The Corporate Governance Committee (CGC, the Committee) coordinates and directs the work of the Organization regarding corporate governance, corporate finance and state enterprises. Among the main tasks of the CGC is to monitor the implementation of the G-20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance and the OECD Guidelines on the Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises.
The CGC leads the dialogue in the field of corporate governance of the OECD with non-member countries, organizing the holding of regional round tables on corporate governance with Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa.
The CGC includes a total of 52 jurisdictions, including all OECD members, the G-20 member states and the Financial Stability Board (FSB), as well as countries that are in the process of joining the OECD – Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru and Romania.
The FSC was actively involved in the activity of the ongoing review of the CGC in 2022, as this was necessary due to the implementation by the Bulgarian state of one of the foundational standards of the OECD – the Recommendation of the Council on the Principles of Corporate Governance. About 50 countries have joined the Recommendation, including Bulgaria.
The G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance (the Principles) are the international standard for corporate governance. The principles improve the legal, regulatory and institutional framework for corporate governance in order to achieve economic efficiency, sustainable growth and financial stability. The Principles were first published in 1999 and were updated in 2023. The Principles have been revised to reflect recent changes in capital markets and corporate governance policies and practices. New and updated recommendations were approved, including those on shareholder rights, disclosure and reporting and, for the first time, on sustainability and digitalisation. Among the main objectives of the new Principles is to assist companies in managing climate-related risks and sustainability opportunities.
In 2022, Bulgaria was invited for the first time to attend a meeting of the CGC, with a representative of the FSC participating in the meeting. In 2023, delegates from the Bulgarian supervisory authority took part in all meetings of the Committee. In June of the same year, a fact-finding mission was held in Sofia, and the OECD held meetings with representatives of the FSC. The Bulgarian supervisory authority is the leading institution that prepared Bulgaria’s self-assessment on compliance with the Corporate Governance Principles, with the FSC systematically providing information to the OECD on the subject. Very good cooperation is maintained with the OECD regarding the review related to corporate governance, by organizing meetings, conducting conversations, answering additional questions from the CGC in connection with the preparation of the report on Bulgaria in the part on the implementation of the Principles. On November 14, 2023, a regular meeting of the CGC was held in Paris, at which a presentation was made on Bulgaria’s implementation of the Principles revised in 2023.
The legal instruments falling within the competences of the CGC, which are in force at the moment, are three and can be found on the official website of the OECD at the following link:
Useful information on the G-20/OECD Corporate Governance Principles can be found in Bulgarian here, as well as on the official OECD website:
https://www.oecd.org/corporate/principles-corporate-governance/
The text of the G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance is available in English at the following link: