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In comments formulated over a period of several years, the Committee drew attention to the absence of laws and regulations limiting the weight of loads to be manually transported by adult males. Since the adoption of Ordinance No. 73-29 of 5 July 1973, which repealed the laws previously applicable, there has been no legislative or statutory provision limiting the weight of loads to be transported manually by women and young workers. The Government referred, on several occasions, to company or works agreements and to circulars and service notes which settled these questions at the level of individual firms and sectors of economic activity, without however supplying the texts of these agreements or circulars, despite repeated requests by the Committee. In 1989, the Committee noted the adoption of Act No. 88-07 of 26 January 1988 on occupational health and safety and occupational medicine, which establishes the principles applicable in this respect and only affects the application of the Convention in a very general manner.

In its latest report, the Government states that the Convention is being correctly applied in the country due to the utilisation of appropriate technical methods in handling and maintenance work, and this in the Government's constant concern to improve working conditions with a view to reducing overwork, fatigue and the hazards to which workers are exposed. It further indicates that the priority given to the drafting of legislation, made necessary as a result of economic and political reforms, has delayed the enactment of legislation on the application of Act No. 88-07 of 26 January 1988 on occupational health and safety and occupational medicine, but that two draft decrees on the application of Act No. 88-07 are in the process of enactment. According to the Government, the first of these drafts, which deals with general prescriptions on protection in the matter of health and safety at the workplace, caters to the concerns expressed by the Convention.

The Committee has taken note of this information. It hopes that the draft in question will give effect to the provisions of the Convention and that the Government will be able to communicate the text adopted in the very near future.

[The Government is asked to report in detail for the period ending 30 June 1990.]