Publications & Documents

This review uses the OECD Policy Framework for Investment to present an assessment of the investment climate in Viet Nam and to discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by the government of Viet Nam in its reform efforts. It includes chapters on foreign investment trends and performance, the entry and operations of foreign investors, the legal framework for investment, corporate governance and competition policy, tax reforms, investment promotion and facilitation, infrastructure connectivity, investment framework for green growth and policies to promote and enable responsible business conduct.

This review of Corporate Governance in Lithuania was prepared in the context of Lithuania’s accession process to the OECD. It assesses Lithuania’s corporate governance arrangements – the laws, regulations and institutions that shape company oversight – for listed companies and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) against the standards of the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance and the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises. The report reaches a positive overall assessment of Lithuania’s willingness and ability to implement these corporate governance standards and makes a number of recommendations to address remaining weaknesses. With respect to listed companies, the report notably recommends that Lithuania give priority to monitoring implementation of recent legislative reforms to strengthen corporate boards of directors and, in the medium term, consider further strengthening and clarifying their legal responsibilities. With respect to SOEs, this report recommends that Lithuania give priority to further strengthening the effectiveness of the state’s ownership coordination function, ensuring that the state’s requirements on board composition and disclosure practices are fully implemented by the SOEs for which they are mandatory and moving forward with plans to convert commercially-oriented statutory SOEs to limited liability companies.

Several of Portugal’s product markets remain among the most heavily regulated in the OECD, not least in the services sector. As vital inputs into the business sector, the liberal professions, such as legal services, architects and engineers, generate up to 1.8 times their value in outputs when they are used by firms. Having structural flaws such as access restrictions and reserved tasks, adversely affect the availability of such services for firms, there hence their ability to effectively compete in the markets. Regulatory restrictions also hamper innovation, efficiency and productivity within the liberal professions themselves. Against this backdrop, this report analyses Portuguese regulations for 13 self-regulated liberal professions (lawyers, solicitors, notaries, bailiffs, architects, engineers, technical engineers, certified accountants, auditors, economists, customs brokers, nutritionists and pharmacists). Using the OECD Competition Assessment Toolkit to structure the analysis, the project analysed 923 pieces of legislation. The report identifies 323 legal provisions which could be removed or amended to lift regulatory barriers to competition. The analysis of the Portuguese legislation and professions has been complemented by research into international experience and wide consultations with stakeholders from the public and private sectors. The OECD recommendations aim to remove or modify the identified provisions in order to be less restrictive in the access or exercise of the professions, to the benefit of businesses and consumers alike, while still achieving the policy objectives as stated by the Portuguese government. This report identifies the sources of those benefits and, where possible, provides quantitative estimates.

Several of Portugal’s product markets remain among the most heavily regulated in the OECD, not least in the services sector. The inland and maritime transports in Portugal are a vital part of the business environment, ensuring the movement of goods and passengers and allowing for inputs into the business sector to arrive when and where they are needed. Regulatory restrictions on entry, on the market structure, and on company formation adversely affect the ability of firms, whether providers or customers, to effectively compete in the markets. Regulatory restrictions also hamper innovation, efficiency and productivity. Against this backdrop, this report analyses Portuguese regulations for road, railway and maritime transport and many anxilary services (such as vehicle inspection centres), as well as Portugal’s ports. Using the OECD Competition Assessment Toolkit to structure the analysis, the project analysed 904 pieces of legislation. The report identifies 405 legal provisions which could be removed or amended to lift regulatory barriers to competition. The analysis of the Portuguese legislation has been complemented by research into international experience and wide consultations with stakeholders from the public and private sectors. The OECD recommendations aim to remove or modify the restrictive provisions in order to benefit businesses and consumers, while still achieving the policy of the Portuguese government. This report identifies the sources of those benefits and, where possible, provides quantitative estimates.