The OECD has launched an online portal to give consumers, businesses and governments quick and easy access to the latest information on products recalled from the market in Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States.

A major step forward towards putting the measurement of well-being at the heart of policy-making was taken at a four-day international conference which ended in New Delhi today.

France should intensify its efforts to combat the bribery of foreign public officials. Only five convictions – of which one, under appeal, involves a company – have been handed down in twelve years.

In most OECD countries tax revenues are continuing to rise in relation to GDP from the 2008-09 declines seen at the beginning of the crisis, according to OECD’s annual Revenue Statistics. OECD countries collected about 34.0% of GDP in taxes in 2011, compared with 33.8% in 2010.

Australia’s enforcement of its foreign bribery laws has been extremely low, with just a single case leading to prosecutions out of 28 referrals in 13 years. Cases may have been closed prematurely. Australia must vigorously pursue foreign bribery allegations.

The OECD and the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) have signed a Memorandum of Co-operation, agreeing to work together to improve tax systems in Africa.

At the Global Forum in Cape Town, South Africa, delegates from 81 jurisdictions and 11 international organisations evaluated whether all Forum members are exchanging tax information effectively.

The OECD, WTO and UNCTAD have called on G20 governments to step up efforts to resist protectionism in the face of continuing high unemployment and a weak economic recovery.

Governments and the chemical industry spend millions of dollars every year testing the safety of chemicals that people use in their everyday lives. Computer modelling, through the OECD-designed QSAR Toolbox software, now replaces many of the tests traditionally done in the laboratory. This allows regulators and industry to save money and use fewer animals to predict the hazardous properties of chemicals.

Finland is making efforts to improve its development co-operation, sharpening the focus of its efforts and emphasising the importance of human rights.