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With reference to the Committee's previous comments, the Government acknowledges that the number of occupational diseases giving rise to compensation throughout the country was far in excess of the five cases referred to in its previous report. It specifies the reasons for which it is difficult to obtain notifications of occupational diseases: the technical deficiencies of the communication network which does not enable regional centres to transfer information quickly and with complete confidentiality, the absence of a legal obligation to notify occupational diseases and a lack of qualified staff enabling diagnoses to be confirmed.

The Committee notes this information. It observes that while acknowledging the lack of efficiency in its system of notification of occupational diseases, the Government does not yet appear to have taken action to improve it. The Committee hopes that the Government will be able to take the necessary measures for this purpose and, in this regard, recalls the possibility of enlisting the ILO's technical assistance. In addition, the Committee wishes to draw the Government's attention to the ILO code of practical guidelines entitled "Recording and notification of occupational accidents and diseases", to which it has already referred in its 1997 general observation concerning the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), a copy of which is attached. These guidelines must be considered as basic requirements for the collection, recording and notification of reliable data concerning occupational accidents and diseases, and the statistics relating to them. The Committee hopes that the guidelines will help the competent authorities to develop appropriate systems for the recording and notification of occupational diseases so as to ensure that the provisions of the Convention are applied more effectively in practice.