Other international organisations relevant to the CNB
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, external link) was established in 1961. It brings together 38 Member countries and is headquartered in Paris, France. Its main objectives are:
- to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth, employment and rising standards of living in Member countries while maintaining financial stability, thereby contributing to the development of the world economy;
- to contribute to sound economic growth in both Member and non-member countries; and
- to promote the expansion of world trade on a multilateral, non-discriminatory basis in accordance with international objectives.
The OECD provides governments of advanced democratic countries with the opportunity to study and formulate the most appropriate policies to achieve these goals through highly qualified analyses, country comparisons and the identification of best practices.
The highest decision-making body of the OECD is the Council, in which each Member country is represented by its delegate. Permanent representatives of each Member country meet at least once a month under the chairmanship of the Secretary-General. Council meetings at ministerial-level, known as ministerials, are usually held annually under the presidency of one of the Member countries.
The CNB participates in the work of several OECD committees and working parties relevant to its mandate, such as the Economic Policy Committee, the Committee on Financial Markets, the Working Party on Short-Term Economic Prospects and various statistical working groups. The CNB also contributes to the work of the Economic and Development Review Committee.
The Financial Stability Board (FSB, external link) was established in 2009. It brings together 24 member jurisdictions and 13 institutional members, including the IMF, the World Bank Group, the BIS, the OECD, the BCBS and others. The FSB’s origin and functioning are closely linked to the G7 and G20 groups. Its direct predecessor, the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), was founded in 1999 at the initiative of the German Bundesbank by the G7 countries to enhance cooperation between the G7 countries and international institutions in support of global financial stability. The first meeting took place in April 1999 in Washington, D. C.
The FSB’s objective is to coordinate national and international authorities and institutions to promote the development and implementation of regulatory, supervisory and other policies in the financial sector. In cooperation with other international institutions, it assesses vulnerabilities in the financial system to safeguard global financial stability.
The FSB has its secretariat at the BIS in Basel and is an official legal entity established under Swiss law. It relies on its own structures as well as on BIS resources. Its senior officials are the Chair (held concurrently with another position) and the Secretary-General, who is employed on a full-time basis. The highest decision-making body is the FSB Plenary, which serves as its governing body. The Czech Republic, and thus the CNB, is not represented in the Plenary.
The FSB has six Regional Consultative Groups (RCGs) for different regions – the Americas, Asia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The largest RCG is the group for Europe.
The CNB has been represented in the European RCG since its inception in 2011. Between 2017 and 2019, the CNB Deputy Governor co-chaired this group alongside his Italian counterpart. The group consists of 24 member jurisdictions (including seven FSB members) and representatives of supervisory authorities from the financial centres. The group discusses topics directly related to financial stability and the work of the FSB, as well as issues relevant to the European region.
The World Trade Organization (WTO, external link) was established in 1995. It has 164 members and 22 observers and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Its aim is to contribute to global macroeconomic objectives and increase trade in goods and services. The WTO’s activities are governed by its founding agreement, complemented by three core agreements: GATT (covering trade in goods), GATS (covering trade in services) and TRIPS (covering intellectual property rights). It also includes dispute settlement arrangements and a mechanism for reviewing members’ trade policies. The
The WTO operates under the following principles:
- non-discrimination, elaborated through the most-favoured-nation principle (equal treatment for all members) and national treatment (equal treatment for domestic and foreign entities);
- predictability, stability and transparency (a stable legal framework); and
- support for economic development.
Czechoslovakia was a contracting party to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), adopted in 1948, which was the direct predecessor of the WTO. Czechoslovakia thus became a founding contracting party of the future WTO, although it ceased active participation in GATT negotiations until 1989 (but never withdrew). After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, membership was transferred to both successor states – the Czech Republic and Slovakia. A major change in the Czech Republic’s participation came with its accession to the EU. While the Czech Republic has remained a member of the WTO, it is represented – like all other EU Member States – by the European Commission under the EU’s common commercial policy.
The CNB is not a member of the WTO, but it has a strong interest in its negotiations and documents, as the GATS Agreement also covers financial services. The CNB can therefore access WTO documents and comment on them through the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade, which represents the Czech Republic in shaping the EU’s common commercial policy.