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Article 8 of the Convention

1. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee takes note of Act No. 1343 and Decree No. 1347 respecting occupational diseases which were adopted on 29 December 1988. In this connection, it notes that section 1 of Act No. 1343 defines "occupational disease" as "a disease which has probably been caused mainly by physical, chemical or biological agents in work which has been performed on the basis of a wage-earning or salaried relationship or in activity as an agricultural entrepreneur". In section 2 of the Act, a causal relationship between a disease within the meaning of section 1 and a physical, chemical or biological agent present in work shall be deemed to exist where an agent specified in the Decree has been present in the work to such an extent that it may be the principal cause of the disease. Section 3 of Decree No. 1347 gives a list of physical, chemical and biological agents and, for each agent, lists a number of typical pathological manifestations likely to be caused by the agent in question. The Committee understands that the list of pathological manifestations is not restrictive and that consequently, for the workers exposed to the agents mentioned in section 3 of Decree No. 1347 the occupational origin of the disease is presumed, whatever the pathological manifestation. The Committee asks the Government to confirm whether this is indeed the case. Please indicate also whether diseases other than those caused by the agents mentioned in section 3 of Decree No. 1347 of 1988 can be considered as occupational diseases within the meaning of section 1, subsection 1, of Ordinance No. 1343 of 1988.

2. Decree No. 1347 of 1988 does not mention the following diseases despite the fact that they appear in the list of occupational diseases (amended in 1980) in Schedule 1 to the Convention: (a) broncho-pulmonary diseases caused by hard-metal dust (item No. 2 in the list in the Convention); (b) primary epithiliomatous cancer of the skin caused by tar, pitch, bitumen, mineral oil, anthracene, or the compounds, products or residues of these substances (item No. 27). The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate how the workers afflicted with the above diseases can benefit from the presumption of their occupational origin when they are engaged in work involving exposure to the risks concerned.