Many laws and regulations set the rules for how businesses enter, operate and exit a market and competition assessments help to ensure that these regulations are not overly or inadvertently restrictive for businesses and consumers. This article looks at the tangible contributions competition assessment is making to reforms underway in Greece.

Paris, 30 January 2018: This workshop on cartel screening in the digital era provided competition officials with an insight into the latest developments on screening methods and an opportunity to share their experiences. Related documentation and presentations available here.

Paris, 31 January 2018: This workshop on regulation and competition in light of digitalisation allowed competition officials to share their experiences with existing regulations that have proved restrictive for digitalisation and started a discussion of how a competition assessment methodology can deal with the most common issues.

With gender equality increasingly at the top of political and social agendas, Chris Pike of the OECD Competition Division reflects on the potential for introducing greater gender awareness into competition policy.

Sydney, 26 March 2018: This workshop presented the results of an OECD review of the Australian Pecuniary Penalties for Competition Law Infringements while launching a debate among Australian and international experts from a variety of backgrounds.

Competition authorities have imposed substantial fines for competition law violations over the last few decades and it is an international consensus that monetary sanctions against corporations are essential to deter anticompetitive conduct.This report compares Australia's competition sanctions regime to that of a number of other major OECD jurisdictions.

This report investigates how competition agencies can respond to the challenges posed by the multi-sided nature of platform markets, which are particularly common in the digital economy.

This publication compiles a series of articles that focus on the impact of digitalisation and technology in the areas of financial markets, insurance, and private pensions. It also discusses the tools and policies needed to ensure that the challenges posed by digitalisation result in better outcomes and better management of the risks involved.

Seoul, 2-4 May 2018: This workshop, co-organised by the OECD-Korean Policy Centre and the International Competition Network, provided senior and chief economists with a comprehensive programme on competition economics that will include merger simulation, buyer power, big data, platforms and multi-sided markets, fundamentals of IO and Game Theory among others.

The Portuguese government and the OECD have worked together to assess the costs and benefits of regulations restricting competition in the transports and liberal professions sectors and to propose specific recommendations for change. Read more about the project and access the report.

The 2018 OECD-IDB Latin American Competition Forum takes place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 18-19 September 2018. Discussions will focus on the informal economy in the region, industrial policy and the promotion of domestic industry and competition law and policy in Peru.

This report explores the impact of innovative technologies on the electricity sector and examines priorities for regulatory policies that governments will need to put in place to negotiate the energy transition to a zero-carbon economy.

7 March 2019, Paris - The OECD is committed to promoting gender equality as a strong driver of economic development, inclusivity and socio-economic participation. On the occasion of International Women’s day, the OECD annual conference on gender equality for business will welcome senior decision-makers from the public and corporate worlds, experts, academics and stakeholders.

Paris, 5-6 December 2019 - Focus areas for the 2019 Global Forum are: criticism of competition authorities, competition provisions in trade agreements, merger control in dynamic markets and competition for the market and will incorporate a digital case lab.

This new annual publication presents unique insights into global competition trends based on data from more than 50 OECD and non-OECD jurisdictions. In addition to analysing different regimes and their resources, the report describes enforcement trends relating to cartels, abuse of dominance cases and merger reviews. A special section focuses on cartel sanctions.

Mexico has one of the highest rates of obesity: nearly one in three adults are obese. As a result, Mexicans live on average 4.2 years less due to overweight, the largest reductions in life expectancy of all countries analysed. The impact on the economy is large: overweight accounts for 8.9% of health expenditure; and lowers labour market outputs by the equivalent of 2.4m full time workers per year.

OECD Appoints New Head of Transfer Pricing Unit

This report summarises the legal and regulatory framework for transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes in the United Kingdom .

The OECD invites public comments on proposed changes to the Commentary on Article 5 (Permanent Establishment) of the OCD Model Tax Convention.

“Governments have signed more than 700 agreements to exchange tax information. These agreements have already yielded €14 billion in additional revenues, to 20 countries, from more than 100 000 tax payers who had hidden assets offshore.”

A report on bank secrecy and tackling tax evasion presented by OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría to finance ministers at the Cannes G20 summit today.

On 31 May 2011, the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs released for public comment a discussion draft on the application of the provisions of the OECD Model Tax Convention to the cross-border trading of emissions permits. The OECD has now published the comments received on this consultation draft.

Meeting with Business Representatives on definitional and ownership issues related to transfer pricing of intangibles: 7-9 November 2011

Can both less income inequality and more growth be achieved? A recent OECD study sheds new light on the link between policies that boost growth and the distribution of income.

Public comments received on the proposed changes to the Commentary on Article 5 (Permanent Establishment) of the OECD Model Tax Convention.

