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The Committee notes the Government's report on the application of the Convention.

For several years, the Committee has been noting that section 87 of the Labour Code, as amended by Act No. 137 of 1981, provides that any clause in a collective labour agreement that jeopardises the economic interests of the country shall be null and void.

As it indicated in its previous observations, the Committee is of the opinion that such a provision, by restricting the scope of collective bargaining, is of such a nature as to prejudice the principle of free bargaining set out in Article 4 of the Convention.

In its previous observation, the Committee noted that a tripartite committee, composed of representatives of the Ministry of Manpower, the Confederation of Egyptian Workers' Unions and the Federation of Egyptian Industries had been set up to study the possibility of amending certain provisions of the Labour Code, including section 87. In its report, the Government indicates that the work of this committee is continuing and that it will ensure that section 87 of the Labour Code is among the provisions submitted for examination with a view to its amendment in accordance with the Committee's opinion, although, according to the Government, bargaining takes place freely in Egypt and the social partners take into account the economic interests of the State.

While noting this statement, the Committee points out that if the Government considers that the social partners must conform to "national economic interests", as defined in the economic policy of the Government, the parties to bargaining must not be compelled to conform, but must be invited to have regard voluntarily to the national interest in their negotiations and must remain free in their final decisions (see in this connection paragraph 318 of the 1983 General Survey on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining).

The Committee trusts that the Government, upon whom it is incumbent to encourage voluntary collective bargaining in the broadest sense, will take the necessary steps to amend section 87 of the Labour Code in order to ensure that the national legislation is in full conformity with the Convention. It requests the Government to supply information on progress achieved in this respect.