Paris, 26^th June, 2020 – Business at OECD reiterates its commitment to engage constructively in the OECD project to address the tax challenges of the digitalisation of the economy. It continues to firmly advocate that reaching a global solution is the only way to avoid unilateral solutions which would do great harm to tax certainty and global trade in general.

Will Morris, Chair of Business at OECD’s Committee on Taxation and Fiscal Policy, commented: “While we have previously suggested a re-prioritization of OECD fiscal work amid the Covid-19 crisis in order to take into account the resource strain for most companies and governments, we want to strongly reiterate that we remain completely committed to supporting the critical goal of a sustainable international consensus, which meets countries’ needs, and supports innovation and investment.  We hope that this consensus will be achieved soon.”

Business at OECD will continue to offer full support, engagement and cooperation to the OECD to continue work on the technical aspects of the project in the Inclusive Framework process, in order to arrive swiftly at a solution that is satisfactory for companies and tax administrations alike.  Likewise, to the greatest extent possible, we will encourage national leaders to reach a political consensus as soon as possible.

Business at OECD appeals to all stakeholders to subscribe to the aim of achieving this multilateral outcome.

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Paris, 27^th May, 2020 – Today, Business at OECD published its 2020 Economic Policy Survey, indicating a sharp deterioration of business confidence across OECD economies.

“The COVID-19 pandemic poses a substantial threat to the global economy resulting from containment and other measures essential to address the health impact,” said Mr. Russel Mills, Business at OECD Secretary General. “Our survey points to a stark decline of the overall business climate, with global leading business organizations concerned that the economic fallout could exceed that of the Financial Crisis. A bottom-up, business-led recovery with a strong and effective cooperation with governments is now critical. As we start the long recovery process, we plan to leverage the core OECD values and unique comparative advantages, including evidence-based policymaking, peer learning processes and reviews to enable the dissemination of best practices.”

Key insights from our survey include:

• While in 2019 only 16% of business federations perceived the business climate as weak or very weak, this share now skyrocketed to a staggering 95%.
• Alarmingly, 3 out of 4 respondents expect the current crisis to have a more severe economic impact than the financial crisis. A swift rebound appears unlikely.
• About half of surveyed business organizations consider government response measures as largely appropriate in the short-term, while the other half regards these as too small or somewhat small.

“Extraordinary expansionary monetary, fiscal and economic policies will be required from now well into 2022 in most countries to counteract the risks stemming from the immediate fallout from containment measures”, noted Dr. Klaus Deutsch, Chair of the Business at OECD Economic Policy Committee. “Despite strong public efforts to support businesses and workers during the crisis, we expect higher unemployment, increased rates of business bankruptcies, weaker public and private balance sheets, reduced investment spending, and increased calls for protectionism. Effective recovery plans and international coordination and cooperation are vital.”

About the 2020 Economic Policy Survey
We conducted our survey in mid-April 2020. 20 national business and employer organizations, representing 73% of all OECD countries’ GDP, participated in the survey. Each participating business and employer organization represents thousands of companies across several economic sectors in their respective countries.

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Paris, 14th May, 2020 – Following Colombia’s formal accession to the OECD as 37th Member State last month, we are pleased to officially welcome the National Business Association of Colombia—ANDI—as the Colombian affiliate of Business at OECD.

Our collaboration with the Colombian business community spans eight years when ANDI joined our Observer program. Our work with leading business organizations from non-OECD countries brings business expertise and enables participation in our business groups and liaison with OECD bodies.

We also provided input to the accession of Colombia, which formally started in 2013. As the official business advisory body to the OECD, Business at OECD  values the thorough process that takes place in each accession process as it encourages countries to improve their business environment and engage in the necessary reforms.

Commenting on ANDI’s participation in our work, Bruce Mac Master, President of ANDI stated, “amidst the difficult times we face nowadays, there is always good news. Colombia is now part of OECD and ANDI, as representative of Colombia’s private sector, has become a full member of Business at OECD. It is an excellent opportunity to share best practices with our global partners and to drive new solutions for a changing world, where general well-being will be one of our highest priorities.”

Russel Mills, Business at OECD Secretary General, commented: “we are delighted to have ANDI formally join as member. It allows us to successfully convene the growing global business community in OECD countries and key partners. More than ever our expanding business network depends on effective engagement with policy makers to ensure an enabling environment to support trade and investment in global markets. The adherence to OECD standards and instruments, and their reliable implementation, are critical for more productive and competitive economies.”

