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The Committee takes note of the information sent by the Government in its report. It notes that as a result of a recent reform, the list of diseases recognized as being occupational in origin now comes under Council of Ministers
Ordinance No. 1115 of 30 July 2002, and came into force on 3 September 2002. The Government indicates in this connection that the new list falls within the concept of European Commission Recommendation 2003/670/EC, an annex of which sets forth a schedule of diseases to be linked to occupations.

According to information supplied by the Government, the new list in force in Poland is composed of 26 major groups of pathologies. The report does not, however, list exhaustively the various chemical, physical or biological agents that cause these pathologies or link the latter to those in the schedule set out in Article 2 of the Convention. The Committee would therefore be grateful if the Government would provide the necessary information in its next report, indicating in particular the points on which the lists of occupational diseases set in 2002 differs from the former list.

The Committee takes this opportunity to observe that Poland ratified Workmen’s Compensation (Occupational Diseases) Convention (Revised), 1934 (No. 42), in 1948 and that recently – 2003 – it ratified the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102), accepting to be bound by the following branches: medical care, old-age benefit, family benefit, maternity benefit and survivors’ benefit. It would like to draw the Government’s attention to the fact that in the course of the standards revision process, the Governing Body of the International Labour Office invited States parties to Convention No. 42 to consider the possibility of ratifying the Employment Injury Benefits Convention, 1964 [Schedule I amended in 1980] (No. 121), which revises Convention No. 42, and which, together with the List of Occupational Diseases Recommendation, 2002 (No. 194), is the most up to date ILO standard and responds to current needs. The Governing Body likewise invited member States to inform the Office of any obstacles and difficulties encountered that might prevent or delay such ratification. The Committee would accordingly be grateful if, in its next report, the Government would provide all information it deems relevant in this respect.