NEW PUBLICATIONS

Report on enhancing product safety information sharing

Increasingly sophisticated products and a rapidly changing marketplace mean that surveillance authorities must swiftly detect and recall unsafe products. Global trade now makes international co-operation necessary even to ensure protection of domestic consumers, so enhanced information-sharing mechanisms are critical both between and within countries. The OECD has recently released a report which examines the existing mechanisms of information exchange and provides a ten-point action plan to enhance them. The implementation of this recommendations will be supervised by a newly created Working Party on Consumer Product Safety.

The ICT Sector in India: Performance, Growth and Key Challenges

Rapid growth in globally competitive Indian information technology services has helped to transform the Indian economy. A large skill pool, adequate telecommunication networks, and an improving policy and regulatory environment have enabled domestic and foreign firms to expand very rapidly. In contrast, the IT hardware segment has lagged, focuses very largely on the domestic market, and remains heavily dependent on imports of components and finished IT goods. This new report analyses recent growth of the ICT sector in India, and suggests policies to underpin further growth.

Geographically segmented regulation of telecommunications

Regulatory authorities in most OECD countries have traditionally adopted a national geographic area focus when framing the geographic scope of telecommunications markets. Arguments stemming from market analysis economics suggest that differential regulation be considered between geographic areas where facility-based competition has developed and where it has not. The aim of this paper is to appraise the case for, and developments in, the use of sub-national geographically segmented regulation for fixed telecommunications networks.

OECD report on the future of news and the Internet

What potential roles might government support take in supporting a diverse and local press without putting its independence at stake? OECD provides an in depth-treatment of the global newspaper market and its evolution, with a particular view on its economics, the development of online news, related opportunities and challenges, and policy approaches. More information available at: www.oecd.org/document/48/0,3343,en_2649_34223_45449136_1_1_1_1,00.html.

Broadband data for December 2009 just released

There were 283 million broadband subscriptions in the OECD area in December 2009. The average penetration rate across the OECD has grown to 23.3 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants up from 22.8 in June 2009. New data on broadband subscriptions and penetration rates are available on the OECD broadband portal.

RECENT EVENTS

Roundtable discussion of the OECD's "Consumer Policy Toolkit"

On 21 July, in Washington D.C., the US Federal Trade Commission’s Chairman Jon Leibowitz welcomed stakeholders and journalists at a roundtable discussion of the OECD's just-published "Consumer Policy Toolkit". The distinguished guests: Ambassador Karen Kornbluh and OECD Director for Science, Technology, and Industry, Andrew Wyckoff, provided the insights into the relevance of this work for policy makers and welcomed questions from the public. More information is available at www.oecd.org/document/51/0,3343,en_2649_34267_45577907_1_1_1_1,00.html.

OECD workshop on the role of Internet intermediaries in advancing public policy objectives

The OECD Workshop on “The Role of Internet Intermediaries in Advancing Public Policy Objectives” took place on June 16, 2010, in Paris, France, and discussed and identified best practices and lessons learned from experience to date of Internet intermediaries in advancing public policy objectives. The workshop brought together more than 30 experts in their fields from a broad range of disciplines and areas of expertise, including the technical and academic communities, policy-makers, and private sector representatives. More information is available at: www.oecd.org/sti/ict/intermediaries.

OECD workshop on enhancing the value and effectiveness of environmental claims: protecting and empowering consumers

What can be done to ensure the accuracy, clarity and effectiveness of environmental marketing claims was the subject of an OECD workshop entitled Enhancing the Value and the Effectiveness of Environmental Claims: Protecting and Empowering Consumers, held in Paris on 15-16 April 2010. The event brought together over 160 representatives from government, business and civil society. Workshop conclusions will feed into the OECD Green Growth Strategy and the work of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. The workshop’s conclusions are available at: www.oecd.org/document/4/0,3343,en_2649_34267_45543620_1_1_1_1,00.html.

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