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Self-assessment of South Africa's investment regime in relation to the OECD Codes of Liberalisation and the principle of National Treatment

This self-assessment report looks at South Africa's investment regime in the light of the OECD Codes of Liberalisation and the principle of National Treatment.




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Argentina seriously non-compliant with key articles of Anti-Bribery Convention, says OECD

The OECD Working Group on Bribery doubts Argentina’s commitment to fight foreign bribery. Argentina still has no law to punish companies for foreign bribery or prosecute its citizens who commit this crime abroad. Widespread delays continue to plague complex economic crime investigations.




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OSAA-OECD high-level event on leveraging pension funds for financing infrastructure development in Africa

Addis Ababa - Part of the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development, this event explored strategies to leverage Africa’s pension funds and other sources of private financing to develop Africa’s infrastructure. Ways to improve the investment climate in Africa using the recently updated Policy Framework for Investment were also be addressed.




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Increased international co-operation on financial and corporate issues essential to making globalisation work for all

Globalisation has failed to create a level playing field in trade, investment and corporate behaviour, being one of the factors contributing to a backlash against openness in many countries and a decline in confidence in government institutions.




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Chile must conclude its current legislative reforms of the criminal sanctions regime and clarify its corporate liability framework to better combat foreign bribery

Chile must make further progress on key recommendations of the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions, more than three years after its Phase 3 evaluation in March 2014.




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Adjudicator Compensation Systems and Investor-State Dispute Settlement

Compensation for adjudicators is generally considered as a core issue for judicial independence and for attracting good judges in the institutional design for courts. This paper examines compensation systems for adjudicators and dispute settlement administrators in investor-state dispute settlement. The paper uses in part a comparative perspective based on approaches in domestic courts in advanced economies.




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OECD says Swedish progress combatting foreign bribery insufficient to warrant Phase 4 evaluation

The next review of Sweden’s implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, which was scheduled for October 2018, has been delayed until 2019. This is due to the fact that Sweden has not yet enacted legislation to urgently address remaining recommendations to reform its laws on corporate liability for the bribery of foreign public officials.




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Health: medical care improving but better prevention and management of chronic diseases needed to cut costs, says OECD

Though overall medical care is improving, efforts to prevent and better manage chronic diseases such as diabetes and asthma would improve results and lower costs, according to the OECD’s latest edition of Health at a Glance.




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Employment: mental health issues rising in workplace, says OECD

Mental illness is a growing problem in society and is increasingly affecting productivity and well-being in the workplace, according to a new OECD report.




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Health: men faring worse than women in hospitalisations for diabetes

New OECD data show that men are more likely to be admitted to hospital as a result of poor management of diabetes than women, even when there are no significant differences in the number of men and women living with diabetes.




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Belgium should be more proactive in tackling mental health issues in the workplace, says OECD

Belgian companies, mutualities and employment services should be more proactive in helping people with mental health problems stay in the workplace or find a job, according to a new OECD report.




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OECD urges countries to harmonise clinical trial regulations to boost medical research and save lives

Increasingly complex and inconsistent clinical trial regulations are causing delays, raising costs and leading to a decline in the number of international trials conducted by academics for non-commerical purposes.




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We must take better care of the elderly, say OECD and the European Commission

The number of people over 80 will double by 2050 rising from 3.9% of the population to 9.1% in 2050 across OECD countries and from 4.7% to 11.3% across 27 EU members. Estimates are that up to half of them will need help to cope with their daily needs. Yet even today governments are struggling to deliver high-quality care to elderly people with reduced physical and mental abilities, says a new OECD/EC report, A good life in old age? .




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Norway should improve incentives to encourage people to work longer, says OECD

Norway is better placed to cope with population ageing than most other countries. But it could still do more to improve incentives and opportunities for people to stay working longer which would help ensure the country’s long-term future, according to a new OECD report.




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Health spending continues to stagnate, says OECD

After falling sharply in 2010, health spending remained flat across OECD countries in 2011 as the economic crisis continued to have an impact, particularly in those European countries hardest hit by the crisis, according to OECD Health Data 2013.




