OECD CivSoc Newsletter 7                     June 2007

News flashes

from the OECD

OECD countries agreed to invite Chile, Estonia, Israel, Russia and Slovenia to open discussions for membership of the Organisation and offered enhanced engagement, with a view to possible membership, to Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa.

6-8 June G8 Summit, Heiligendamm, Germany
At the Summit, G8 leaders asked the OECD, together with the IEA, to act as a platform for dialogue between G8 countries and the major emerging economies of Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa on issues including innovation, freedom of investment, corporate social responsibility and development in Africa, and energy efficiency.
This Newsletter has been prepared by the Public Affairs Division of the OECD for the purpose of informing the public of OECD cooperation with civil society. The Public Affairs Division acts as a clearing house for information about OECD dialogue with civil society. OECD staff who are in contact with civil society through consultations, workshops or other activities contribute to this newsletter.

I. Feature article: OECD Forum 2007 Innovation, Growth and Equity

II. Article: New OECD Recommendation sets higher environmental standards in order to qualify for export credits backing

III. Article: OECD Adopts OECD Principles for Private Sector Participation in Infrastructure

IV. Calendar of recent or upcoming OECD events with Civil Society

V. Recent or Upcoming OECD Publications

 

I. Feature article: OECD Forum 2007 Innovation, Growth and Equity

              Civil society representatives accounted for about one third of the record number of participants in the OECD Forum 2007, Innovation, Growth and Equity, held 14-15 May at the Palais Brongniart in Paris. Over the two days, some 1550 people -- ministers, business and labour leaders, journalists and civil society -- looked at globalisation through the prism of fairness and sustainability in panel discussions on such topics as Water: How to Manage a Vital Resource; Globalisation and Equity; Innovation and Access to Healthcare; Public Concerns about Globalisation; Creating Value Through Human Values; Climate Change: From Words to Action.
             
              Making societies more equitable is a critical issue for those whose lives are destabilised by globalisation.  It is critical, too, for governments anxious to help their citizens adapt during the transition to more integrated economies and to take advantage of the new opportunities that arise. An important function of the OECD is to advise governments on the most appropriate policies for managing both the risks and opportunities of globalisation. While OECD analysis supports the view that globalisation opens new avenues for innovation and economic growth, OECD governments want the kind of growth that is sustainable from the standpoint of the environment and the quality of life. 

              Public debate of these issues at the Forum plays an important role in informing the discussions at the annual meeting of OECD Council at ministerial level, immediately following the Forum. Excerpts below give some flavour of the discussions. A full résumé of Forum sessions and speeches can be found on the Forum website, www.oecd.org/forum2007.

Employment  

Pedro Solbes, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in Spain, in his keynote address, warned that “fear of social dislocation can ultimately deter innovation or economic progress.” Politicians try to assist displaced workers and help them re-train. In Spain, dialogue with social partners, labour and business, contributed to the success of beneficial economic and social reforms that were nonetheless “painful in the short term.” 
Hirsch
Martin Hirsch, President of the French charity Emmaus at the time of the Forum (now a member of the new French government), pointed to perversities in the system when the unemployed in France receive the same compensation as workers earning the minimum wage, and the unemployed also get extra benefits. To get more people into real, paying jobs he proposes experimenting with small-scale projects at regional level to see what works and what doesn’t before expanding them into full-fledged national policies.
Sweeney
John Sweeney, President of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industry argued that workers’ rights and environmental standards should be included in all international trade and investment agreements. He invited global corporations to assume more social responsibility and abide by the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. 

