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Articles 3, paragraph 2; 10 and 16 of the Convention. The Committee takes note of the observation of 6 December 1994 made by the Branch Committee of the Staff Representation of the Central Labour Inspectorate (Fachausschuss beim Zentral - Arbeitsinspektorat) regarding the transfer of additional duties, under the Act on the Employment of Foreigners to the labour inspectorate which they consider to be contrary to Articles 3, paragraph 2, and 10 of the Convention.

It states that this transfer of additional duties to labour inspectors could interfere with the effective discharge of their primary duties, because at present only 310 labour inspectors were covering 250,000 enterprises which employ 3 million workers. They also state that the complicated procedures will add too heavy a burden on the inspectorate. In their view this would represent an unreasonable additional burden on the labour inspectorate which could not be fully mitigated by the 40 additional labour inspection posts that are to be made available.

The Committee notes the Government's acknowledgement that the supervision of illegal employment of foreigners as well as the participation in the punitive and other administrative procedures have been transferred to the labour inspectorate with effect from 1 January 1995, BGBL No. 994/1994. The Government also agrees that 40 additional posts will be accorded but that, according to the figures available in 1993, 208,765 enterprises and 2.5 million workers were covered by 315 labour inspectors. In addition the Government states that facilities such as electronic data processing is constantly being provided to the inspectorate. It further states that the former legal position and working conditions of the permanent staff of the labour inspectorate will not be affected at all as the workload will be carried out on the basis of strict division between the old and new duties. The Government also indicates that the only change will be that in the future as regards cases of infringements of the legislation concerning foreigners, the permanent staff will notify the newly installed supervisory team for foreigners of the competent labour inspectorate composed of the additional posts and not the official agencies of the labour market administration as before.

The Committee notes that the Branch Committee considers that, due to the future harmonization of Austrian legislation with European standards, the number of employees in the labour inspectorate has to be increased in order to carry out the additional tasks transferred by new legislation. The Government maintains that in the long run the implementation of relevant European Union (EU) regulations will lead to a considerable easing of the burden on labour inspectors, because the main burden for the additional duties will be borne by employers, specialists on prevention and safety advisers.

The Government refers to the National Employee Protection Act (BGBL No. 450/1994) which shifts matters concerning employee protection to the enterprise level. The Committee notes that the Government acknowledges that initially labour inspectors will be faced with new challenges as they will be responsible for assessing the suitability and effectiveness of the internal health and safety systems in the enterprises. Additional burdens will eventually decrease.

The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide further information concerning the practical application of the new legislation in particular as regards the workload resulting from: cases related to the employment of foreigners as well as from the shift to internal protection systems at the enterprise level. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide further information on any legislation that implements the EU regulations and on how the Government intends to deal with the additional burden of labour inspectors during the transition period.