | Country of origin | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Thorkil Kristensen | 30 September 1961 – 30 September 1969 | Denmark | |
2 | Emiel van Lennep | 1 October 1969 – 30 September 1984 | Netherlands | |
3 | Jean-Claude Paye | 1 October 1984 – 30 September 1994 | France | |
— | Staffan Sohlman (interim) | 1 October 1994 – November 1994 | Sweden | [76][77] |
3 | Jean-Claude Paye | November 1994 – 31 May 1996 | France | [78] |
4 | Donald Johnston | 1 June 1996 – 31 May 2006 | Canada | |
5 | José Ángel Gurría | 1 June 2006 – 31 May 2021 | Mexico | [79] |
6 | Mathias Cormann | 1 June 2021 – present | Australia | [80] |
Representatives of member and observer countries meet in specialised committees on specific policy areas, such as economics, trade, science, employment, education, development assistance or financial markets. There are about 200 committees, working groups and expert groups. Committees discuss policies and review progress in the given policy area.[81]
OECD has a number of specialised bodies:[82]
OECD decisions are made through voting, which requires unanimity among all of those voting. Each member country has one vote.[83] However, dissenting members which do not wish to block a decision but merely to signal their disapproval can abstain from voting.[84] 22 of the OECD member countries are also EU member states.[85]
As of May 2021[update] there are 38 members of the OECD:[1][2]
Country | Application | Negotiations | Invitation | Membership[1] | Geographic location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australia | 7 June 1971 | Oceania | ||||
Austria | 29 September 1961 | Europe | OEEC member[15] | |||
Belgium | 13 September 1961 | Europe | OEEC member[15] | |||
Canada | 10 April 1961 | North America | ||||
Chile | November 2003[86][87] | 16 May 2007[35] | 15 December 2009[88] | 7 May 2010 | South America | |
Colombia | 24 January 2011[89] | 30 May 2013[39] | 25 May 2018[90] | 28 April 2020 | South America | |
Costa Rica | 9 April 2015[2] | 15 May 2020[2] | 25 May 2021[2] | Central America | ||
Czech Republic | January 1994[91] | 8 June 1994[92] | 24 November 1995[91] | 21 December 1995 | Europe | |
Denmark | 30 May 1961 | Europe | OEEC member[15] | |||
Estonia | 16 May 2007[35] | 10 May 2010[93] | 9 December 2010 | Europe | ||
Finland | 28 January 1969 | Europe | ||||
France | 7 August 1961 | Europe | OEEC member[15] | |||
Germany | 27 September 1961 | Europe | Joined OEEC in 1949 (West Germany).[94] Previously represented by the Trizone.[15] | |||
Greece | 27 September 1961 | Europe | OEEC member[15] | |||
Hungary | December 1993[95] | 8 June 1994[92] | 7 May 1996 | Europe | ||
Iceland | 5 June 1961 | Europe | OEEC member[15] | |||
Ireland | 17 August 1961 | Europe | OEEC member[15] | |||
Israel | 15 March 2004[96] | 16 May 2007[35] | 10 May 2010[93] | 7 September 2010 | Middle East | |
Italy | 29 March 1962 | Europe | OEEC member[15] | |||
Japan | November 1962[97] | July 1963[97] | 28 April 1964 | Asia | ||
Latvia | 29 May 2013[98] | 11 May 2016[99] | 1 July 2016[100] | Europe | ||
Lithuania | 9 April 2015[101] | 31 May 2018 | 5 July 2018[101] | Europe | ||
Luxembourg | 7 December 1961 | Europe | OEEC member[15] | |||
Mexico | 14 April 1994[102] | 18 May 1994 | North America | |||
Netherlands | 13 November 1961 | Europe | OEEC member[15] | |||
New Zealand | 29 May 1973 | Oceania | ||||
Norway | 4 July 1961 | Europe | OEEC member[15] | |||
Poland | 1 February 1994[103] | 8 June 1994[92] | 11 July 1996[104] | 22 November 1996 | Europe | |
Portugal | 4 August 1961 | Europe | OEEC member[15] | |||
Slovakia | February 1994[105] | 8 June 1994[92] | July 2000[105] | 14 December 2000 | Europe | |
Slovenia | March 1996[106] | 16 May 2007[35] | 10 May 2010[93] | 21 July 2010 | Europe | |
South Korea | 29 March 1995[107] | 25 October 1996[27] | 12 December 1996 | Asia | Officially the Republic of Korea | |
Spain | 3 August 1961 | Europe | Joined OEEC in 1958[108] | |||
Sweden | 28 September 1961 | Europe | OEEC member[15] | |||
Switzerland | 28 September 1961 | Europe | OEEC member[15] | |||
Turkey | 2 August 1961 | Middle East | OEEC member[15] | |||
United Kingdom | 2 May 1961 | Europe | OEEC member[15] | |||
United States | 12 April 1961 | North America |
Dependent territories of member states are not members in their own right, but may have membership as part of their sovereign state.[109] As of January 2021, the Dutch Caribbean and the British territories of Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, and Bermuda are included as part of the OECD memberships of the Netherlands and the U.K., respectively.[110][111] Other dependent territories of OECD member states are not members of the OECD.
The European Commission participates in the work of the OECD alongside the EU member states.[112] The OECD designates Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, and South Africa as Key Partners, which participate in policy discussions in OECD bodies, and take part in regular OECD surveys.[113][114]
The Free Territory of Trieste (Zone A) was a member of the OEEC until 1954, when it merged with Italy and ceased to exist as an independent territorial entity.[15]
In May 2007, the OECD decided to open accession negotiations with Russia.[35] In March 2014, the OECD halted membership talks in response to Russia's role in that year's Crimean Annexation and continuous human and civil rights abuses.[37][38] On 25 February 2022, the OECD terminated the accession process with Russia after it invaded Ukraine.[123] In March 2022, Belarus was suspended from any participation in the OECD.[124]
The OECD operates on a two-year budget determined by member countries, with annual revenues over 700 million EUR during the most recent reporting period (2021–2022).[125][126]
Totalling an estimated 229.9m EUR in 2024, assessed contributions to the "Part I Budget" is largest single source of revenue for the OECD and these contributions are based on both the number of OECD members and the proportional size of their national economies.[127]
Member country | % contribution |
---|---|
Australia | 3.3 |
Austria | 1.5 |
Belgium | 1.7 |
Canada | 3.8 |
Chile | 1.2 |
Colombia | 1.2 |
Costa Rica | 0.9 |
Czech Republic | 1.2 |
Denmark | 1.4 |
Estonia | 0.8 |
Finland | 1.2 |
France | 5.1 |
Germany | 7.6 |
Greece | 1.1 |
Hungary | 1.0 |
Iceland | 0.6 |
Ireland | 1.4 |
Israel | 1.5 |
Italy | 3.9 |
Japan | 8.5 |
South Korea | 3.5 |
Latvia | 0.8 |
Lithuania | 0.9 |
Luxembourg | 0.8 |
Mexico | 2.7 |
Netherlands | 2.4 |
New Zealand | 1.2 |
Norway | 1.6 |
Poland | 1.7 |
Portugal | 1.2 |
Slovakia | 1.0 |
Slovenia | 0.9 |
Spain | 2.9 |
Sweden | 1.7 |
Switzerland | 2.1 |
Turkey | 1.9 |
United Kingdom | 5.5 |
United States | 18.3 |
Total | 100.0 |
OECD's 38 member countries.
OECD iLibrary is OECD's Online Library for Books, Papers and Statistics and the gateway to OECD's analysis and data. It has replaced SourceOECD in July 2010.