Equity and International financial markets  

Monks
John Monks, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, regretted that high returns on hedge funds and private equity are often achieved by “financial engineering, not creating new products and services.” “I think the model is dangerous; it is not releasing value but wasting it.”
Jacques Terray, Vice-President of Transparency International, pointed out that, with unlimited movements of capital worldwide, no regulation and so many different financial products, economic agents can exert powerful influences in any country in the world. Moreover, financial globalization opens up the field to all kinds of trafficking and increased use of “tax heavens”. Unless policy makers get on top of such related crimes, people’s perceptions of globalization will inevitably be negative.
BBVA chairman
Francisco González Rodríguez, Chairman and CEO of the Spanish company BBVA, recognised the lack of transparency surrounding these financial products, but “it is too late to go back”. There is no world regulator and central banks have been unable to set up a common policy, so innovation must play a key role in preparing for the future. Most of these new derivatives are based on models that have not been tested in the real world. “If something goes wrong, we will see a lot of blood on the street, no doubt.”

Environment

Brabeck
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Nestlé, said that water issues are among the major threats facing our planet today. He called for “true global leadership, innovation and cooperation between the private and public sector” to address the problem.
Brabeck
Hans Verolme, Director of the Global Climate Change Programme at the WWF emphasised the need for using alternative energies more and for halting deforestation. “What we need is a new “climate change deal”. Stephan Singer, climate and energy expert at the WWF, called for a “Global Energy Marshall Plan” and felt that OECD countries should shoulder most of the burden in reducing emissions. The cost of combating climate change is 20 times less than the costs incurred by global warming, he said.
             
Trade

Fanjul
Gonzalo Fanjul Suárez, Head of Research, Intermón, Oxfam, regretted that the price of medication in developing countries is exorbitant, and the production of generic drugs must be pursued vigorously. At the heart of the problem are intellectual property rights in particular drug patents. To resolve the crisist it is crucial to look at pricing, which for a new generation of drugs may cost 100 times more than current treatments. He reproached the WTO for overprotecting patent holders, noting that major pharmaceutical companies may earn profits up to four times higher that the world’s 500 biggest companies.
Lamy
Pascal Lamy, Director-General of the World Trade Organization, said the multilateral trading system must be fair and unbiased, for then it would benefit both the developed countries and the developing countries.  He believes that the negotiations are “moving forward,” although slowly.  “We need more, not less multilateralism in the future,” and that with challenges like climate change, it is essential for all members to be talking together.”
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II. Article: New OECD Recommendation sets higher environmental standards in order to qualify for export credits backing

On 12 June 2007, a new OECD Recommendation was agreed by OECD governments setting higher environmental requirements for projects supported by official export credits. The 2007 Recommendation replaces a previous Recommendation established in 2003 and substantially “strengthens the environmental guidelines for OECD Export Credit Agencies”, according to the Chair of the OECD’s Working Party on Export Credits and Credit Guarantees, Ms Nicole Bollen.
 
Under the new Recommendation, OECD member governments must review projects for their potential environmental impacts and benchmark them against international standards.  Among the input to the review of the 2003 Recommendation were submissions from civil society organisations (CSOs), including business and industry, trade unions, banking associations and NGOs.  Greater public disclosure of information than before was an issue which concerned OECD members and CSOs; this will effectively increase transparency for projects with the highest potential environmental impacts.  The Export Credit Agencies will also exchange information more regularly in order to improve common practices and promote a level playing field between export credit providers. 

The new Recommendation also extends the international standards against which projects should be benchmarked to include all ten World Bank Safeguard Policies, or, where appropriate, all eight International Finance Corporation Performance Standards.  It clarifies that exports to both new projects and existing operations should be reviewed before ECAs commit to providing official export credit support. It also calls for increased awareness in non-OECD countries (China, Brazil and India) of the benefits of reviewing the environmental impacts of projects they intend to support. The full text of the Recommendation is available.

For further information, contact Julian Paisey.

