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1. The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

Part V of the report form. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report in which reference was made to the opinion expressed by the PNG Harbours Board. The PNG Harbours Board stated that, in general, infractions regarding the obligation to mark the weight on packages have only rarely occurred in national ports, especially as concerns cargo coming from overseas. However, some cases have been discovered where the weight has not been marked on packages for internal transport. The Committee further notes from the Government’s report that a common problem encountered in PNG ports is related to the availability of facilities to check whether or not the weight has been indicated correctly by the consignee or consignor, since the responsible supervisors in the ports, who are officers of the PNG Harbour Board and the Maritime Division, can only easily verify the cubic measurements of cargo. The Committee takes due note of this information and requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged in order to provide the ports with the necessary facilities to ensure that the indication of weight on packages can be verified easily.

2. With regard to the question of possible difficulties encountered in the application of the Convention in relation to modern methods of cargo handling, with particular reference to containers, the Committee requests the Government to refer to the general observation that it is making on the Convention at the present session.