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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:

The Committee notes the information that a new Labour Code was adopted in 1997, that its sections 229 and 230 contain general provisions on occupational hygiene, sanitation and health and that these provisions are to be further regulated by ministerial order (Prakas). The Committee also notes the reference to Prakas No. 307 concerning occupational safety and health in the garment and shoe industries. While the Committee welcomes this information, which indicates that the Government has initiated the process of regulating occupational safety and health in the country, it also notes that the Government has not yet provided any information on measures taken to give effect to the Convention. With reference to the fact that the Government in its 1994 report indicated that the use of white lead has been very widespread in the country, particularly during the period of reconstruction, and that sections 229–230 of the Labour Code would seem to constitute an appropriate legislative base for giving effect to the Convention through, for example, ministerial orders, the Committee urges the Government to take appropriate action to give full effect to the Convention and requests it to indicate in its next report any progress made in this regard.