OECD Principles of Corporate Governance

The OECD Council, meeting at Ministerial level on 27-28 April 1998, called upon the OECD to develop, in conjunction with national governments, other relevant international organizations and the private sector, a set of corporate governance standards and guidelines. In order to fulfil this objective, the OECD established the Ad-Hoc Task Force on Corporate Governance to develop non-binding principles that embody the view of Member countries on this issue. The Principles are intended to assist Member and non-member governments in their efforts to evaluate and improve the legal, institutional and regulator framework for corporate governance in their countries, and to provide guidance and suggestions for stock exchanges, investors, corporations, and other parties that have a role in the process of developing good corporate governance. The Principles focus on publicly traded companies. However, to the extent they are deemed applicable, they might also be a useful tool to improve corporate governance in non-traded companies, for example, privately held and state-owned enterprises. The Principles represent a common basis that OECD Member countries consider essential for the development of good government practice. They are intended to be concise, understandable and accessible to the international community. They are not intended to substitute for private sector initiatives to develop more detailed "best practice" in governance.