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The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its reports.

In its previous comments, the Committee had drawn attention to section 2 of the Ministerial Order No. 23 of 7 February 1982, which authorizes women’s work between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. in spinning and weaving companies and factories in the event that male workers are not available, and had noted that such exception is not consistent with the provisions of the Convention. In its reply, the Government indicates that section 2 of the above Ministerial Order is not currently applied as it was issued in former circumstances which are no longer present. The Committee takes note of this information and requests the Government to consider the possibility of repealing the provision in question in order to remove any uncertainty as to where the positive law stands in this respect.

The Committee further reiterates its previous comment to the effect that section 152 of Act No. 137 of 6 August 1981 promulgating the Labour Code appears to allow for much broader exceptions to the prohibition of night work for women than those permitted under the Convention since it provides that no women may be employed between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. except in such cases, types of work and circumstances as may be prescribed by order of the Minister of Manpower and Training.

The Committee trusts that the necessary measures will be adopted in the near future to ensure that any exceptions to the night work prohibition are strictly limited to the cases specified in Articles 3, 4, 5 and 8 of the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of any progress achieved in this regard.

The Committee takes this opportunity to invite the Government to give favourable consideration to the ratification of either the Night Work Convention, 1990 (No. 171) or the Protocol of 1990 to Convention No. 89.