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III. Article: OECD Adopts OECD Principles for Private Sector Participation in Infrastructure

The OECD Council approved the OECD Principles for Private Sector Participation in Infrastructure on 20 March 2007.  The Principles are designed to help governments work with private sector partners to finance and bring to fruition projects in areas of vital economic importance, such as transport, water and power supply and telecommunications.
The Principles were developed within the Investment Committee, in co-operation with other OECD bodies.  A broad group of public and private sector experts from OECD and other countries, as well as from non-governmental organisations were consulted throughout the process.   They are intended to be used for government assessment, action plans and reporting, international co-operation and public-private dialogue, in conjunction with other OECD instruments, such as the Policy Framework for Investment (www.oecd.org/daf/investment/pfi) and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (www.oecd.org/daf/investment/guidelines).

News release: OECD countries agree Principles for private sector role in infrastructure projects, 26 March 2007
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IV. Calendar of recent or upcoming OECD events with Civil Society

June July August September October November

June 2007

13-15 June, Gothenburg, Sweden: Civil Society and Accountable Global Governance Workshop. The workshop examined draft reports on 12 international institutions, including the OECD, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organisation,  to determine the degree to which and the ways in which civil society activities have helped to make these institutions more answerable to their constituents. Each report will constitute a chapter in a book due to be published in 2008. Participants included the authors of each chapter, mostly from academia, northern and southern NGOs and representatives of the institutions under examination.  The project is sponsored by the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation at the University of Warwick, the United Nations University, the Ford foundation, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

18 June, Paris: OECD Roundtable on Corporate Responsibility with the participation of civil society.  The OECD held a Corporate Responsibility Roundtable, The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the Financial Sector, in conjunction with the Annual Meeting for National Contact Points 18 June 2007 in Paris.  This year’s Roundtable was devoted to dialogue between the financial community and the National Contact Points (NCPs) in order to learn from practitioners about current trends in corporate responsibility practices, instruments in the financial sector and challenges ahead.  Participants exchanged views with financial actors on the various ways in which the OECD Guidelines can best support their efforts to promote corporate responsibility.

19-20 June, Paris:  OECD Multinational Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. Annual meeting of National Contact Points with the participation of civil society. For further information, contact Pam Duffin pam.duffin@oecd.org
Details about the roundtable and the NCP meeting are available at www.oecd.org/daf/investment/guidelines.  

Middle East and North African Countries (MENA)
Representatives from Civil Society are invited to all MENA events. 

19-20 June, Cairo: MENA Working Group 3 Meeting on Tax Policy for Investment

25-26 June, Bahrain: MENA Working Group 2 Meeting: Designing Effective Strategies for Investment Promotion and Reform Communication.

Anti-Corruption

20 June, Paris: Working Group on Bribery consultation with representatives of the private sector, trade unions and civil society
Business, trade unions and civil society organisations actively participate in the implementation and enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Instruments, in particular by raising awareness of the instruments and providing information to the Working Group on countries’ progress in peer reviews. They also take an active role in examining salient anti-bribery issues discussed during the Working Group’s regular consultations with civil society representatives. 
The June Working Group on Bribery consultation will provide an opportunity for a mutual exchange on: 1) recent developments regarding implementation and enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention; 2) the upcoming review of the OECD Anti-Bribery Instruments and the associated monitoring process; and 3) the most important obstacles to the effective enforcement of the Convention.

July 2007

2-3 July, New Delhi, India: Modernising the Indian Tax System, meeting organised by Indian Ministry of Finance, Asian Development Bank and OECD's Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, with invited business representatives on the future of taxation in India.

Ongoing meetings between OECD government representatives and representatives from business (mainly through the Business & Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD). Issue to be discussed in the coming months include the impact of business restructuring on taxation, the international tax treaty implications of Collective Investment Vehicles and the application of value added taxes to internationally traded services and intangibles.

