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The Committee takes note of the information supplied by the Government in its latest report and, in particular, the comments made by the Austrian Congress of Chambers of Labour.

The Austrian Congress of Chambers of Labour expresses its view in relation to Article 5 of the Convention that there are many public authorities which order public works without applying the procedure of refusal of contract for infringement of the provisions of labour clauses or which let themselves be persuaded by interventions and give order again to the enterprises known for the non-observance of the labour clause. It also maintains that the application of other sanctions is not ensured either, because of the lack of personnel in labour inspection, because of the type of organisations bound to take the sanctions, i.e. the local authorities, and because of the provisions of the penal law. It refers, in this connection, to its own comments made on the application of Convention No. 6 which the Committee noted in its direct request of 1990 on the said Convention.

In reply to these comments, the Government indicates the increase of labour inspection personnel by 15 persons and refers to the Code of ethics in the construction industry and, in particular, to the rules made thereunder. Point 4.50 of these rules concerning the adjudications for the orders of public works provides for the refusal of offer made by tenderers whose observance of the social laws of protection is not absolutely certain. The text of the said Code and point 4.50 of the rules as well as the statutes of the committee for the control of adjudications are supplied by the Government with its report.

The Committee notes this information and would be grateful if the Government would provide information on the cases in which point 4.50 of the above-mentioned rules is actually applied and on the practical application of other measures to ensure the observance of labour clauses in public contracts, including, for instance, extracts from official reports, in accordance with Article 5 and point V of the report form.