Reports

This review analyses progress and challenges of open government data in the Polish national context. It is based on existing OECD methodology and formulates recommendations that aim to help Poland improve open government data efforts and achieve impacts. The recommendations take into account the departing level of the Polish context and focus on priority needs, which in the case of Poland is the establishment of an 'infrastructure' to support coherent and sustainable efforts across the administration: creation of an ecosystem of related and co-operating actors, establishment of a supportive governance framework, development of the needed skills and culture among civil servants.

This report contains the 2014 'Phase 2: Implementation of the Standards in Practice' Global Forum review of Poland. The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes is the multilateral framework within which work in the area of tax transparency and exchange of information is carried out by over 120 jurisdictions which participate in the work of the Global Forum on an equal footing. The Global Forum is charged with in-depth monitoring and peer review of the implementation of the standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes. These standards are primarily reflected in the 2002 OECD Model Agreement on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters and its commentary, and in Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital and its commentary as updated in 2004, which has been incorporated in the UN Model Tax Convention. The standards provide for international exchange on request of foreseeably relevant information for the administration or enforcement of the domestic tax laws of a requesting party. 'Fishing expeditions' are not authorised, but all foreseeably relevant information must be provided, including bank information and information held by fiduciaries, regardless of the existence of a domestic tax interest or the application of a dual criminality standard. All members of the Global Forum, as well as jurisdictions identified by the Global Forum as relevant to its work, are being reviewed. This process is undertaken in two phases. Phase 1 reviews assess the quality of a jurisdiction’s legal and regulatory framework for the exchange of information, while Phase 2 reviews look at the practical implementation of that framework. Some Global Forum members are undergoing combined – Phase 1 plus Phase 2 – reviews. The ultimate goal is to help jurisdictions to effectively implement the international standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.

Les examens environnementaux de l’OCDE sont des évaluations indépendantes des progrès accomplis par les pays pour tenir leurs engagements environnementaux nationaux et internationaux. Ces examens ont pour objectif de favoriser les échanges de bonnes pratiques et l’apprentissage entre pairs, d’aider les gouvernements à rendre compte de leurs politiques auprès des autres pays et de l’opinion publique et d’améliorer la performance environnementale, individuelle et collective, des pays. Les analyses s’appuient sur un large éventail de données économiques et environnementales et contiennent également des recommandations de politique publique. Au cours de chaque cycle d’examens environnementaux, l’OCDE passe en revue l’ensemble de ses pays membres ainsi que certains pays partenaires. Les derniers pays examinés sont la Suède (2014), l’Islande (2014) et l’Espagne (2015). Ce rapport est le troisième examen environnemental de la Pologne. Il évalue les progrès accomplis par la Pologne en termes de développement durable et de croissance verte, avec un accent particulier sur la forêt et la biodiversité ainsi que la gestion des déchets et des matières.

People today are living longer than ever before, while birth rates are dropping in the majority of OECD countries. Such demographics raise the question: are current public social expenditures adequate and sustainable? Older workers play a crucial role in the labour market. Now that legal retirement ages are rising, fewer older workers are retiring early, but at the same time those older workers who have lost their job after the age of 50 have tended to remain in long term unemployment. What can countries do to help? How can they give older people better work incentives and opportunities? These reports offer analysis and assessment on what the best policies are for fostering employability, job mobility and labour demand at an older age.

This report proposes a practical, country-based framework for developing good governance indicators for programmes funded by the European Union in Poland. The concepts presented and the challenges discussed are, however, relevant to a wide range of OECD member and non-member countries in the development of indicators-based performance measurement systems.