August 2007

8-9 August, Jakarta, Indonesia: Regional Seminar for Asia-Pacific on “conflict of interest - a fundamental anticorruption concept”, organized by the ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia-Pacific. The seminar will identify good practice in detecting and managing conflict of interest situations and disseminate good practice developed in Asian and Pacific countries and OECD member countries. The Seminar will gather, in addition to senior government representatives of Asia-Pacific countries and experts from OECD and ADB member countries, representatives of the Asia-Pacific civil society. For further information, contact frederic.wehrle@oecd.org

September 2007

3-5 September, Bali, Indonesia: 10th Steering Group meeting of the ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia-Pacific. The meeting will discuss anti-corruption policies in the Asia-Pacific region and assess the Initiative's 27 member jurisdictions' ability to seek and provide MLA and extradition in corruption cases. It will bring together, in addition to senior government representatives of 28 Asia-Pacific countries and experts from members of the OECD Working Group on Bribery, representatives of the Asia-Pacific business sector and of civil society. For further information, contact frederic.wehrle@oecd.org

5-7 September, Bali, Indonesia: Regional Seminar for Asia-Pacific on 'making international anti-bribery standards operational: Asset recovery and mutual legal assistance', organized jointly by the ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia-Pacific and the Basel Institute on Governance. The seminar will identify how to overcome obstacles to mutual legal assistance and recovery of assets of corruption, encourage policy developments and strengthen cooperation between Asian and Pacific countries and member countries of the OECD Working Group on Bribery (WGB). The Seminar will bring together, in addition to senior government representatives of Asia-Pacific countries and experts from members of the WGB, representatives of the Asia-Pacific civil society. For further information, contact frederic.wehrle@oecd.org

19-21 September, Valencia, Spain: International Conference Globally Competitive, Locally Engaged – Higher Education and Regions. www.oecd.org/edu.imhe/valencia
This conference will look at ways as to how higher education institutions can best contribute to region building in the knowledge-based economy. The keynote speeches, discussions and parallel work group sessions will draw from the OECD territorial reviews as well as the extensive OECD review project entitled “Supporting the Contribution of Higher Education to Regional Development”, which embraced 14 regions in 12 countries, including the higher education institutions, public and private organisations and civic society. More information on the OECD review project www.oecd.org/edu/higher/regionaldevelopment
The conference is organised by the OECD Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) in cooperation with the OECD Public Governance and Territorial Directorate, the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, Valencia Regional Government, Universitat Politécnica de Valencia and Fundacíon CYD.
Registration deadline 3 September http://www.cfp.upv.es/oecd/inicio/register.jsp

20 September, Paris: Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ACN) In April and May 2007, teams of monitoring experts visited Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to assess progress they made in implementing recommendations of the Istanbul Action Plan.  In both cases, the experts had special sessions with the civil society representatives to solicit their views.  The civil society delegates will also be invited to the plenary session of the Istanbul Action Plan in September 2007 in Paris to take part in the negotiation and adoption of the countries monitoring reports.
The ACN aims to organise its next general meeting at the end of 2007 or early 2008; civil society delegates from all ACN countries will be invited.  As in the past, civil society groups may be invited to manage one of the agenda items of the meeting dedicated to mechanisms and best practices of civil society involvement in anti-corruption policy implementation.  For further information, contact olga.savran@oecd.org

Date to be confirmed, 2007 Amman, Jordan: meeting MENA Working Group 1 of Middle East and North African Countries. Representatives from Civil Society are invited to all MENA events. 

October 2007

1-4 October, Kyoto: International Fiscal Association – Annual Congress.  OECD participates in this major annual conference on a wide range of taxation topics.

4-5 October, Geneva:  WTO Public Forum How Can the WTO Help Harness Globalisation?  OECD plenary session on the Role of Innovation in Harnessing Globalisation.

16-18 October, Seoul: World Knowledge Forum with participation of Deputy Secretary-General, Thelma Askey on Innovation and Wealth in China.

October (Day and location to be determined), 2007: MENA Working Group 4 Meeting:
Representatives from Civil Society are invited to all MENA events. 

