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1. The Committee notes the Government’s report and recalls the communication concerning the application of the Convention submitted by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) on 16 November 2001. The ICFTU alleged that discrimination in employment and occupation on the basis of sex exists in practice, that women earn 18 to 35 per cent less than men, and that the legislation did not include recognition of the principle of equal pay for work of equal value. The Committee recalls that it has previously commented on the existing gender wage gap and expressed the hope that the new Labour Code would incorporate the requirement of equal remuneration for work of equal value in accordance with the Convention.

2. With respect to the situation of women in the labour market and their level of income generally, the Committee notes that, according to the Government, the average earnings of women were 73.8 per cent of the average earnings of men in 2001, with the percentage for the private sector (71.6 per cent) being lower than in the public sector (79.2 per cent). The Committee is concerned that the earnings gap between men and women appears to have been widening over the past five years. According to the Government the main reason for disparities was the concentration of women in sectors and occupations with lower wages. Noting the Government’s indication that its 2001 "Conception for equal opportunities of men and women" includes measures to ensure the observance of the principles of the Convention, the Committee asks the Government to provide in its next report detailed information on any measures taken to promote the access of women to higher paid sectors and positions, including measures on women and entrepreneurship, as well as any other measures taken to ensure that female-dominated sectors and occupations are not undervalued. The Committee further notes the adoption of the Public Service Act (Act No. 313/2001) and of the Civil Service Act (Act No. 312/2001) which both provide for gender-neutral conditions of remuneration for male and female public service employees and civil servants. The Committee notes with interest the special tariff scales for pedagogical employees and health-care employees, providing for higher salaries in these often undervalued, female-dominated sectors compared to other public sector employees. The Government is asked to provide full statistical information on the levels of remuneration of men and women in the private and public sectors, as outlined in the Committee’s 1998 general observation on the Convention.

3. As regards legislation, the Committee notes that section 6 of the Fundamental Principles of the new Labour Code (Act No. 311/2001) of 2 July 2001 provides that women and men shall be entitled to equal treatment, including with regard to remuneration. Section 119(3) of the Labour Code provides that "wage conditions" must be equal for both men and women without any discrimination on grounds of sex and that women and men are entitled to equal wages for work of an equal level of complexity, responsibility and difficulty, performed under the same working conditions and upon achievement of the same efficiency and work results. While noting that section 119(3) of the new Labour Code refers to criteria such as complexity, responsibility and difficulty, which may assist in objectively determining whether different jobs are of equal value, the Committee notes that the notion of "the same working conditions, efficiency and results" used in this provision does not fully reflect the principle of the Convention. Work performed in different working conditions can nevertheless still be of equal value. The Committee hopes that the Government will consider the possibility of amending section 6 of the Fundamental Principles of the Labour Code and section 119(3) of the Code to bring them fully into line with the Convention. In the meantime, the Government is asked to provide information on measures taken to ensure that the relevant provisions of the Labour Code are applied in a manner consistent with the Convention, including any relevant administrative or judicial decisions.

The Committee is raising certain other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.