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With reference to its observation, the Committee notes the information provided by the Government in reply to its previous comments and it wishes to make the following remarks.

In its previous comments, the Committee hoped that on the occasion of a future revision of the legislation the Government: (a) would abolish the waiting period of three days for the payment of cash benefits, as established by Act No. 16074 of 1989, to ensure the payment of such benefits from the first day of incapacity, in conformity with Article 9, paragraph 3, of the Convention; and (b) would not encounter obstacles in guaranteeing by law, both explicitly and in general, the right to domiciliary visiting where this has been deemed necessary as a result of the state of the patient and the circumstances of the case, in accordance with Article 10, paragraph 1(a). In view of the fact that, with regard to the first point, the Government confines itself to indicating that the reasons are still in force which led to the establishment of the waiting period and that it provides no information on the second, the Committee is bound to hope once again that the Government will adopt the necessary measures to give effect to the above provisions of the Convention.

Articles 13, 14 and 18 (in conjunction with Article 19).  In its previous comments, the Committee noted that there is no ceiling for the amount of the wage used as a basis for calculating benefits under section 18 of Act No. 16074 of 1989 and that the payment of benefits is made in accordance with sections 19 et seq. of the Act. The Committee observed that, in the absence of the ceiling referred to above, the level of benefits as calculated on the basis of the rules established by Act No. 16074 appeared to be in accordance with the level required by these provisions of the Convention. As the Government has not provided the requested statistical data, the Committee is bound to hope that the Government will make every effort to include the requested statistical information in its next report in relation to Article 19 of the Convention in accordance with the report form.

Finally, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the effect given in practice to the second subsection of section 8 of Act No. 16074, including statistical data on the amount of benefits granted to dependent workers of employers who are not insured.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2009.]