OECD


The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, 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.
The majority of OECD members are generally regarded as developed countries, with high-income economies, and a very high Human Development Index.
their collective population is 1.38 billion people with an average life expectancy of 80 years and a median age of 40, against a global average of 30., OECD Member countries collectively comprised 62.2% of global nominal GDP and 42.8% of global GDP at purchasing power parity. The OECD is an official United Nations observer. OECD nations have strong social security systems; their average social welfare spending stood at roughly 21% of GDP.
The OECD's headquarters are at the Château de la Muette in Paris, France, which housed its predecessor organisation, the Organization for European Economic Co-operation. 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.

History

Organisation for European Economic Co-operation

The OECD is the successor organisation to the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, established in April 1948 among the European recipients of Marshall Plan aid for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. Only Western European states were members of the OEEC, whose primary function was the allocation of American aid. Its Secretaries-General were the Frenchmen Robert Marjolin and René Sergent. 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. 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 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.

Founding

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, —all OEEC members—ratified the OECD Convention after September 1961, but are nevertheless considered founding members. The official founding members are the following:
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Canada
  • Denmark
  • France
  • West Germany
  • Greece
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Luxembourg
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Turkey
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
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. The OECD also created agencies such as the OECD Development Centre, International Energy Agency, and Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering.
The aims of the OECD are stated in Article 1 of the Convention as:
  1. To achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living in Member countries, while maintaining financial stability
  2. To contribute to sound economic expansion in Member as well as non-member countries
  3. To contribute to the expansion of world trade

    Enlargement to Central Europe

Following the Revolutions of 1989, the OECD began assisting countries in Central Europe to prepare market economy reforms. In 1990, the Centre for Co-operation with European Economies in Transition was established, and in 1991, the programme "Partners in Transition" was launched to offer a partnership to Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland, including a membership option for these countries. As a result of this, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as South Korea and Mexico, became members of the OECD between 1996 and 2000.

Reform and further enlargement

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. In 1996, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania signed a Joint Declaration expressing willingness to become members of the OECD, and Slovenia also applied for membership that same year. In 2005, Malta applied to join the Organisation. The EU is lobbying for the admission of all EU member states. 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. In September 2012, the government of Bulgaria confirmed it would apply for membership before the OECD Secretariat.
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. Chile, Slovenia, Israel, and Estonia all became members in 2010. In March 2014, the OECD halted membership talks with Russia in response to its annexation of Crimea.
In 2013, the OECD decided to open membership talks with Colombia and Latvia. In 2015, the Organisation opened talks with Costa Rica and Lithuania. Latvia became a member on 1 July 2016, and Lithuania soon followed on 5 July 2018. Colombia signed the accession agreement on 30 May 2018 and became a member on 28 April 2020. On 15 May 2020, the OECD decided to extend a formal invitation for Costa Rica to join the OECD, which joined as a member on 25 May 2021.
Other countries that have expressed interest in OECD membership are Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Malaysia and Peru.
In January 2022, the OECD reported that membership talks were underway with Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru and Romania.
In March 2022, the OECD suspended the participation of Russia and Belarus due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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. In March 2024, the Roadmaps for the Accession to the OECD were adopted with Argentina and Indonesia, and in July 2024, also with Thailand.

Objectives and issues

Taxation

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.
File:Payroll and income tax by country.png|thumb|Payroll and income tax by OECD country
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 rather than the country in which the investment is made. As a result, it is most effective between two countries with reciprocal investment flows, but can be unbalanced when one of the signatory countries is economically weaker than the other. 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.
Pillar 1
Pillar 2
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."