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The Committee takes note of the Government’s report and the adoption of the Minimum Wages and Conditions of Employment (General) Order of 14 January 2002. It notes that the Government’s report does not mention any new measures, either taken or envisaged, to give effect to its previous comments. As to the abovementioned Order of 14 January 2002, it contains similar provisions on maternity protection to those of the Order of 1997. The Committee is therefore bound, once again, to draw the Government’s attention to the following points.

Article 3, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Contrary to this provision of the Convention, section 15(A)(1) of the Employment Act and section 7(1) of the Schedule to the Order of 14 January 2002 submit entitlement to maternity leave to the completion of two years of continuous service from the date of the first engagement or since the last maternity leave was taken.

Article 3, paragraphs 2 and 3. There is no provision in the national legislation providing for a compulsory period of postnatal leave of not less than six weeks.

Article 3, paragraph 4. National legislation should be amended so as to provide that when the confinement takes place after the presumed date, prenatal leave must in all cases be extended until the actual date of the confinement, and the period of compulsory postnatal leave shall not be reduced.

Article 4, paragraphs 4, 6, 7 and 8. Contrary to Article 4, paragraph 8, the employer is individually liable for the cost of the maternity benefits due to women employed by him. In this connection, the Government states that while it is desirable to amend the national legislation on this point, it does not, in the prevailing economic situation, have the financial means necessary to bear the cost of such benefits. The Committee wishes to recall that under these provisions of the Convention cash benefits shall be provided either by means of public funds or by means of compulsory social insurance; the latter does not necessarily call for public financing but can be financed by employers’ and workers’ contributions.

Article 5. The legislation contains no provision authorizing a woman who is nursing a child to interrupt her work for this purpose, and establishing that such interruption shall be counted as working hours and remunerated accordingly.

Article 6. Section 15(B) of the Employment Act (the content of which is reproduced in section 7(4) of the Schedule to the Order of 14 January 2002) which prohibits the employer from terminating the services of a female employee for reasons connected with pregnancy, is not in itself sufficient to ensure fully the application of Article 6 of the Convention, under which it shall not be lawful for a woman to be dismissed during maternity leave or to be given notice of dismissal at such a time that the notice would expire during her absence irrespective of the grounds for dismissal.

The Committee trusts that the Government’s next report will not fail to supply information on the progress made to ensure the application of the abovementioned provisions of the Convention.

Lastly, the Committee again requests the Government to supply the text of any legal provision instructions or directives that have been adopted on the nature and scope of the medical benefits which shall be ensured to female workers in conformity with Article 4, paragraphs 1 and 3, of the Convention.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail in the present comments in 2005.]