This paper charts the key changes in equity markets over the last decade or so which may affect the conditions for corporate governance. It also provides a brief overview of related policy discussions and selected national initiatives that have been taken as a response to equity market developments.

Participants in this multi-stakeholder meeting launched the Gold Implementation programme and advanced implementation of due diligence in the 3Ts supply chain to ensure that companies avoid contributing to conflict through their mineral or metal purchasing decisions and practices.

Recent years have brought a flood of stories about dubious standards in business. In the past, many of these might not have impinged on the public’s consciousness. But in today’s interconnected world, consumers and stakeholders are raising the bar for what’s acceptable in corporate behaviour. It’s up to boards and board members to ensure that businesses meet those expectations.

The recent scandal over the use of horsemeat in readymade meals that has shaken the entire European continent has revealed not only the complexity and opacity of our food supply chain, but also–and above all–the shortcomings of European food law.

Slovenia is facing the legacy of a boom-bust cycle that has been compounded by weak corporate governance of state-owned banks. The levels of non-performing loans and capital adequacy ratios compare poorly in international perspective and may deteriorate further, which could require significant bank recapitalisation.

Without propriety, integrity, transparency and the engagement of all stakeholders, markets cannot function well. Governments must protect fundamental rights and ensure good governance, fair regulations and transparency, while businesses must acknowledge that operating globally also implies a responsibility for their impact locally.

Legislative and regulatory policy options for sustainable capital markets - A good corporate governance framework should combine transparency, accountability and integrity and this requires knowledge of beneficial ownership. This report assesses the costs, benefits and practicalities of different approaches, suggesting policy options to better identify ultimate beneficial ownership in Indonesia.

This study provides critical observations on the state of key global equity markets as recent developments have put into question their efficiency and effectiveness in facilitating capital formation. It covers the top 26 initial public offering (IPO) producing nations, with a particular focus on stock markets in the United States.

This report describes the current policy framework in Asia and summarises the challenges to establishing a formal and transparent board nomination and election process. It proposes policy options to improve the transparency of the board nomination and election process in order to reinforce more effective boards.

SOEs are an important feature of the economic landscape in the MENA region. This report examines their contribution to industrial development, diversification, poverty elimination and the provision of goods and services. It assesses ownership and governance practices and makes recommendations to policymakers, managers and boards.

This report analyses the supervision and enforcement of rules and practices relating to related party transactions, takeover bids and shareholder meetings in 27 jurisdictions and includes in-depth reviews of practices in Brazil, Turkey, and the United States.

Participants in this multi-stakeholder meeting reviewed and discussed the implementation of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance and in the 3Ts supply chain to ensure that companies avoid contributing to conflict through their mineral or metal purchasing decisions and practices.

18 November 2013 - Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Week 2013 opened in Bangkok today with a regional conference on responsible business practices jointly organised by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Jointly organised by the OECD and ESCAP, this conference focused on the role of governments in supporting and facilitating more sustainable and inclusive business practices in the Asia-Pacific region.

Muscat, Oman - 2 December 2013 - This meeting was organised in the format of a high level regional roundtable, where heads and other representatives of regional exchanges were invited to participate, alongside regulators and relevant international and regional institutions.

This report evaluates the corporate governance practices of Colombian SOEs against the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises. The assessment was prepared based on information provided by the Colombian authorities, an analysis of the available literature and interviews with authorities, consultants, academics, and company as well as stakeholder representatives.

This paper provides a framework for analysing ownership engagement by institutional investors. It argues that the general term “institutional investor” in itself doesn’t say very much about the quality or degree of ownership engagement. It is therefore an evasive “shorthand” for policy discussions about ownership engagement.

The 2013 Annual Report describes the activities undertaken to promote the observance of the Guidelines during the implementation cycle of June 2012-June 2013. This includes the launch of the Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct (RBC), the establishment of a Working Party on RBC, and the elaboration of a robust multi-stakeholder proactive agenda to promote the observance of the principles and standards found in the Guidelines.

This conference focused on recent reforms undertaken by the government to improve the investment climate in Myanmar, and the ways that the international community can help ensure that renewed investor interest contributes to sustainable and inclusive development. It featured a discussion of the detailed finding of the recently released OECD Investment Policy Review of Myanmar.

Recommendation of the OECD Council on Effective Public Investment Across Levels of Government

The European Commission has proposed an integrated EU approach to stop profits from trading minerals being used to fund armed conflicts. The package of measures aims to make it more difficult for armed groups in conflict-affected and high-risk areas to finance their activities through the mining of and trade in minerals.

This article provides a framework for analysing the character and degree of ownership engagement by institutional investors. There are large differences in ownership engagement between different categories of institutional investors. There are also differences in ownership engagement within the same category of institutional investors such as hedge funds, investment funds, etc.

This workshop focused on how to comply with international regulations on conflict-free gold supply chains and how to make the most of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas.

This meeting provided the opportunity to review and discuss implementation of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance and the ICGLR Regional Certification Mechanism. Issues pertinent to the tin, tantalum and tungsten (3Ts) and gold supply chains were addressed during the three-day forum.

