Oecd legal Instruments

I.A. 
The corporate governance framework should be developed with a view to its impact on 
corporate access to finance, overall economic performance and financial stability, the sustainability 
and resilience of corporations, market integrity, and the incentives it creates for market participants 
and the promotion of transparent and well functioning markets. 
Capital markets play a key role in providing companies with funds that allow them to innovate and support 
economic growth, as well as efficiently diversify their financing sources. Equity and bond financing also 
support companies’ resilience to overcome temporary downturns while meeting their obligations to the 
workforce, creditors and suppliers. Policy makers and regulators need to consider how the corporate 
governance framework may encourage and impact corporate access to market-based financing. 
The corporate form of organisation of economic activity serves as a powerful force for growth. The regulatory 
and legal environment within which corporations operate is therefore of key importance to overall economic 
outcomes. Policy makers also have a responsibility to put in place a framework that is capable of meeting 
the needs of corporations operating in widely different circumstances, facilitating their development of new 
opportunities to create value, and to determine the most efficient deployment of resources. Where 
appropriate, corporate governance frameworks should therefore allow for proportionality, in particular with 
respect to the size of publicly traded companies. Other factors that may call for flexibility include the 
company’s ownership and control structure, geographical presence, sectors of activity, and the company’s 
development stage. Policy makers should remain focused on ultimate economic outcomes, and when 
considering policy options they will need to undertake an analysis of the impact on key variables that affect 
the functioning of markets, for example in terms of incentive structures, the efficiency of self-regulatory 
systems, and dealing with systemic conflicts of interest. Transparent and well-functioning markets serve to 
discipline market participants and promote accountability.