Competitive Neutrality Maintaining a Level Playing Field between Public and Private Business Maintaining a Level Playing Field between Public and Private Business

The growing importance of state-owned enterprises (SOE) in the global marketplace has given rise to concerns about how to ensure competitive neutrality – a level playing field – where public and private entities compete. The book aims to serve as a resource for governments that intend to ensure that public and private businesses compete on equal terms. It provides a catalogue of relevant practices and experiences in OECD and other jurisdictions. The publication is structured around eight “building blocks” of competitive neutrality including how to ensure debt, tax or regulatory neutrality; calculating market consistent rates-of-return; transparent accounting for public service obligations; and competitive procurement. It also provides practical experience on how to coin a policy commitment to competitive neutrality and tradeoffs of different approaches. The book provides insights on fundamental questions concerning the role of the State in the marketplace and on the need to balance commercial interests with the sometimes important public policy functions vested in SOEs.