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:
“I’ve sometimes thought ... that the difference between us and the English is that the Scotch are hard in all other respects but soft with women, and the English are hard with women but soft in all other respects.”
—J.M. (James Matthew)
“Who does not know history’s first law to be that an author must not dare to tell anything but the truth? And its second that he must make bold to tell the whole truth? That there must be no suggestion of partiality anywhere in his writings? Nor of malice?”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)