The OECD will host a news conference to launch its new global portal on product recalls during the International Product Safety Week 2012 at 11.00 AM on Friday 19 October at the Charlemagne Building, rue de la Loi 170, 1040 Brussels.

Burkina Faso and Cameroon have joined the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. As 112th and 113th members of the Global Forum they will participate in the peer review process which encourages all countries to adopt effective exchange of information in tax matters.

On October 18, Mexican President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto ended his European tour with a visit to OECD headquarters in Paris where he delivered a keynote address on Mexico’s challenges and its role in a changing global landscape, followed by a press conference with the Secretary-General.

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.