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The Committee notes with interest the information communicated by the Government in its first report and requests it to supply details on the following points.

Article 3(2) of the Convention. The Committee notes with interest that Act No. 297/1999 amending and supplementing the Labour Code, in force since 1 December 1999, and Act No. 292/1999 amending and supplementing Act No. 387/1996 on Employment, in force since 1 July 2000, provide for protection of workers’ claims by a special guarantee fund for cases where the privilege given to workers does not allow them to recover the amounts owed to them from the employer because of his insolvency. The Committee also notes the Government’s statement that it envisages extending its acceptance, in the light of these Acts, to Part III of the Convention concerning the protection of workers’ claims by a guarantee institution. The Committee therefore asks the Government to inform the International Labour Office in its future reports of any initiative to this end.

Article 6. The Committee notes that the Government refers to section 31(3) of Act No. 328/1991 of 11 July 1991 on bankruptcy and the concordat indicating the list of workers’ claims which are protected by a privilege in the event of their employer’s insolvency. The Committee observes, however, that no such list appears in the text of section 31 of the Act available at the Office, of which a copy was also supplied by the Government. The Committee would therefore be grateful if the Government would supply a copy of the legislation or regulations containing the list of claims to which the privilege relates.

Article 7(1). The Committee notes, according to section 66(h) of Act No. 328/1991 to which the Government refers in its report, that claims of managers which occurred after the bankruptcy declaration may be satisfied during the bankruptcy procedure at any time only up to the amount of 10,000SKK monthly. The text of the abovementioned Act available at the ILO does not include this provision and the Government is therefore requested to specify the legislation or regulation containing the provision in question and to supply a copy. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether there exist provisions indicating that the amount to which the extent of privilege of workers’ claims may be limited must not be lower than a socially acceptable level in accordance with the provisions of the Convention in this regard.

Article 7(2). The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether the amount to which the privilege of the claims of certain employees is limited, for example, the managers by virtue of section 66(h) of Act No. 328/1991 mentioned above, is adjusted as necessary so as to maintain its value in accordance with this provision of the Convention.

Parts III and IV of the report form. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether courts of law or other tribunals have given decisions involving questions of principle relating to the application of the Convention and, if so, to supply the texts of these decisions. It also asks the Government to provide detailed information as to the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice, including information concerning the number of workers covered by measures giving effect to the Convention.