Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 5-6 June 2013 - This meeting served as an opportunity to better understand the particular features and challenges associated with equity market developments worldwide and in particular, corporate governance policies and practices and their relationship to equity market growth in Asia.

Without propriety, integrity, transparency and the engagement of all stakeholders, markets cannot function well. Governments must protect fundamental rights and ensure good governance, fair regulations and transparency, while businesses must acknowledge that operating globally also implies a responsibility for their impact locally.

Legislative and regulatory policy options for sustainable capital markets - A good corporate governance framework should combine transparency, accountability and integrity and this requires knowledge of beneficial ownership. This report assesses the costs, benefits and practicalities of different approaches, suggesting policy options to better identify ultimate beneficial ownership in Indonesia.

This study provides critical observations on the state of key global equity markets as recent developments have put into question their efficiency and effectiveness in facilitating capital formation. It covers the top 26 initial public offering (IPO) producing nations, with a particular focus on stock markets in the United States.

This article provides both an analytical framework for the role of public policy in corporate governance and a description of the empirical context that influences the conditions for that policy.

This report describes the current policy framework in Asia and summarises the challenges to establishing a formal and transparent board nomination and election process. It proposes policy options to improve the transparency of the board nomination and election process in order to reinforce more effective boards.

This report analyses the supervision and enforcement of rules and practices relating to related party transactions, takeover bids and shareholder meetings in 27 jurisdictions and includes in-depth reviews of practices in Brazil, Turkey, and the United States.

Participants in this multi-stakeholder meeting reviewed and discussed the implementation of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance and in the 3Ts supply chain to ensure that companies avoid contributing to conflict through their mineral or metal purchasing decisions and practices.

18 November 2013 - Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Week 2013 opened in Bangkok today with a regional conference on responsible business practices jointly organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Jointly organised by the OECD and ESCAP, this conference focused on the role of governments in supporting and facilitating more sustainable and inclusive business practices in the Asia-Pacific region.

This report evaluates the corporate governance practices of Colombian SOEs against the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises. The assessment was prepared based on information provided by the Colombian authorities, an analysis of the available literature and interviews with authorities, consultants, academics, and company as well as stakeholder representatives.

This paper provides a framework for analysing ownership engagement by institutional investors. It argues that the general term “institutional investor” in itself doesn’t say very much about the quality or degree of ownership engagement. It is therefore an evasive “shorthand” for policy discussions about ownership engagement.

The 2013 Annual Report describes the activities undertaken to promote the observance of the Guidelines during the implementation cycle of June 2012-June 2013. This includes the launch of the Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct (RBC), the establishment of a Working Party on RBC, and the elaboration of a robust multi-stakeholder proactive agenda to promote the observance of the principles and standards found in the Guidelines.

This conference focused on recent reforms undertaken by the government to improve the investment climate in Myanmar, and the ways that the international community can help ensure that renewed investor interest contributes to sustainable and inclusive development. It featured a discussion of the detailed finding of the recently released OECD Investment Policy Review of Myanmar.

Recommendation of the OECD Council on Effective Public Investment Across Levels of Government

The European Commission has proposed an integrated EU approach to stop profits from trading minerals being used to fund armed conflicts. The package of measures aims to make it more difficult for armed groups in conflict-affected and high-risk areas to finance their activities through the mining of and trade in minerals.

This report explores the efforts of MENA stock exchanges to restructure their ownership through regional comparisons and case studies, situating this process within the global transformation of the stock exchange industry over the past two decades.

This article provides a framework for analysing the character and degree of ownership engagement by institutional investors. There are large differences in ownership engagement between different categories of institutional investors. There are also differences in ownership engagement within the same category of institutional investors such as hedge funds, investment funds, etc.

This workshop focused on how to comply with international regulations on conflict-free gold supply chains and how to make the most of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas.

This meeting provided the opportunity to review and discuss implementation of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance and the ICGLR Regional Certification Mechanism. Issues pertinent to the tin, tantalum and tungsten (3Ts) and gold supply chains were addressed during the three-day forum.

Participants at the forum adopted a communiqué calling for companies to confront challenges they encounter openly and transparently by publicly reporting on due diligence in accordance with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas

Available in several languages, this booklet provides basic information about the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the most comprehensive set of government-backed recommendations on responsible business conduct in existence today. Adhering governments aim to encourage the positive contributions MNEs can make to sustainable development and to minimise the difficulties to which their various operations may give rise.

Este folleto contiene información esencial sobre las Líneas Directrices de la OCDE para empresas multinacionales, que en la actualidad constituyen las recomendaciones más exhaustivas aprobadas por los gobiernos sobre la conducta responsable de las empresas.

This Global Forum plays an important role as the tool for on-going dialogue on responsible business conduct. I am pleased to announce that today, Ministers from over 20 countries are coming together to discuss how to integrate responsibility considerations throughout government policies. Their work will contribute to protect internationally recognised fundamental rights and to ensure good governance, fair regulations, and transparency.

This statement was adopted by National Contact Points on 25 June 2014 during their 15th Meeting.

