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1. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in reply to its previous comments including information regarding the adoption of Decree No. 20 of 9 February 2001 on Regulations for the Labour Inspectorate and a Decree of 27 December 2001 creating the State Agency on Standardization. It requests the Government to provide with its next report supplementary information and clarification on the following points.

2. Article 4 of the Convention. National laws and regulations which ensure the application the Convention. The Committee notes that in its report on the application of Articles 8-15 of the Convention, the Government refers to a series of legal or administrative provisions including SN 245-71 on Sanitary standards of industrial undertaking designing; SNIP 11-92-76 on Supplementary buildings and premises of industrial undertakings; SNIP 11.4-79 on Natural and artificial lighting; SN N-4088-86 of 31 March 1986 on Sanitary standards of the microclimate of industrial premises; SN N-4137-88 of 12 August 1986 on Hygienic classification of working conditions and nature on the basis of harmfulness and hazards; GOST 12.1.005.88 on General sanitary and hygienic requirements to the atmosphere of working places; and, as regards the application of Articles 16-19, to another series of legal or administrative provisions including State Standard GOST 12.1.003-83 concerning the safety requirements to noise and the State Standard GOST 12.1.012-90 SSBT concerning general safety requirements to vibration and other relevant instruments. The Committee notes that these legal and administrative texts are not available to it. The Committee also notes, however, that the Government reports that the newly established State Agency on Standardization has started to revise national regulations on technical aspects of working conditions and that such regulations should replace those adopted by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) which are still in force. The Committee hopes that the regulations in question will ensure the application of Articles 8-19 of the Convention and that they will be adopted in the near future. The Government is requested to keep the Committee informed of the progress with this revision process and to supply copies of relevant new regulations as soon as they have been adopted, as well as to supply the Committee with copies of such laws and regulations which will remain in force for the foreseeable future.

3. Article 6, paragraph 1. Inspection and ensuring proper application of the Convention. The Committee notes that in its report the Government refers to several institutions which each have certain competencies to exercise control over the enforcement of national laws and regulations in the area of occupational safety and health. The institutions referred to include the State Labour Inspectorate, the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Service, the Office of the Prosecutor and the State Agency on Standardization. The Government is requested to supply with its next report information on the activities of these agencies, their respective competences, as well as the information on the manner in which they cooperate in supervising the proper application of the relevant legislation which gives effect to the Convention and to forward copies or extracts of any available reports on the activities of the mentioned agencies.