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The Committee notes with interest the information supplied in the Government's report.

1. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee draws the Government's attention to the fact that there are still shortcomings in national legislation to ensure application of the Convention. The Committee notes the establishment, on the basis of various ministerial Decrees adopted in 1995, of bodies to prepare the draft dock safety and health standard, to collect suggestions on it from persons and organizations after publication, and to prepare its final version. It also notes that the draft dock safety and health standard was published in May 1995. The Committee hopes that this regulatory text will be adopted in the very near future and that it will give effect to the provisions of the Convention, in particular, Article 4, under which national laws shall prescribe the technical measures laid down in Part III of the Convention.

2. In its previous comments, the Committee referred to the allegations of several trade union organizations and brought to the Government's attention the need to adopt specific measures to protect the health and safety of workers in the port sector, in view of the fact that there were serious and even fatal accidents in the sector. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would inform it of the measures taken or contemplated to ensure respect for the Convention in this matter. The Committee also requests the Government to send it a general appreciation of how the Convention is applied and to attach extracts from inspection reports and information on the number of workers covered by the legislation, the number and nature of violations reported and the measures taken as a result of them, along with the number of industrial accidents and diseases reported (point V of the report form).