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Article 8, paragraph 1, of the Convention. The Committee has been requesting the Government for the last 20 years to introduce the necessary amendments to sections 92 to 94 of the Labour Code to better reflect the requirements of this Article of the Convention. The Committee has even suggested suitable wording to this end and has repeatedly received assurances that the new amended Labour Code would take into account these comments. However, the Government in its last report states that whereas the draft Labour Code has been adopted by the tripartite National Labour Council (NLC) at its 29th session which was held from 15 January to 12 February 2002, the provisions relating to the conditions for and limits on deductions from wages were not examined on that occasion. While noting that the Government undertakes to address this aspect at the next session of the NLC, the Committee hopes that the necessary action will be taken without further delay and requests the Government to transmit a copy of the new Labour Code as soon as it is enacted.

Article 12(1) of the Convention and Part V of the report form. While noting the Government’s indication that at present it is not in a position to supply information on the number of inspection visits and the results obtained in regard to the matters dealt with in the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to make every effort to collect and communicate in its next report concrete information on the effect given to the Convention in practice, including in particular full particulars on the situation concerning accumulated wage arrears in the public sector. The Committee refers in this connection to paragraphs 23, 360 and 411-412 of the 2003 General Survey on the protection of wages in which attention was drawn to the persistent problem of non-payment or delayed payment of wages in several African countries and asks the Government to report in detail on the measures taken or planned to ensure the regular payment of wages in accordance with the relevant provision of the Convention.