-------------- O -------------- ODA. See Official Development Assistance. OECD See Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD AGREEMENT ON EXPORT CREDITS. See International Arrangement on Export Credits. OFFER LIST. A selected list of measures through which a country participating in trade negotiations proposes to broaden access to its market in exchange for comparable concessions from its trading partners. A country's initial offer list during a given "Round" of negotiations represents its early response to the request lists submitted by its trading partners and may subsequently be lengthened or shortened, depending upon the responses of other countries to its own request lists. In addition to proposals for broadening market access through tariff reductions and expanded coverage under codes of conduct, offer lists may suggest exceptions to an agreed formula for tariff reductions on all other products. See also Codes of Conduct; Concession; Linear Reduction of Tariffs; Market Access; Negotiations; Principal Supplier; Request List; Round; and Sensitive Products. OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE (ODA). Economic or technical assistance extended to developing countries by the governments of developed countries and international organizations, as contrasted with gifts, loans and investments financed by the private sector. Official development assistance is construed by the OECD Development Committee as including only "confessional" transfers to developing countries, meaning that all or part of each ODA transaction is a grant or is loaned at rate of interest and/or on repayment terms more beneficial to the recipient than market rates and terms. See also Additionality; Bilateral Aid; Development Assistance Committee; Economic Development; Interest; Least Developed Countries; Multilateral Aid; Soft Loan; and Transfer Payments. OFFSET REQUIREMENTS. Conditions imposed on certain large exporters in other countries by importing governments, usually to reduce cash outflows as by requiring the exporter to purchase goods or services produced in the importing country, establish manufacturing facilities in the country, or use locally produced components in manufacturing. Offset requirements are frequently associated with sales of military equipment. See also Countertrade. OMAs. See Orderly Marketing Agreements. OMNIBUS TRADE AND COMPETITIVENESS ACT OF 1988. Legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in August 1988 and signed into law on August 23, 1988, to enhance the competitiveness of American industry. Its major purposes were to: authorize the negotiation of reciprocal trade agreements; strengthen U.S. trade laws; improve development and management of U.S. trade strategy; and through these actions, improve standards of living in the world. The act made many changes in U.S. trade law, inter alia, significant changes to Section 301 and the adoption of Section 301 variants: *"Super" 301 (Section 1302 of the act) provisions required, in 1989 and 1990, the U.S. trade representative (USTR) to identify priority practices (trade distorting practices whose elimination might substantially increase U.S. exports) and priority countries (countries with the highest trade barriers and best markets for U.S. exports) and to initiate Section 301 investigations of such practices; *"Special 301" (Section 1303 of the act), requires USTR to identify and self-initiate expedited Section 301 investigations of countries which deny adequate protection of intellectual property rights; *"Telecommunications 301" (Section 1377 of the act) requires USTR to review, on an annual basis, trade agreements which involve telecommunications products or services to determine whether the foreign country is failing to comply with the agreement or is otherwise denying opportunities to U.S. telecommunication products and services. In March 1994, President Clinton signed an executive order reinstituting the Super 301 provision; under this order USTR will identify in 1994 and 1995 priority foreign practices which may be actionable under Section 301. See also Concession; Export Subsidies; Intellectual Property; Patent; Section 301; Special 301; Technology; Trade Act of 1988; Transfer of Technology; Unfair Trade Practices; and World Intellectual Property Organization. ONE HUNDRED THIRTEEN (113) COMMITTEE. A body of representatives from EC member states that assists the EC Commission in trade negotiations with third countries. See also European Community. OPEC. See Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. OPIC. See Overseas Private Investment Corporation. ORDERLY MARKETING AGREEMENTS (OMAs). International compacts negotiated between two or more governments, in which the trading partners agree to restrain the growth of trade in specified "sensitive" products, usually through the imposition of export quotas. Orderly marketing agreements are intended to ensure that future trade increases will not disrupt, threaten or impair competitive industries or their workers in importing countries. See also Export Quotas; Market Disruption; Sensitive Products; and Voluntary Restraint Agreements. ORGANIZATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (OECD). An international agency based in Paris, through which some 24 developed countries (United States, Canada,Japan, Australia, New Zealand and countries of Western Europe) review international economic issues and coordinate their policies, looking toward the expansion of world trade and investment and the economic development of developing countries. The OECD succeeded the OEEC in 1961, after the post-World War II economic reconstruction of Europe had been largely accomplished. See also Developed Countries; Development Assistance Committee; Group B; International Arrangement on Export Credits; and Organization for European Economic Cooperation. ORGANIZATION FOR EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COOPERATION (OEEC). An intergovernmental organization created in 1948 by 16 Western European countries to plan and implement the European Recovery Program, better known as the Marshall Plan, following the economic devastation left by World War II. The OEEC was superceded in 1961 by the OECD. See also European Recovery Program; and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. ORGANIZATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES (OPEC). A cartel comprising 13 leading oil-producing countries that seek to coordinate oil production and pricing policies. See also Cartel; and Developing Countries. OVERSEAS PRIVATE INVESTMENT CORPORATION (OPIC). OPIC is a self-sustaining U.S. government agency whose purpose is to promote economic growth in developing countries by encouraging U.S. private investment in those nations through two principal programs: (1) financing investment projects through direct loans and/or loan guarantees and (2) insuring investment projects against a broad range of risks, such as expropriation. These programs are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. See also Additionality; Bilateral Aid; Developing Countries; Official Development Assistance; Soft Loan; and Transfer Payments.