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Business outlines trade policy actions to minimize supply chain disruptions and address Covid-19 outbreak.

Paris, 7th April, 2020 – Today, we released a statement outlining priorities for a Covid-19 trade policy response with three overarching objectives for OECD:

• support OECD member and partner countries in establishing necessary, effective, and evidence-based measures to address the Covid-19 pandemic;
• safeguard that governments do not misuse these developments to adopt or keep arbitrary, discriminatory or protectionist policies that disrupt supply chains and put further strains on the economy;
• highlight the crucial role of open trade and global value chains as fundamental drivers to recover from this global crisis.

We submitted this paper as business input into the virtual OECD Trade Committee meeting of senior trade officials from OECD member and partner countries.

Among others, the paper calls for:

• OECD to establish a framework to monitor and analyze trade policy measures that are introduced by governments in response to the Covid-19 pandemic
• OECD in-depth analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on world trade, investment, and global value chains, with policy guidance on international cooperation
• OECD work towards a reduction in tariff and non-tariff barriers as an effective tool in stimulating the economy, and as part of a holistic economic policy response.

Commenting on the role the OECD can play in supporting international coordination on the global pandemic:

• “The OECD should support measures that are targeted, risk-proportionate, transparent, WTO-compliant, and temporary – ideally with sunset clauses and a clear exit strategy’’ – said Clifford Sosnow, Chair of the Business at OECD Trade Committee.
• “Businesses face serious cash-flow constraints that threaten their sustainability and ability to exist in the short-term. Trade Ministers can design effective policies to stimulate the economy, and should be a critical part of a holistic economic policy response.” said Marta Blanco, Vice Chair of the Business at OECD Trade Committee, and President of the Spanish CEOE International. Spain will chair the OECD Ministerial this year.
• “Trade responses will need to be integrated into the OECD-wide strategy to help coordinate a “Global Marshall Plan” based recovery policy. Unilateral measures that disrupt the required trade and investment would have devastating consequences, delay recovery and further aggravate countries’ pandemic preparedness and resilience.” Said Russel Mills, Secretary General, Business at OECD.

The OECD Trade Committee meeting takes place from 7 to 9 April 2020 – a little more than a week after G20 Trade and Investment Ministers committed “to presenting a united front against this common threat.”[1]

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[1] G20 (2020): G20 Trade and Investment Ministerial Statement 30 March 2020

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Paris, 16th January, 2020 – “G20 leaders must step up their game to strengthen cross-border coordination and remove artificial obstacles to improve the business and financing environment for SMEs, or we risk missing out on their potential”, said Business at OECD Chairman Phil O’Reilly at the Inception Event of the Saudi B20 Presidency. “We must also better address the unintended consequences of domestic and cross-border regulations. Digital technologies bring opportunities for more accessible and affordable finance and can benefit small companies worldwide, but also mitigate the risk of illicit financial flows which are said to amount to USD 1 trillion.”

On the occasion of the Saudi B20 Inception event, a new Business at OECD report released today (available here) highlights that trade finance, key to business trust in global trade activities, is a case in point for the need to make additional efforts to tackle regulatory fragmentation:

• The role and further development of trade finance is central to business trust in global trade activities, with four-fifths of those activities – worth USD 15 trillion a year – underpinned by specialized loans or guarantees.

• Access to services supporting trade transactions, especially financing and risk mitigation, should be made more easily and affordably accessible especially to SMEs to address the unmet demand for trade finance.

• Further developing “trade ecosystems” can support payments and enable trade financing, accessible to both SMEs and large corporates, leveraging both traditional data sources and new data arising from digital technologies.

Gianluca Riccio, Vice-Chair of the Business at OECD Finance Committee and member of the B20 Finance and Infrastructure Taskforce added: “We should carefully consider the cumulative burden of regulation, look at reforms with small players in mind, and have a holistic view across players to achieve sustainable, balanced growth. As highlighted in our paper, it is imperative for all policy-makers and standard-setting bodies to have an overarching view across regulations.”

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Paris, 19^th November, 2019 – Today Business at OECD published a joint business position “Joint Business position on the modernization of the OECD arrangement” calling for the modernization of the Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits (the Arrangement).

