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The Committee notes with regret that for the third year in succession the Government's report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation which read as follows:

The Committee had asked the Government to amend the national legislation which gives the authorities discretionary power to cancel arbitration awards or declare wages agreements void when they are contrary to government policy or national interest (section 42 of the Industrial Relations Act and section 52 of the Public Service Conciliation and Arbitration Act), contrary to Article 4 of the Convention. The Committee noted that the Government stated that due to the acute shortage of manpower in the relevant department the drafting of the amendments had not yet been attended to. Noting that the Government required the full-time input of an official to look into further amendments as well, the Committee considers that this is a case where the technical assistance of the ILO should be drawn on. It thus hopes that the Government will take up this offer as soon as possible and will be able to indicate in its next report that the necessary amendments have been tabled and adopted.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.