OECD invites comments on certain transfer pricing timing issues

Financial crimes, including corruption, tax fraud and money laundering, are a threat to all countries, both developing and developed. The sums are vast. Estimates have put total proceeds from all illicit activities at 3.6% of global GDP.

The OECD's Committee on Fiscal Affairs (CFA) invites public comments on the draft Commentary on the International VAT Neutrality Guidelines. This draft Commentary provides guidance on the practical implementation of the six International VAT Neutrality Guidelines approved by the CFA in July 2011. Public comments should be sent before 26 September 2012 to vat@oecd.org.

The Global Forum Secretariat enters into a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Arab Emirates, confirming UAE’s commitment to the Global Forum’s work on transparency and exchange of information.

Furthering its efforts to strengthen international tax co-operation, the OECD has issued two new reports on automatic exchange and tax confidentiality. The report on automatic exchange of information describes what it is, how it works, where it stands and what challenges remain. The report on confidentiality of information exchanged examines all aspects of ensuring the protection of information exchanged for tax purposes.

The OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs invites public comments on a revised discussion draft on the definition of “permanent establishment” that is included in Article 5 of the OECD Model Tax Convention.

The OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs invites public comments on a revised discussion draft on tax treaty issues related to emissions permits/credits, which addresses the application of the provisions of the OECD Model Tax Convention to the cross-border granting and trading of emissions permits and credits.

On 6 June 2012, the OECD released an invitation to comment on a discussion draft on the Transfer Pricing Aspects of Intangibles. The comments received in response to this invitation have been published. This edition replaces the previous edition released on 28 September 2012.

On 6 June 2012, the OECD released an invitation to comment on a discussion draft on the revision of the Safe Harbours Section in Chapter IV of the Transfer Pricing Guidelines. The comments received in response to this invitation have been published. This edition replaces the previous edition released on 28 September 2012.

On 6 June 2012, the OECD released an invitation to comment on a discussion draft on timing issues relating to transfer pricing. The comments received in response to this invitation have been published. This edition replaces the previous edition released on 28 September 2012.

On 12-14 November 2012, transfer pricing experts from governments met with private sector representatives to discuss the transfer pricing discussion drafts released on 6 June 2012. The agenda for the meeting, presentation material submitted by private sector participants, and a list of participants have now been published.

Guatemala has signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters allowing it to be removed from the list of countries that have not yet substantially implemented the internationally agreed tax standard.

In several OECD countries, ongoing fiscal consolidation might have a negative impact on the static income distribution. However, this conclusion should be treated only as an approximate first step in the analysis.

Invitation to attend the OECD-BIAC public briefing session on TRACE and FATCA

The amount of cross border portfolio investment exceeds 35 trillion USD. To encourage growth and cross-border investment more than 3000 tax treaties around the world based on the OECD Model reduce source taxation on a reciprocal basis.

On 19 October 2012, the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs released for public comment a revised discussion draft on tax treaty issues related to emissions permits and credits. The OECD has now published the comments received on this revised discussion draft.

On 19 October 2012, the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs released for public comment a revised discussion draft on the definition of “permanent establishment” (Article 5) of the OECD Model Tax Convention. The OECD has now published the comments received on this revised discussion draft.

The Global Forum is looking for a Tax Policy Analyst

The Forum on Tax Administration - Tax Commissioners from 45 countries - has been meeting in Moscow for the past two days. And released this comuniqué.

OECD governments have committed to stepping up their efforts to tackle base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) by endorsing the OECD's BEPS Declaration at the Organisation’s annual Ministerial Meeting in Paris.

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, attended the Working Lunch of the G8 Summit and delivered the OECD report “A Step Change in Tax Transparency - Delivering a standardised, secure and cost effective model of bilateral automatic exchange for the multilateral context” and remarks on Trade, Tax, Transparency which are the key priorities of the UK G8 Presidency for the Summit.

This study proposes a structured approach to selecting instruments of fiscal consolidation that are consistent with growth, equity and global-rebalancing objectives, which is then illustrated with a particular application.

National tax laws have not kept pace with the globalisation of corporations and the digital economy, leaving gaps that can be exploited by multi-national corporations to artificially reduce their taxes.

As part of its project on transfer pricing simplification, the OECD has released a White Paper on Transfer Pricing Documentation. Comments of interested persons are requested by 1 October 2013.

The OECD released for public comment a Revised Discussion Draft on Transfer Pricing Aspects of Intangibles. The Revised Discussion Draft updates and expands an earlier discussion draft released in June 2012 to reflect comments received and further discussions of country delegates to Working Party No. 6 of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs. Comments of interested persons are requested by 1 October 2013.