OECD and Soft Law
Unlike many other inter-governmental organizations like the United Nations or the European Commission, the OECD cannot legislate or enforce laws and doesn't have the power to coerce a country, member or not, to alter its policy.
However, it can have an influence on national policies through soft laws, by issuing "recommendations", "guidelines" and other "manuals", that countries or companies can refer to. Some of these guidelines have become de facto standards, such as the OECD Guidelines for the Testing of Chemicals or the OECD Model Tax Convention.
Also, negotiations and agreements between representatives of member countries can happen at the OECD, and have direct consequences in national laws.
Read more about this topic: Organisation For Economic Co-operation And Development Controversy
Famous quotes containing the words soft and/or law:
“The flags are natures newly found.
Rifles grow sharper on the sight.
There is a rumble of autumnal marching,
From which no soft sleeve relieves us.
Fate is the present desperado.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Our law very often reminds one of those outskirts of cities where you cannot for a long time tell how the streets come to wind about in so capricious and serpent-like a manner. At last it strikes you that they grew up, house by house, on the devious tracks of the old green lanes; and if you follow on to the existing fields, you may often find the change half complete.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)