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Article 15(c) of the Convention. In its reply to the Committee's comments, the Government asks how effect can be given to this provision of the Convention without infringing the rights of the public, deriving from Act No. 57 of 1985 respecting the public nature of official acts and documents.

The Committee notes that, under section 12 of the above Act, all persons have the right to consult official documents provided that access to them is not restricted by law. Since the non-fulfilment by labour inspectors of their fundamental obligation to treat as confidential the source of any complaint that has prompted a visit of inspection could have particularly serious consequences for the workers (see the General Survey of 1985 on labour inspection, paragraphs 201 and 202), the Committee trusts that the Government will shortly take the necessary measures to make this obligation statutory.

Article 16. The Committee wishes to point out yet again that, in the absence of any information on the number of workplaces liable to inspection, it is unable to ascertain the extent to which effect is given to this provision of the Convention on the basis of statistics of the workplaces inspected, published in the periodical bulletins transmitted by the Government. Consequently, it again requests the Government to provide all the necessary information in its next report to enable it to assess the extent to which effect is given to this provision of the Convention.