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The Committee notes the Government's brief report supplied in response to its previous direct request. It notes with regret that as yet there have been no changes because the proposed amendments to the legislation are linked to the reveiw of the Labour Code, which is still under way. Consequently it is bound to reiteriate its previous direct request which read as follows:

In relation to Article 2(b) of the Convention, the Committee points out that section 136 of the Labour Code permits an agreement to be entered into providing for an ordinary working day not exceeding ten hours, while the Convention only authorizes, in certain circumstances, the daily limit to be exceeded by one hour. In its report, the Government states that it applies the provisions set out in Article 5. These permit the daily limit of work to be exceeded provided that the weekly limit of 48 hours is observed. Although this condition would seem to be fulfilled by section 136 above, the Committe points out however that Article 5 only covers "exceptional cases where it is recognized that the provisions of Article 2 cannot be applied". This does not appear to be the case with section 136, which is of general application. The Committee however notes that the Government will take its comments into account during the revision of the Labour Code. The Committee once again hopes that this revision will be completed as soon as possible and it requests the Government to keep the ILO informed of all developments in this respect.

The Committee also trusts that the Government will use the same occasion to set out with precision the limits and conditions in which exceptions to the normal working day can be authorized in accordance with Article 6, paragraph 1. It recalls that these exceptions must remain within reasonable limits and that providing for four additional hours per day, without any other restriction (such as a monthly or annual limit), does not appear to conform, if not to the letter, as least to the spirit of the Convention.