“Over the last decades we have seen important geographical shifts in the balance and scope of international trade and an increasing importance of global value chains. Today, unfair competition in the financing of exports is a reality many businesses operating in OECD countries face,” said Russel Mills, Business at OECD Secretary General. “It is thus crucial that OECD work contributes to levelling the playing field with respect to the provision of officially supported export credits offered by Export Credit Agencies.”

The position paper lays out a vision for modernizing the Arrangement and proposes a parallel two-tier reform package that contains both much-needed immediate interventions and a broader revision of the overall Arrangement. The paper highlights the importance of:

• Immediate measures to restore the level playing field with aggressive non-OECD member countries on government supported export finance.
• An easy to understand, transparent, predictable, market-reflective and consistent framework.
• A good basis for international competition in official trade-related finance in the long-term.

Adapting quickly to future market changes and closing the financing gap of investment in the developing world.

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Paris, 30^th October, 2019 – At its 4th Annual Forum on Health, senior representatives from business, governments, and the OECD agreed on the critical role multi-stakeholder partnerships play to break silos and leverage collective action towards the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Moderated by Riz Khan, the Forum showcased the on-the-ground initiatives across the innovative, agri-food, and sports sectors for populations to adopt healthier lifestyles and for governments to drive better health outcomes through innovation.

“Reaching the SDGs is fundamental to global growth and prosperity. But no sector can do it alone. Business, governments, and civil society must collaborate closely to meet the goals on time,” said Russel Mills, Business at OECD Secretary General. “Healthy populations are the backbone for a sustainable economy and interventions should recognize the positive impact well-designed health policies can have to strengthen tomorrow’s workforce.”

Participants pointed to ways in which the OECD can promote best practices and measure progress. “Business looks to the OECD as a platform where we can strengthen the evidence base, have timely dialogue with governments, and ensure stakeholders can navigate towards the right direction,” said Thomas Cueni, Chair of the Business at OECD Health Committee and Director General of IFPMA. “We must continue translating horizontal thinking into action, and we need policies to support the required innovation ecosystem to deliver on the SDGs.” Commenting on the potential of Artificial Intelligence, Nicole Denjoy, Vice Chair of the Business at OECD Health Committee and Secretary General of COCIR, stated, “business is at the forefront of AI with innovative solutions. It is critical that both public and private sectors work together to optimize the use of this technology for the benefit of society, and we look forward to our continued collaboration with the OECD in this field.”

 

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Paris, 23rd October, 2019 – Business at OECD released its flagship publication “Getting Trade Back on Track: Business priorities for future OECD work on trade” in the context of this week’s fall 2019 OECD Trade meetings. The paper strongly calls upon the OECD to reinforce its evidence-base on the benefits of trade, and gives a considered assessment of key trade topics concerning the leading business federations in all 36 OECD member countries and beyond.

“Businesses in OECD countries remain committed to a global rules-based trade and investment system that opens markets and removes barriers and unfair trading practices.” said Business at OECD Trade Committee Vice Chair Rob Mulligan (USCIB). “As many trade and investment regimes do not yet address today’s most pressing challenges, the potential to significantly boost our economies through further trade initiatives is enormous.”

“It is important that the OECD continues to provide the evidence-base to enable governments to address trade distorting measures. Assisting the design of policies that level the playing field and reconciling trade liberalization with other key objectives can make a critical contribution to meet the global challenges business faces today.’ said Business at OECD Trade Committee Vice Chair Pat Ivory (Ibec).

The publication is released in the context of ongoing trade policy tensions among OECD members and non-member countries, and provides consensus business views on trade policy questions to be addressed going forward.

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Paris, 9^th October 2019 – Business is encouraged by the OECD proposal for amended international taxation rules, which was released today and represents an important step forward in addressing the tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy.

Business welcomes in particular the attempts to balance levels of accuracy and simplicity for both taxpayers and tax administrations. The proposal also addresses many of the high-level principles that we in the business community outlined to the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework in August 2019.

Will Morris, Chair of Business at OECD’s Committee on Taxation and Fiscal Policy, commented:

“The Secretariat’s “Unified Approach under Pillar One” represents an advance on earlier proposals by combining three approaches into one.  It weaves together common elements from various views among OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework members in order to move the project forward toward a high-level political agreement.

Questions remain regarding the technical details and implementation framework necessary for this project to succeed. Those, in combination with the ambitious time schedule, highlight the critical need for OECD and business to work together with the aim to modify international tax rules in a principled manner. We remain committed to constructively engaging in the OECD/G20 process as the only forum for reaching a practical and sustainable global outcome.”

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