23/05/2009

In a joint statement, the TUAC and the Public Services International (PSI) call for the OECD and its Working group on state-owned assets and privatisation to drop a proposal of new OECD Guidelines on privatisation.

For TUAC and PSI the proposed OECD draft reveals assumptions about the superior efficiency of private over public sector and state-owned enterprises, which contrast with new evidence from the IMF and the World Bank that "point to no inherent efficiency advantage of private over public". The text further warns that if adopted, the Guide "would be targeted at non-OECD economies, notably via OECD / World Bank Regional Roundtables. Yet, many development aspects are not taken into account in the current draft."

More fundamentally, the TUAC and the PSI believe that the Working group’s top priority should be the effective monitoring of the implementation of the current OECD Guidelines on the governance of state-owned enterprises, which so far "has not been satisfactory". Developing new guidelines while existing ones are not implemented is counter-productive, say TUAC and PSI, and can only weaken the credibility and authority of the Organisation as a standard-setting body.

link:

• 12/05/2009| OECD project of guidelines on privatisation: joint statement by TUAC and PSI