Publications

This report analyses the broad risks associated with sectoral output disruptions both domestically and abroad, examining several exposure metrics. The results indicate that domestic shocks generally have larger sectoral impacts than foreign shocks. In most cases, foreign production disruptions cause minimal domestic output responses, suggesting that domestic and international linkages, along with economic adjustment mechanisms, tend to dampen rather than amplify foreign shocks. However, a cumulation of adverse shocks can significantly affect specific sectors, with manufacturing sectors are on average much more exposed to foreign output shocks than services and agrifood given their greater internationalisation of output and inputs. Economies with strong backward and forward global value chain links to major foreign economies also tend to be more exposed to foreign shocks.

In today's rapidly evolving economy, businesses are facing growing challenges in recruiting workers with the right skills. Chambers of commerce can play an important role in helping communities tackle these pressing issues and building skills systems that are fit for the future. This paper draws on a 2024 survey undertaken by the OECD in collaboration with Eurochambres and the International Chamber of Commerce, covering chambers from 65 countries and transnational regions. It explores the role chambers play in shaping and implementing skills policies at local, regional and national levels. Common approaches include supporting strategy development at both national and regional/local levels; serving as an intermediary between businesses and skills programmes; and, at least to some degree, being a direct provider of training themselves. As demands for agile and inclusive skills systems grow, this paper serves as a first step to explore how chambers can further support skills agendas.

This annual publication compiles comparable tax revenue statistics for 36 economies, including Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, People’s Republic of China, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Georgia, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Maldives, the Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Nauru, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Vanuatu and Viet Nam. Additionally, it provides information on non-tax revenues for 22 of the 36 economies. The publication applies the OECD Revenue Statistics methodology to Asian and Pacific economies, facilitating consistent comparison of tax levels and structures within the region as well as globally. This eleventh edition of the report includes a special feature on tax revenue buoyancy in Asia. The publication is jointly produced by the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration and the OECD Development Centre, in co-operation with the Asian Development Bank, the Pacific Islands Tax Administrators Association and the Pacific Community.

This Test Guideline (TG) describes a short-term juvenile hormone (JH) activity screening assay using Daphnia magna to detect the potential of chemicals with JH activity. The JHASA was designed as a screen assay which evaluates male offspring production in the parthenogenetic daphnid.

This Test Guideline describes a Rapid Estrogen ACTivity In Vivo (REACTIV) Assay in an aquatic assay that utilises transgenic Oryzias latipes (Japanese medaka) eleutheroembryos at day post hatch zero, in a multi-well plate format to identify chemicals active on the estrogen axis. The REACTIV assay was designed as a screening assay to provide a medium throughput and short-term assay to measure the response of eleutheroembryos to chemicals potentially active on the estrogen axis.

The Hyalella azteca Bioconcentration Test (HYBIT) provides a non-vertebrate test for bioconcentration in aquatic environments. The test consists of two phases: the exposure (uptake) and post-exposure (depuration) phases. During the uptake phase, a group of H. azteca is exposed to the test chemical at one or more chosen concentrations. They are then transferred to a medium free of the test chemical for the depuration phase. The concentration of the test chemical in the analysed H. azteca is followed through both phases of the test. Parameters which characterise the bioaccumulation potential include the uptake rate constant (k1), the depuration rate constant (k2), the steady-state bioconcentration factor (BCFSS) and the kinetic bioconcentration factor (BCFK).

This Phase 4 Two-Year Written Follow-up report on Greece by the OECD Working Group on Bribery evaluates the implementation of the recommendations in the Phase 4 Evaluation report on Greece’s implementation of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and the 2021 Recommendation of the Council for Further Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. It was adopted by the OECD Working Group on Bribery on 12 June 2024.

The in vitro macromolecular test method is a biochemical in vitro test method that can be used to identify chemicals (substances and mixtures) that have the potential to induce serious eye damage as well as chemicals not requiring classification for eye irritation or serious eye damage. The in vitro macromolecular test method contains a macromolecular reagent composed of a mixture of proteins, glycoproteins, carbohydrates, lipids and low molecular weight components, that when rehydrated forms a complex macromolecular matrix which mimics the highly ordered structure of the transparent cornea. Corneal opacity is described as the most important driver for classification of eye hazard. Test chemicals producing protein denaturation, unfolding and changes in conformation will lead to the disruption and disaggregation of the highly organised macromolecular reagent matrix, and produce turbidity of the macromolecular reagent. Such phenomena is quantified, by measuring the changes in light scattering (at a wavelength of 405 nm using a spectrometer), which is compared to the standard curve established in parallel by measuring the increase in OD produced by a set of calibration substances.

This method provides information on health hazard likely to arise from short-term exposure to a test article (gas, vapour or aerosol/particulate test article) by inhalation. The revised Test Guideline describes two studies: a traditional LC50 protocol and a Concentration x Time (C x t) protocol. It can be used to estimate a median lethal concentration (LC50), non-lethal threshold concentration (LC01) and slope, and to identify possible sex susceptibility. This Test Guideline enables a test article quantitative risk assessment and classification according to the Globally Harmonized System for the Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. In the traditional LC50 protocol, animals are exposed to one limit concentration or to three concentrations, at least, for a predetermined duration, generally of 4 hours. Usually 10 animals should be used for each concentration. In the C x T protocol, animals are exposed to one limit concentration or a series of concentrations over multiple time durations. Usually 2 animals per C x t interval are used. Animals (the preferred species is the rat) should be observed for at least 14 days. The study includes measurements (including weighing), daily and detailed observations, as well as gross necropsy.

The Local Lymph Node Assay: BrdU-ELISA (LLNA:BrdU-ELISA) is a non-radioactive modification to the LLNA method for identifying potential skin sensitizing test substances and measuring the proliferation of lymphocytes they induce in the auricular lymph nodes. The method described in mouse  is based on the use of measuring 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU) content, an analogue of thymidine, as an indicator of this proliferation. A minimum of four animals is used per dose group, with a minimum of three concentrations of the test substance, plus a concurrent negative control group and a positive control group. The experimental schedule is during 6 days. Thereafter, the animals are killed and a single cell suspension of lymph node cells (LNC) is prepared. The procedure for preparing the LNC is crucial, in particular for the small lymph nodes in NC animals. Then the BrdU content in DNA of lymphocytes is measured by ELISA using a commercial kit of by Flow Cytometry (FCM). This study includes: measurements (weighing, BrdU) and clinical daily observations. The results are expressed as the Stimulation Index (SI) obtained by calculation from the mean BrdU labelling index. The SI should be ≥1.6 for the ELISA method or ≥2.7 for the FCM method for identifying the test material as a potential skin sensitizer.