OECD: Compendium of International Organisations’ Practices: Working Towards More Effective International Instruments

The OECD has published Compendium of International Organisations’ Practices: Working Towards More Effective International Instruments (OECD 2021). Here's the abstract:

From combating COVID-19 and climate change to tackling corruption and tax evasion, international organisations (IOs) play a critical role in helping countries find solutions to common problems. But for IOs to deliver optimal support to countries and their populations, the international instruments they develop need to be inclusive, well understood and have a tangible impact. This Compendium of International Organisation’s Practices gathers the experiences of some 50 IOs with different mandates, members and institutional frameworks to draw lessons for international rulemaking. It examines the diversity of instruments in the international rulemaking ecosystem; describes trends and challenges; and discusses how to strengthen the implementation and evaluation of international instruments, ensure efficient stakeholder engagement, and maximise opportunities for co-ordination across IOs.

Conference: Combating Impunity: Targeting Kleptocrats and their Assets

On April 3, 2018, the George Washington University Law School, the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, and the American Society of International Law will hold a conference on "Combating Impunity: Targeting Kleptocrats and their Assets," in Washington, DC. The program is here.

Conference: Treaty Shopping and Tools for Investment Treaty Reform

On March 12, 2018, the OECD will host its Fourth Annual Investment Treaty Conference. The theme is: "Treaty Shopping and Tools for Investment Treaty Reform." The program is here. Here's the idea:

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The fourth annual OECD Investment Treaty Conference will address treaty shopping -- a controversial investment treaty issue of policy interest for many governments and stakeholders -- and explore tools to help interested governments improve their investment treaty policies.

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Treaty shopping is widespread in the current investment treaty system. The Conference will discuss methods used, impact, policy issues raised, relevant government treaty policies and other issues.

pThe Conference will also present the innovative Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (MLI) to the investment policy community. The MLI was developed by an ad hoc group of over 100 countries to address tax treaty shopping and additional issues. It facilitates the swift and consistent implementation of internationally agreed measures into existing bilateral treaties and provides for modification of almost half of the over 3,000 bilateral tax treaties in force today.

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A concluding session will consider potential tools for reform based on the discussion and prior work by the Freedom of Investment Roundtable, and future steps.

SFDI: Le pouvoir normatif de l’OCDE : Journée d’études de Paris de la Société française pour le droit international

The Société française pour le droit international has published Le pouvoir normatif de l’OCDE : Journée d’études de Paris de la Société française pour le droit international (Pedone 2014). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

Cet ouvrage est le fruit des débats qui se sont déroulés et de la réflexion ainsi engagée lors d’une journée d’études de la Société française pour le droit international qui s’est tenue dans le cadre des célébrations du cinquantenaire de l’entrée en vigueur de la Convention de Paris créant l’Organisation de Coopération et de Développement économiques (OCDE). L’OCDE est davantage connue du grand public pour sa fonction d’expertise dans le domaine économique que pour sa fonction normative. Or le but des organisateurs était précisément de se concentrer sur celle-ci. Comment l’OCDE est-elle devenue un site majeur de production de normes – entendues au sens large – destinées à être largement diffusées au niveau international ? Comment comprendre l’enchevêtrement de décisions, recommandations, principes, modèles, guides pratiques portant sur un même secteur d’activité ? L’enjeu était aussi de s’interroger sur la place de l’OCDE dans la galaxie des organisations internationales et sa capacité à œuvrer à la régulation juridique de la mondialisation.

Avi-Yonah: Hanging Together: A Multilateral Approach to Taxing Multinationals

Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (Univ. of Michigan - Law) has posted Hanging Together: A Multilateral Approach to Taxing Multinationals. Here's the abstract:

The recent revelation that many multinational enterprises (MNEs) pay very little tax to the countries they operate in has led to various proposals to change the ways they are taxed. Most of these proposals, however, do not address the fundamental flaws in the international tax regime that allow companies like Apple or Starbucks to legally avoid taxation. In particular, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has been working on a Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project and is supposed to make recommendations to the G20, but it is not clear yet whether this will result in a meaningful advance toward preventing BEPS. This paper will advance a simple proposal that will allow OECD member countries to tax MNEs based in those countries without impeding their competitiveness. The key observation is that in the 21st century unilateral approaches to tax corporations whose operations span the globe are obsolete, and a multilateral approach is both essential and feasible. The paper therefore proposes that each OECD country commit to taxing its multinationals fully on a current basis, since such a multilateral approach eliminates all the usual arguments against current taxation.

Symposium: Toward Coherence in International Economic Law: Perspectives at the 50th Anniversary of the OECD

The latest issue of the George Washington International Law Review (Vol. 43, no. 2, 2011) contains a symposium on "Toward Coherence in International Economic Law: Perspectives at the 50th Anniversary of the OECD." Contents include:

• Nicola Bonucci, The OECD at Fifty: Some Observations on the Evolving Nature of an International Organization
• James Salzman, The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Role in International Law
• Robert Wolfe, The OECD Contribution to the Evolution of Twenty-First Century Trade Law
• Rainer Geiger, Coherence in Shaping the Rules for International Business: Actors, Instruments, and Implementation
• Gabriela I. Ramos, The OECD in the G20: A Natural Partner in Global Governance
• Jan Wouters & Sven Van Kerckhoven, The OECD and the G20: An Ever Closer Relationship?
• Ashley L. Santner, A Soft Law Mechanism for Corporate Responsibility: How the Updated OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises Promote Business for the Future

Letnar Černič: The 2011 Update of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises

Jernej Letnar Černič (Graduate School of Government and European Studies, Slovenia and European School of Law, Slovenia) has posted an ASIL Insight on The 2011 Update of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

Conference: Le pouvoir normatif de l'OCDE

On September 16, 2011, the Institut de Recherche en Droit international et européen de la Sorbonne (IREDIES) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Devopment (OECD) will co-host a Journée d’études SFDI at the OECD. The topic is "Le pouvoir normatif de l'OCDE," in honor of the OECD's fiftieth anniversary. The program is here.