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The Committee takes note of the Government’s report.

1. Scope of the Convention. The Committee had previously requested the Government to consider introducing legislative measures in order to extend the rights and guarantees of the Convention to domestic servants, gardeners, cooks and the like, and agricultural workers. The Committee notes with satisfaction that according to the information provided by the Government in its report, following the amendment of the Labour Code by Law No. 5 of 2002, domestic servants, gardeners, cooks and the like are now covered by the Labour Code. Moreover, as provided by Regulation No. 4 of 2003, agricultural workers in the public sector and at least part of the private sector are also covered by the Labour Code. The Committee requests the Government to specify the categories of agricultural workers employed in the private sector which are not covered by the Labour Code.

2. Article 2 of the Convention. Need to provide for rapid appeal procedures, coupled with effective and dissuasive sanctions against acts of interference While noting that according to the information provided in the Government’s report, the Labour Code was amended and a new paragraph (c) of section 97 prohibits acts of interference by employers’ and workers’ organizations in each other’s affairs, the Committee once again recalls that, to ensure that measures prohibiting acts of interference receive the necessary publicity and are effective in practice, the relevant legislation should explicitly lay down provisions for rapid appeal procedures, coupled with effective and dissuasive sanctions against acts of interference in order to guarantee the application in practice of Article 2 of the Convention (see General Survey of 1994 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraph 232). As the Government does not indicate that the recent amendments to the Labour Code deal with this matter, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures in order to adopt legislative provisions providing for rapid appeal procedures and sufficiently dissuasive sanctions against acts of interference and to keep it informed in this respect.