Bilateral and regional investment agreements have proliferated in the last decade and new ones are still being negotiated. Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) clauses link investment agreements by ensuring that the parties to one treaty provide treatment no less favourable than the treatment they provide...

Currently, there is a lack of consensus amongst OECD Member countries as to how profits should be attributed to a permanent establishment (PE). As a first step in remedying this situation a working hypothesis has been developed as to the preferred approach for attributing profits to the PE. The...

Technological change and financial deregulation have dramatically globalised financial markets. Financial firms have developed innovative financial instruments, such as swaps and derivatives, to meet the often different global demand of investors and borrowers and have organised themselves to...

Recording comprehensive, comparable and up-to-date statistics on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a prerequisite for economic analysis and policy making. The Third Edition of the OECD Benchmark Definition, fully consistent with the IMF Balance of Payments Manual, Fifth Edition, provides...

International direct investment is increasingly recognised as an engine of economic growth and a powerful force for global integration. The OECD has long been active in analysing the implications of such forces and in influencing the design of appropriate policies for a global economy. This...

The obligation to provide “fair and equitable treatment” is often stated, together with other standards, as part of the protection due to foreign direct investment by host countries. It is an “absolute”, “non-contingent” standard of treatment, i.e. a standard that states the...