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The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its report. It notes the adoption on 30 November 2001 of the new Social Security Act. It asks the Government to indicate whether the new Act has come into force and, if so, to please provide detailed information on the extent to which the new legislation gives effect to each of the provisions of the Convention, as well as the information requested in the report form, including statistics. The Committee also requests the Government to supply any regulations that have been adopted to apply the new Act.

The Committee hopes that the next report will also contain information on the measures adopted to give effect to the following provisions, on which the Committee has been commenting for many years.

Article 5 of the Convention (in conjunction with Article 10). In earlier comments, the Committee noted the Government’s statement that the payment abroad of old-age, invalidity and survivors’ benefits, and of workers’ compensation in cases of accidents, occupational diseases or the death of the worker, is made in each individual case on the basis of a resolution issued by the Benefits Committee of the Ecuadorean Social Security Institute (IESS). The Committee consequently expressed the hope that the Government would confirm this practice in its legislation, as it had expressed the intention of doing.

In its previous report, the Government stated that the basis in law of the procedure ensuring payment of social benefits abroad is the Ibero-American Social Security Convention, which is an integral part of Ecuador’s legislation pursuant to Article 163 of the new Constitution. The Committee pointed out in this connection that, according to the information supplied by the Government, of the 38 countries that have ratified Convention No. 118, only five have signed the Ibero-American Social Security Convention. It would appear that implementation of the Ibero-American Convention necessarily involves the conclusion of bilateral administrative agreements between the countries concerned. In these circumstances, the Committee is bound to point out once again that, by ratifying Convention No. 118, the Government has undertaken to guarantee, in accordance with Articles 5 and 10, payment of the above benefits to the nationals of any other Member which has accepted the obligations of the Convention in respect of a given branch, as well as to its own nationals and to refugees and stateless persons, in the event of residence abroad, irrespective of the new country of residence or the conclusion of any reciprocity agreement. The Committee therefore hopes that the Government will review this matter and establish the current practice in law by means of a specific provision ensuring that Articles 5 and 10 are applied both in law and in practice. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the progress made in this area in its next report.