November 2007

27-28 November, Cairo: MENA Investment Ministerial Meeting and Business Day. Following a successful meeting of Middle East and North African and OECD ministers in 2006, a second meeting will take place in Cairo later this year with the participation of ministers from MENA and OECD countries.  The focus of the meeting will be on MENA investment policies and reforms enacted over the past year. Representatives of civil society and business organisations will participate in this meeting along with national personalities from the region. The MENA-OECD investment programme was established in 2004 at the request of Middle East and North African countries to provide advice on improving the investment policy climate.  MENA countries realise the urgency to implement significant economic and regulatory reforms to increase private sector participation in their economies. For further information see OECD website: www.oecd.org/mena/investment.

Representatives from Civil Society are invited to all MENA events.  For information regarding this meeting contact Patrice Dubus.
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V. Recent or Upcoming OECD Publications

Anti-Corruption
“Bribery in Public Procurement: Methods, Actors and Counter-Measures” (March 2006) ISBN 978-92-64-01394-0, No. 55545 2007

OECD Working Group on Bribery
Annual Report 2006 (available upon request to anti-corruption.contact@oecd.org )

OECD Observer Magazine, March 2007 issue: special feature on anti-bribery

Understanding the Social Outcomes of Learning
www.oecd.org/edu/socialoutcomes
Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) www.oecd.org/edu/ceri
In this report, the OECD extends its analyses to the social effects of education for  nations and individuals with a focus on health and civic and social engagement.  Better education people usually are in better health and take part in move civic activities. Why? The report draws on work from 13 OECD countries. 

Nuclear Energy
Regional Development and Community Support in Radioactive Waste Management
Article published in NEA News, 2007, No. 25.1 (www.nea.fr/html/pub/pub-annual.html).

Fostering a Durable Relationship Between a Waste Management Facility and its Host Community
Article published in NEA News, 2007, No. 25.1 (www.nea.fr/html/pub/pub-annual.html).

Stakeholder Involvement in Decommissioning Nuclear Facilities
International Lessons Learnt
40 pages. ISBN: 978-92-64-99011-1.
Free on request (download at www.nea.fr or write to neapub@nea.fr).
Significant numbers of nuclear facilities will need to be decommissioned in the coming decades. In this context, NEA member countries are placing increasing emphasis on the involvement of stakeholders in the associated decision procedures. This study reviews decommissioning experience with a view to identifying stakeholder concerns and best practice in addressing them. The lessons learnt about the end of the facility life cycle can also contribute to better foresight in siting and building new facilities. This report will be of interest to all major players in the field of decommissioning, in particular policy makers, implementers, regulators and representatives of local host communities.
This publication is available in French: Implication des parties prenantes dans le déclassement des installations nucléaires - Enseignements internationaux

Fostering a Durable Relationship between a Waste Management Facility and its Host Community
Adding Value Through Design and Process
60 pages. ISBN: 978-92-64-99015-9.
Free on request (download at www.nea.fr or write to neapub@nea.fr).
Any long-term radioactive waste management project is likely to last decades to centuries. It requires a physical site and will impact in a variety of ways on the surrounding community over that whole period. The societal durability of an agreed solution is essential to success. This report identifies a number of design elements (including functional, cultural and physical features) that favour a durable relationship between the facility and its host community by improving prospects for quality of life across generations.
Also available in French: Créer un lien durable entre une installation de gestion de déchets et sa collectivité d'accueil - Valeur ajoutée à travers la conception et les processus
Further information about the activities of the NEA as related to civil society may be found at: http://www.nea.fr/html/civil/welcome.html

Since its creation, the OECD has had co-operative activities with civil society, principally through the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC). Over the last decade, this co-operation has been complemented by increasing activities with other civil society organisations.

For further information about OECD cooperation with civil society, see the OECD civil society Web page or contact:

Meggan Dissly
Civil Society Liaison Manager
Public Affairs Division
Tel + 33 1 45 24 80 94