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Improving detection and treatment would cut cancer death rates significantly, says OECD

Earlier detection and better treatment for cancer would cut death rates from the disease by around a third, saving the lives of nearly a million people in the developed world every year, according to a new report by the OECD prepared with the support of the European Commission, building on earlier World Health Organisation research.




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Prevention and value for money in health spending must remain a priority for Ireland, says OECD Health at a Glance report

Ireland continues to make substantive headway in improving health outcomes, but more can be done in reducing risk-factors for major diseases and improving value-for-money in health spending, according to a new OECD report.




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Major brake in health spending growth as governments cut budgets in the crisis, says OECD

Total health spending has fallen in one of three OECD countries between 2009 and 2011, with those hardest hit by the crisis most affected. This is a sharp reversal from the strong growth in the years prior to the crisis, according to a new OECD report.




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Australia needs to tackle its rising levels of obesity, says OECD Health at a Glance report

Australians continue to enjoy one of the highest levels of health across the developed world but need to address Australia’s growing obesity problem, according to a new OECD report.




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Health spending falls in Italy, says OECD Health at a Glance report

Health spending per capita in real terms fell by 2% in Italy in 2011, and is estimated to have fallen by a further 0.4% in 2012. Spending per capita also fell in 10 other European countries between 2009 and 2011, following the recession and the need for fiscal consolidation, according to a new OECD report.




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Japan needs to improve the efficiency of its health care system, says OECD Health at a Glance report

Japan has good health outcomes and has rapidly increased its spending on health care in recent years. It now needs to focus on improving efficiency of its health system in order to continue delivering high-quality care while containing costs, according to a new OECD report.




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Mexico needs to tackle ever rising obesity, says OECD Health at a Glance report

Mexico needs serious investment in prevention programmes to address its massive, and still rising, obesity rate, according to a new OECD report.




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Health spending fell in real terms in the United Kingdom in 2010 and 2011, says OECD Health at a Glance report

Health spending has fallen in the United Kingdom in 2010 and 2011 for the first time since the 1970s, according to a new OECD report. Health at a Glance 2013 says that spending in real terms per capita fell by 1.1% in 2011, following a 2.5% decline in 2010.




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Sweden has excellent health care but must improve care co-ordination, says OECD

Sweden’s health and elderly care systems deserve their reputation as being among the best in the world. Yet an ageing population with growing chronic conditions and requiring more complex health services are testing Sweden’s ability to continue delivering high-quality care, according to a new OECD report.




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Switzerland needs to improve its approach to mental-health issues in the labour force, says OECD

Switzerland needs to do more to help people with mental disorders find a job or stay in work, according to a new OECD report.




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UK needs to tackle high cost of mental-ill health, says OECD

Mental health issues cost the UK around GBP 70 billion every year, or roughly 4.5% of GDP, in lost productivity at work, benefit payments and health care expenditure.




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Rising air pollution-related deaths taking heavy toll on society, OECD says

Air pollution is costing advanced economies plus China and India an estimated USD 3.5 trillion a year in premature deaths and ill health and the costs will rise without government action to limit vehicle emissions, a new OECD report says.




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Norway should strengthen primary care to address evolving healthcare needs, says OECD

Improving primary care systems and co-ordination between health services would help Norway meet the changing needs of its healthcare system, as the population ages and hospital stays become shorter, according to a new OECD report.




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More efforts needed to tackle rising obesity, says OECD

Most people in OECD countries are overweight or obese. The social and economic consequences of this epidemic are dramatic, exposing an increasing number of people to chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.




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Czech Republic should improve primary care and prevention to reduce chronic disease, says OECD

Strengthening primary health care and prevention programmes would help stem the growing tide of diabetes and other chronic health conditions in the Czech Republic, according to a new OECD report.




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Health spending starts to rise but remains weak in Europe, says OECD

Health spending has started to rise again after stagnating or even falling in many OECD countries during the crisis. But the pace of growth remains well below pre-crisis rates, especially in Europe, according to OECD Health Statistics 2014.




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Health-care expenditure and health policy in the USA versus other high-spending OECD countries

The USA has exceptional levels of health-care expenditure, but growth slowed dramatically in recent years, amidst major efforts to close the coverage gap with other OECD countries.




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Mental healthcare under-resourced in too many countries, says OECD

Governments need to step up their efforts to improve mental health care which remains poorly resourced and under-prioritised in too many countries, according to a new OECD report.




