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The Committee notes the Government's reply to the comments made by the Trade Union Confederation of Workers' Committees (CCOO) on the application of the Convention.

1. Article 38, paragraph 2, of the Convention. In its previous observation the Committee noted that, in comments of 21 October 1993, the CCOO indicated that there was no provision in the national legislation prohibiting the employment of persons under 18 years of age as operators of cargo-handling appliances in ports, in accordance with Article 38, paragraph 2, of the Convention. In this connection the above Confederation referred to Royal Legislative Decree No. 2/1986 concerning the employment of dockers and Royal Legislative Decree No. 145/1989 to approve the national rules for the handling and storage of dangerous cargoes in ports.

In its reply the Government refers to the Decree of 26 July 1957 establishing work which may not be done by women and minors, which, according to the Government, is still in force for minors. Under section 1(c) of the above Decree, workers under 18 years of age may not operate machines which involve a clear risk of accident having regard to the purpose for which they are used. More specifically, the operation of lifts, goods elevators and mechanical lifting appliances is included (under group XXIV) is in the list of activities prohibited for workers of under 18 years of age appended to the Decree. The Government also points out that under section 30 of the Regulations on the Safety, Health and Well-being of Dockers adopted by the Ministerial Order of 6 February 1971, the operation of mechanical appliances is prohibited for persons who do not have the necessary qualifications; sections 37 and 40 of the Regulations sets out the ways in which vocational training is to be developed for workers operating such appliances, and section 154 of the Regulations provides that only persons with the requisite qualifications may operate certain lifting and cargo-handling appliances, which are listed therein.

The Committee takes due note of this information. It also notes that article 13 of the fifth inter-provincial collective agreement for dockers subject to the labour legislation concluded in 1983 for a period of one year, provided that persons of between 16 and 18 years in dock work could only be apprentices and could not move to another category of workers before reaching the age of 18. The Committee asks the Government to indicate whether there is currently any provision of this type applying to workers of under 18 years of age and, if so, to provide a copy.

2. With regard to a number of other provisions of the Convention, the Committee refers to the comments which it made in the form of a request addressed directly to the Government in 1993.