Each country follows its own accession process and is assessed independently.
An Accession Roadmap is developed to detail the terms, conditions and process of each accession discussion. The process includes rigorous and in-depth evaluations by more than 20 technical committees on a broad range of policy areas. These reviews assess the candidate country’s alignment with the relevant OECD instruments, and evaluate its policies and practices as compared to OECD policies and practices. As part of these reviews,, changes to the candidate countries’ legislation, policy and practices are required to bring them into line with OECD standards and best practices, thus serving as a powerful catalyst for reform.
There is no deadline for completion of the accession processes. The timeline for the accession process depends on the pace at which the candidate country provides information to Committees and responds to recommendations for changes to the relevant legislation, policies and practices.
At the end of their technical reviews, each Committee provides a “formal opinion” to the OECD Council.
On the basis of the formal opinions and other relevant information, the Council takes a final and unanimous decision on whether to extend an invitation to the candidate country to become a Member. An Accession Agreement is then signed and the candidate country takes the necessary domestic steps to eventually deposit an instrument of accession to the OECD Convention with the depositary, i.e. the French government.
On the date of deposit, the candidate country formally becomes a Member of the OECD.