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1. The Committee notes the information in the Government's report. It notes with interest that section 18(2) of the newly adopted national Constitution proscribes discrimination on the basis of, inter alia, gender. In its previous comments, the Committee had noted that section 115(1) read in conjunction with section 110 of the Labour Code (1995) provided for the application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value in both individual and collective labour contracts, but that section 4 of the Labour Code excluded from its application persons whose employment is regulated by other legislation. In this regard, the Committee notes the existence of the Members of Peoples' Assembly Status Act No. 7503 of 1998, the Military Forces Status Act No. 7496 of 1991 and the Lawyers, Effective Assistance Lawyers, Prosecutors and Inquirers Act No. 7800 of 1994. Unfortunately, the Committee has not received copies of the abovementioned legislation and requests the Government to include these texts in its next report. The Committee notes that the Government's report does not contain a reply with regard to the types of activities and persons excluded under section 5(b) of the Code and hopes that the Government will provide information on this matter in its next report.

2. With regard to application of the principle of the Convention to the public service, the Committee notes that section 12 of the Public Service Act No. 8095 of 1996 stipulates that political officials and civil employees enjoy the right "to receive a salary, pension and other bonuses, in concordance with the duty they exercise, according to the respective juridical dispositions", and provides for a number of employment-related benefits. The Committee notes, however, that none of the provisions of the Public Service Act expressly establishes the right for civil service employees to equal remuneration for work of equal value. It requests the Government to indicate whether it intends to give legal expression to the principle of the Convention as regards its application to the public service, and to provide information on the measures taken to ensure the application of the principle of equal pay to civil servants. The Committee would also be grateful if the Government would provide in its next report information on the wage scales applying in the public sector, with an indication of the percentage of men and women employed at different levels.

3. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government's statement that, as a result of the ILO/UNDP project on wage policy, efforts have been undertaken to decentralize the wage policy and to involve the social partners in this endeavour. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether such efforts have included introducing job evaluation systems based on objective criteria, both to set wages in general and to ensure the application of the Convention.

4. The Committee notes with interest that in 1998 the Council of Ministers upgraded the Women and Family Department of the Ministry of Labour, Emigration, Social Protection and the Ex-politically Persecuted to the Council of Ministers level, appointing a Committee on Women and Family (CWF) reporting directly to the Office of the Vice-Prime Minister. The Committee notes from the information received that the CWF has finalized the Platform of the Albanian Government for Women for the years 1999-2000, which has identified, inter alia, the following priorities for government action: (1) to ensure that the Labour Code, and the provisions of equal pay for work of equal value, are respected both in the public and private sectors, by reinforcing labour inspection; (2) to improve juridical procedures in order to redress discrimination in employment; and (3) to carry out periodic surveys on the state of women concerning discrimination in employment. The Committee would be grateful if the Government could provide further information on the practical follow-up by the Government, including by the CWF, of these recommendations in relation to the application of the principle of equal remuneration as well as on other activities relevant to the application of the Convention. More specifically concerning the role of the labour inspectorate in ensuring the implementation of equal pay provisions, the Committee reiterates its previous request for information on the activities undertaken by the labour inspectorate in this regard, including information on the number of inspections made, the incidence of wage discrimination detected and the action taken to redress any such occurrences.

5. The Committee notes that the Platform text considers the collection and dissemination of gender-disaggregated data to be essential for policy formulation and notes with interest the publication by the CWF of a complete statistical series disaggregated by sex. It notes the statistical data on employment and education of men and women and refers in this respect to its comments under the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111). Referring to its 1998 general observation on this Convention, the Committee would, however, be grateful if the Government could also provide any available data on wage statistics compiled by the CWF or any other institution which could give an indication of the relative earnings of men and women.