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The Committee notes the Government’s brief report and requests the Government to provide information on the following points.

1. Article 1 of the Convention. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes that the new Labour Code which entered into force on 1 February 2002 provides in section 3 that everyone shall have equal opportunities in realizing their labour rights and that nobody may be subject to restrictions with regard to these rights or receive any advantages on grounds of, amongst other grounds, sex and occupational position, and other grounds. It notes with interest that under section 22, the employer shall ensure equal payment to employees for work of equal value. Remuneration of labour is broadly defined as a system of relations involving the establishment and provision by an employer of payments to employees for their labour, while salary and wages are defined as a reward for labour depending on the employee’s qualifications, the complexity, quantity, quality and conditions of the performed work, as well as payments of a compensatory and incentive nature (section 129). Under section 132 any discrimination when establishing or changing the amount of wages and other terms of remuneration is prohibited. The Committee notes that these provisions are in accordance with the Convention and asks the Government to provide information on their practical application and enforcement, including any administrative or judicial decision applying them, as well as their impact on the income levels of women.

2. Articles 2 and 3. The Committee notes that under the new Labour Code, wage systems, wage rates, salaries, and other payments, depending on the sector, shall be established through relevant laws, collective contracts or agreements, and individual contracts (section 135). Section 143 provides that wage rates are set and employees are assigned to wage categories on the basis of unified rate and skill reference books. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on how this system ensures the application in practice of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value including the methodology and criteria used to establish the skill references and corresponding wage rates. The Committee also reiterates its request to the Government to provide information on the unified wage scales in force with regard to the public sector.

3. While welcoming the above provisions of the new Labour Code, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the importance of ensuring the application of the Convention in practice. It notes the Government’s statement that the main reason for disparity between the wages earned by men and women continues to be the wide differences between wages in the various sectors and in individual companies. In its fourth periodic report under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (E/C.12/4/Add.10 of 27 November 2001, paragraph 99) the Government states that differences between men’s and women’s incomes are mainly due to labour market segregation and the existence of "women’s and men’s occupations". According to the Government the average monthly pay of women in large and medium enterprises is almost 30 per cent lower than that of men, which are increasingly entering better paid jobs formerly done predominantly by women. The Committee also notes the deep concern expressed by the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women in its concluding observations of 25 January 2002 at the deteriorating situation of women in employment and that women are the overwhelming majority in lower level and low-paying jobs in the public and private sectors (A/57/38 (Part I), paragraph 383). In this context the Committee reiterates its request to the Government to provide detailed statistical information on the distribution of men and women in the public sector, the civil service, and in the private sector by earnings levels and hours of work, as well as statistical data on the composition of earnings, as outlined in the Committee’s 1998 general observation. The Government is also asked to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to promote the access of women to better paying jobs in all sectors and fields of economic activity.

4. The Committee recalls that effective and functioning mechanisms at the national level to monitor and enforce equal pay legislation are important to ensure the full application of the Convention. It therefore reiterates its previous direct request to the Government to provide information on the activities of the labour inspectorate with regard to the principle of equal remuneration, including indications of the number of infringements reported and the penalties imposed.