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The Committee hopes that the Government will not fail to supply a report containing full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

Article 6 of the Convention, branch (i) (Family benefit). In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to indicate what States were regarded as providing a reciprocal system for the payment of family allowances. The Government indicates in its report that, having regard to the complexity of the research required, States applying the principle of reciprocity will be identified case by case whenever a foreign national submits an application for family allowances in respect of members of his family who reside abroad in countries that have not concluded international agreements on family benefit with Italy.

The Committee points out that, under this Article of the Convention, the Government has undertaken to guarantee the grant of family allowances both to its own nationals and to the nationals of any other Member which has accepted the obligations of the Convention for that branch (at present Bolivia, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, France, Guinea, Ireland, Israel, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mauritania, Netherlands, Norway, Tunisia, Uruguay and Viet Nam) in respect of children who reside on the territory of any such Member.

In these circumstances, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate whether and, if so, under what conditions and within what limits the bilateral agreements concluded by Italy concerning family benefits guarantee both to Italian nationals and to nationals of member States which have accepted branch (i) (Family benefit) the grant of family allowances in respect of children who reside on the territory of any such Member. So far as the nationals of other Members which have accepted the obligations of the Convention for this branch but have not yet concluded bilateral agreements with Italy are concerned, the Committee hopes that the necessary measures will be taken for such nationals to be automatically regarded as covered by a reciprocal system when their applications for family allowances in respect of children who reside abroad are examined, so as to ensure the application of Article 6 of the Convention. It also hopes that the Government will be able to draw up instructions or circulars to that effect for the attention of the competent social security institutions responsible for examining the applications of the persons concerned for family allowances.

Articles 7 and 8. The Committee has taken note of the bilateral social security agreements concluded by Italy. It would be grateful if the Government would continue to indicate all such new agreements as may be concluded with countries for which the present Convention is in force and in particular with countries of emigration whose nationals work in Italy.