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The Committee notes from the Government's latest report, the adoption of Act No. 74/1994 and Government Decree No. 108/1994, amending section 92 of the Labour Code with respect to the exemptions from weekly rest. The Committee notes in particular, that under section 5 of Decree No. 108/1994, employers must grant transport workers a rest period of at least 32 consecutive hours every three weeks in all cases in which working hours have been extended, due to operational reasons. The Government's report also indicates that for drivers delivering shipments, weekly rest can be shortened to 18 consecutive hours from 32 hours. Furthermore, in all cases in which there has been an exception to the weekly rest provisions, such as when natural and industrial disasters have occurred, the employer must grant the affected workers a rest period of at least 64 consecutive hours every four weeks. Finally, the Government states that in operations with irregular working hours, the employer and worker concerned may agree to a rest period of at least 32 consecutive hours every two weeks.

The Committee would like to point out to the Government that under the various rest periods arranged to compensate for authorized exceptions, noted above, workers concerned do not effectively enjoy a rest period equivalent to at least 24 consecutive hours every seven days. In this regard, the Committee recalls that in accordance with Article 2 of the Convention, every worker shall enjoy in every period of seven days a period of rest comprising of at least 24 consecutive hours, and that Article 5 provides for, as far as possible, compensatory rest periods in cases where exceptions have been made. It requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or contemplated to bring the legislation into conformity with the Convention on this point.