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Article 2 of the Convention. Insertion of labour clauses in public contracts. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the adoption of Act No. 23 of 14 August 2007 on bidding, outbidding and government warehouses which replaces Act No. 3 of 1997 on the same. The new Act regulates, in particular, the award, execution and supervision by the Supreme Commission for Tenders of all public tenders on the basis of equality of treatment and transparency. However, the Committee notes with regret to note that, contrary to the indications of the Government, the new Act does not provide for the insertion of labour clauses as prescribed by this Article of the Convention. In this connection, the Committee wishes to refer to paragraphs 176–177 of its General Survey of 2008 on labour clauses in public contracts in which it pointed out that “the Convention has a very simple structure, all its provisions being articulated around and directly linked to the core requirement of Article 2(1), that is the insertion of labour clauses ensuring favourable wages and other working conditions to the workers concerned. As a result, in case the national legislation makes no provision for the specific type of labour clause and in the specific terms set out in Article 2(1) of the Convention, the application of the remaining Articles 3, 4 and 5 becomes without object and thus cannot be considered separately.” The Committee went on to observe that “by aligning contract standards to the highest prevailing standards, by excluding the lowering of those standards through subcontracting, and by incorporating those principles into the standard clauses of each and every public contract falling within its scope, the Convention guarantees that public procurement is not a terrain for socially unhealthy competition and can never be associated with poor working and wage conditions.” The Committee hopes that the Government will take the necessary steps without further delay in order to ensure the application of the basic requirement of the Convention and recalls that it may draw on the expert advice of the Office to this effect.

Finally, the Committee attaches herewith a copy of the Practical Guide on Convention No. 94 which was prepared by the Office in September 2008 based on the conclusions of the aforementioned General Survey to help better understand the requirements of the Convention and ultimately improve their application in law and practice.