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The Committee notes the Government's first report on the application of the Convention.

Article 4 of the Convention. The Committee notes that in section 27 of Decree No. 3390, which governs the exercise of the right to collective bargaining and which imposes compulsory arbitration in the case of an industrial dispute, several of the services defined as essential services (combustible asbestos, postal and transport services, the loading and unloading of livestock and perishable foodstuffs) are not essential services in the strict sense of the term, namely those whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take measures to amend the above Decree by withdrawing these services from the list of essential services. The Committee requests the Government to inform it in its next report of any measures adopted in this respect.

Article 6. The Committee notes that the legislation which concerns the right to organize and collective bargaining (Act No. 23/91 respecting the exercise of the right to organize, Act No. 8/85 of the Labour Code and Decree No. 33/90 respecting the exercise of the right of collective bargaining) excludes public servants engaged in the administration of the State from its scope of application. Under these circumstances, the Committee requests the Government to inform it in its next report whether public servants who are not engaged in the administration of the State enjoy the guarantees provided for under the provisions of the Convention. Similarly, the Committee requests the Government to transmit a copy of the Public Servants Statute.

Finally, the Committee requests the Government to inform it in its next report whether the Labour Code Bill, which was transmitted to the ILO for comments in 1996, has been adopted.