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Governments must tackle regional variations in health care use, says OECD

Health care use varies widely across countries but can also vary as much or more within countries. Governments should do more to improve their health systems to prevent unnecessary interventions and ensure that everyone has the same access to quality healthcare, wherever they live, according to a new OECD report.




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Redesigning how health services are delivered in Japan would better meet the needs of a super-ageing population, says OECD

Elderly individuals with complex, chronic diseases need continuous and tailored care to maintain their health and maximise their ability to participate in society. Japan must change the way it delivers health services for older citizens by strengthening its specialist primary care and making mental health care services more widely available, according to a new OECD report.




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Most Asia/Pacific countries need to improve affordable access to healthcare, says OECD

Countries in the Asia/Pacific region need to step up their efforts to give more people access to affordable, quality health care. Too many people, especially women, cannot get the medical treatment they need due to high costs, difficulties in getting permission to see a doctor or a lack of health care providers in rural areas, according to a new OECD report.




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The Netherlands should do more to help workers with mental ill-health, says OECD

The Netherlands should increase support for workers suffering from mental health issues and their employers and tackle the continued social stigma and limited knowledge around such illnesses, according to a new OECD report.




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Still too much variation in health care quality across Italian regions, says new OECD report

Italy has significantly improved the quality of health care in recent decades but needs to tackle the wide disparities that remain between regions, according to a new OECD report.




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New approach needed to tackle mental ill-health at work, says OECD

Health and employment services should intervene earlier, involve key stakeholders and ensure they work together in order to help people with mental-health issues find work and stay in a job, according to a new OECD report.




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Better dementia care and a future cure require action today, says OECD

The current policy approach to tackling dementia is socially and economically unsustainable, according to a new OECD report. Countries need to take action now to improve the lives of people living with dementia and their carers, prioritise public research on dementia, and improve the incentives for private investment in dementia innovation.




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Universal Health Coverage

Universal Health Coverage is about everyone having access to good quality health services without suffering financial hardship. Although most OECD countries offer all their citizens affordable access to a comprehensive package of health services, they face challenges in sustaining and enhancing such universal systems.




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Revised proposal for the revision of the statistical definitions of biotechnology and nanotechnology

This document revises the OECD's statistical definition of biotechnology, which had last been reviewed in 2008, and proposes the adoption of a statistical definition of nanotechnology in the same format.




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Education: Korea tops new OECD PISA survey of digital literacy

Korea tops a new OECD PISA survey that tests how 15-year olds use computers and the Internet to learn. The next best performers were New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Hong-Kong China and Iceland.




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Urgent reform key to securing Asia’s pension systems, says OECD

Asia’s pension systems need modernising urgently to deliver secure, sustainable and adequate retirement incomes for today’s workers in the context of the rapid population ageing that will occur over the next two decades, according to a new OECD report.




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Skills Development Pathways in Asia: Employment and Skills Strategies in Southeast Asia initiative (ESSSA)

Skills and educational development for inclusive and sustainable growth are becoming significant drivers in OECD countries.




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Australia’s unique approach to helping the unemployed has delivered good results but challenges remain, says OECD

Australia’s labour market reforms over the past 15 years have boosted employment and cut welfare benefit dependency.




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Australia is in a strong position, but must adapt to take full advantage of rising Asia, OECD says

The Australian economy is robust and faces a solid short-term outlook, but it must continue adapting to ensure that its privileged place in the Asia-Pacific region contributes to long-term sustainable growth, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of Australia.




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Carbon taxes and emissions trading are cheapest ways of reducing CO2, OECD says

Carbon taxes and emission trading systems are the most cost-effective means of reducing CO2 emissions, and should be at the centre of government efforts to tackle climate change,according to a new OECD study.




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Australia needs to tackle its rising levels of obesity, says OECD Health at a Glance report

Australians continue to enjoy one of the highest levels of health across the developed world but need to address Australia’s growing obesity problem, according to a new OECD report.




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Australia: Local employment agencies should play a greater role in job creation, says OECD

Slower growth in key markets like China and India is reducing momentum across the Australian economy, cutting into employment opportunities and putting more pressure on the government to ensure that public policy delivers optimal results for growth and job creation.