Communiqué by Ministers participating in the informal ministerial meeting on responsible business conduct that took place at the OECD on 26 June 2014.

This survey was presented at the Informal ministerial meeting on responsible business conduct held in Paris on 26 June 2014.

Investment treaties are often thought to be silent on investors’ responsibilities to host societies and on their contributions to sustainable development. This paper establishes a factual and statistical basis for understanding the relationship between investment treaty law and governments’ ability to advance the sustainable development agenda and promote responsible business conduct.

This paper examines shareholder claims for reflective loss under investment treaties in light of comparative analysis of advanced systems of corporate law; considers the impact of allowing shareholder claims for reflective loss on key characteristics of the business corporation; and explores possible responses by different categories of investors to the availability of shareholder claims for reflective loss under investment treaties.

This book presents the findings of an OECD policy dialogue with Indian stakeholders on policies to improve the monitoring and prevention of abusive related party transactions in India.

The OECD made the draft text of the revised OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises available for public comment between May and September 2014. The public consultation is now closed.

This report analyses a dataset detailing the size of national state-owned enterprise (SOE) sectors (by number, value and employment) and their composition by sector and corporate forms for 34 countries.

This roundtable provided a forum for dialogue on building responsible supply chains in the textile and garment sector that contribute to inclusive growth and sustainable development, in line with the OECD and ILO recommendations. The Roundtable also identified challenges and areas for future collaborative action.

This joint OECD-UASA publication contains the results of a survey on the regulatory treatment of related part transactions (RPTs) in the Middle East and North Africa region. It concludes with recommendations to policymakers designed to ensure adequate oversight of RPTs in order to promote market integrity in the region.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría today welcomed the passage into law of Latvia's “Public Persons Enterprises and Capital Shares Governance Law”.

Beijing, 24 October 2014 - China presented guidelines intended to provide a roadmap for the responsible business conduct of Chinese companies operating overseas. In addition, China and the OECD signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote the implementation by Chinese companies of responsible business conduct in global mineral supply chains.

This meeting provided the opportunity to review and discuss implementation of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance, the ICGLR Regional Certification Mechanism, and other initiatives to enable responsible mineral supply chains. Issues pertinent to the tin, tantalum and tungsten (3Ts) and gold supply chains were also addressed during the Forum.

26-27 November 2014 – Lusaka, Zambia: This meeting focused on combating corruption and promoting responsible business conduct in SOEs and was followed by a workshop on the governance of SOEs operating in the power generation industry. Participants launched and adopted the Guidelines on the Governance of State-Owned Enterprises in Southern Africa.

The Principles are being reviewed to ensure their continuing high quality, relevance and usefulness, taking into account recent developments in the corporate sector and capital markets. The OECD invited public comment on the draft revised text. Deadline for comment: Now closed.

The German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), supported by the OECD, has initiated a study to assess the contribution of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) to due diligence for responsible mineral supply chains. To gather information for this study, SMEs were invited to take part on a confidential survey of due diligence activities by SMEs.

This report provides a comprehensive global overview of corporate bond markets since 2000 and experiences of governance engagement by bondholders. The report also analyses trends in secondary bond markets. It ends with a discussion about the scope for institutional changes that may build a larger community of truly informed and motivated bond investors.

This programme focuses on the pivotal role that corporate governance plays for ensuring that the financial sector can serve the needs of non-financial companies in terms of access to capital for innovation, value creation and growth.

One of the more startling findings in the OECD Foreign Bribery Report, is that some level of corporate management was involved in over 50% of the cases sanctioned. This paper by Leah Ambler, published in the Journal of Business Compliance (01/2015), examines what went wrong and why from a corporate governance and compliance perspective.

This public consultation was held to gather comments on the draft FAO-OECD guidance for responsible agricultural supply chains which is designed to help enterprises observe standards of responsible business conduct along their agricultural supply chains. The deadline for comment was 20 February 2015.

Today the discourse on “conflict minerals” has changed. It’s not just about conflict-free, it's about promoting responsible sourcing of minerals from conflict areas, despite the challenges. This blog discusses the urgent need to create responsible supply chains of artisanal gold, and support the livelihoods of miners in the informal gold industry, and how OECD guidance can help companies do this.

This article by Roel Nieuwenkamp talks about the trend of hardening of soft law in the domain of responsible business conduct. It argues that legislative proposals related to existing international instruments should not seek to reinvent the wheel, but to reinforce it. Existing instruments that are widely recognised and proven to be effective and reasonable should represent a foundation for their legally-binding counterparts.

This public consultation is being held to gather comments on the draft OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement in the Extractives Sector which provides practical guidance to mining, oil and gas enterprises in addressing the challenges related to stakeholder engagement. The deadline for comment is 5 June 2015.

With a focus on the Asia-Pacific region, this conference addressed what the Sustainable Development Goals will mean for business and how business sustainability strategies can be aligned to support their implementation.

The OECD’s Annual Meeting at Ministerial Level reinforced member governments’ support across a broad range of key OECD work.

In a historic visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to the OECD in Paris, the People’s Republic of China today decided to enhance longstanding collaboration with the OECD and to join the OECD Development Centre.