Participants at the forum adopted a communiqué calling for companies to confront challenges they encounter openly and transparently by publicly reporting on due diligence in accordance with the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas

Available in several languages, this booklet provides basic information about the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the most comprehensive set of government-backed recommendations on responsible business conduct in existence today. Adhering governments aim to encourage the positive contributions MNEs can make to sustainable development and to minimise the difficulties to which their various operations may give rise.

Este folleto contiene información esencial sobre las Líneas Directrices de la OCDE para empresas multinacionales, que en la actualidad constituyen las recomendaciones más exhaustivas aprobadas por los gobiernos sobre la conducta responsable de las empresas.

This Global Forum plays an important role as the tool for on-going dialogue on responsible business conduct. I am pleased to announce that today, Ministers from over 20 countries are coming together to discuss how to integrate responsibility considerations throughout government policies. Their work will contribute to protect internationally recognised fundamental rights and to ensure good governance, fair regulations, and transparency.

This statement was adopted by National Contact Points on 25 June 2014 during their 15th Meeting.

Communiqué by Ministers participating in the informal ministerial meeting on responsible business conduct that took place at the OECD on 26 June 2014.

This survey was presented at the Informal ministerial meeting on responsible business conduct held in Paris on 26 June 2014.

Investment treaties are often thought to be silent on investors’ responsibilities to host societies and on their contributions to sustainable development. This paper establishes a factual and statistical basis for understanding the relationship between investment treaty law and governments’ ability to advance the sustainable development agenda and promote responsible business conduct.

This paper examines shareholder claims for reflective loss under investment treaties in light of comparative analysis of advanced systems of corporate law; considers the impact of allowing shareholder claims for reflective loss on key characteristics of the business corporation; and explores possible responses by different categories of investors to the availability of shareholder claims for reflective loss under investment treaties.

This book presents the findings of an OECD policy dialogue with Indian stakeholders on policies to improve the monitoring and prevention of abusive related party transactions in India.

The OECD made the draft text of the revised OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises available for public comment between May and September 2014. The public consultation is now closed.

This report analyses a dataset detailing the size of national state-owned enterprise (SOE) sectors (by number, value and employment) and their composition by sector and corporate forms for 34 countries.

This book presents a study of the corporate governance legal framework and enforcement by capital market regulators in participating Asian jurisdictions.

This roundtable provided a forum for dialogue on building responsible supply chains in the textile and garment sector that contribute to inclusive growth and sustainable development, in line with the OECD and ILO recommendations. The Roundtable also identified challenges and areas for future collaborative action.

This paper examines key developments in public and private corporate governance enforcement in the Middle East and North Africa region, highlighting the growing level of public enforcement as expertise within the securities regulators grows and providing policy recommendations on specific aspects of governance frameworks.

This joint OECD-UASA publication contains the results of a survey on the regulatory treatment of related part transactions (RPTs) in the Middle East and North Africa region. It concludes with recommendations to policymakers designed to ensure adequate oversight of RPTs in order to promote market integrity in the region.

Beijing, 24 October 2014 - China presented guidelines intended to provide a roadmap for the responsible business conduct of Chinese companies operating overseas. In addition, China and the OECD signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote the implementation by Chinese companies of responsible business conduct in global mineral supply chains.

This meeting provided the opportunity to review and discuss implementation of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance, the ICGLR Regional Certification Mechanism, and other initiatives to enable responsible mineral supply chains. Issues pertinent to the tin, tantalum and tungsten (3Ts) and gold supply chains were also addressed during the Forum.

26-27 November 2014 – Lusaka, Zambia: This meeting focused on combating corruption and promoting responsible business conduct in SOEs and was followed by a workshop on the governance of SOEs operating in the power generation industry. Participants launched and adopted the Guidelines on the Governance of State-Owned Enterprises in Southern Africa.

The Principles are being reviewed to ensure their continuing high quality, relevance and usefulness, taking into account recent developments in the corporate sector and capital markets. The OECD invited public comment on the draft revised text. Deadline for comment: Now closed.

The German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), supported by the OECD, has initiated a study to assess the contribution of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) to due diligence for responsible mineral supply chains. To gather information for this study, SMEs were invited to take part on a confidential survey of due diligence activities by SMEs.

This public consultation was held to gather comments on the draft FAO-OECD guidance for responsible agricultural supply chains which is designed to help enterprises observe standards of responsible business conduct along their agricultural supply chains. The deadline for comment was 20 February 2015.

Today the discourse on “conflict minerals” has changed. It’s not just about conflict-free, it's about promoting responsible sourcing of minerals from conflict areas, despite the challenges. This blog discusses the urgent need to create responsible supply chains of artisanal gold, and support the livelihoods of miners in the informal gold industry, and how OECD guidance can help companies do this.

The promotion of responsible business conduct has taken an important step forward with the launch of a new reporting framework. Businesses now have no excuse for not explaining how they’re meeting their human rights obligations.

This article by Roel Nieuwenkamp talks about the trend of hardening of soft law in the domain of responsible business conduct. It argues that legislative proposals related to existing international instruments should not seek to reinvent the wheel, but to reinforce it. Existing instruments that are widely recognised and proven to be effective and reasonable should represent a foundation for their legally-binding counterparts.

Two years ago today, the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka collapsed, killing over 1,100 people and injuring another 2,500. The dead and injured were garment workers. This blog post looks at due diligence in the apparel supply chain.