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1. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its report and the attached documentation and, in particular, the final report (and its annexes) of January 1996 on the "comparative situation of men and women with regard to remuneration", prepared by a working group established by the Higher Council for Occupational Equality between Men and Women, one of the functions of which is to carry out studies and make proposals to improve occupational equality. The Committee notes with interest that the final report of the working group contains various proposals intended to reduce inequalities in remuneration between men and women, and particularly: the improvement of the quality of information, both in terms of the information provided by enterprises and public administrations and information intended for the public; the preparation of a guide for negotiators to draw their attention to the importance of equality between men and women; and the preparation of a study on the comparability of the value of work between two branches of activities that have few common characteristics.

2. The Committee notes with interest that the working group is particularly sensitive to the transparency and systematic review of methods of professional classification and the appraisal of functions, which take on central importance in combating wage discrimination, and that the working group attached great importance to this aspect and devoted a large part of its work to it. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the measures that have been taken, or are envisaged, to implement the proposals of the working group, and the progress achieved, particularly with regard to the development of systems for the classification and appraisal of jobs that help reduce or eliminate gaps between the wage rates of men and women. In this respect, the Committee notes, according to the statistics provided by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), that in 1992 the average wage of men was 27 per cent higher than that of women in the private and semi-public sectors, and that for specific skill levels the gap in average wages according to sex was smaller, at around 5 to 15 per cent, and that it was 18 per cent among skilled workers and managerial staff with stable contracts. In the public service, the wage differences between men and women were a little narrower in 1992, even though differences in wages persisted at the same grade level, caused in particular by discrimination in the payment of bonuses (family and post-related bonuses). The Committee would be interested in receiving more recent statistics and comments on developments in the situation in this respect.

3. The Committee notes the observations made by the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) relating, in particular, to the causes of unequal wages, the improvement of knowledge and the coverage of situations of wage inequalities in all negotiations; improved coverage and recognition of family responsibilities for both men and women, although they are too frequently borne by women alone; and more rapid action to compare the jobs in which women are engaged with those of men. Noting that the CFDT's observations are along the same lines as the proposals contained in the working group's report, to the work of which the CFDT greatly contributed, the Committee refers the Government to its comments concerning the implementation of these proposals.

4. In reply to its previous comments concerning the inclusion in collective agreements of clauses of occupational equality in general, and equal remuneration in particular, the Committee notes that the annual report on collective bargaining for 1994 cites clauses in collective agreements relating to the principle of "equal wages for equal work". This is the case, for example, of the collective agreement covering commerce and audiovisual, electronic and household equipment services of 26 November 1992, of which an extract was attached to the report of the working group, which provides in clause 13(1) that "for an identical job, employment situation and qualifications, employers must not practise any discriminatory measure on grounds of sex or nationality". The Committee refers to paragraphs 20 to 23 and 52 to 70 of its 1986 General Survey on equal remuneration, in which it explains the spirit of the Convention goes beyond a mere reference to "identical or similar" work, and Article 2, paragraph 2(c), of the Convention, which obliges States that have ratified the Convention to ensure the application to all workers of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value by means which include collective agreements. The Committee therefore hopes that in future all collective agreements will be brought into conformity with section L.140-2 of the Labour Code and Articles 1(b) and 2 of the Convention. It requests the Government to continue providing information on the annual report on collective bargaining as it relates to equal remuneration and to transmit an extract of the next annual report, since the extract of the annual report for 1994, although referred to as being attached to the report, has not been received by the ILO.

5. With regard to supervising the effect given in practice to the Convention, the Committee notes that in 1994 seven reports and 2,876 observations were made by the labour inspectorate relating to occupational equality in general between men and women, but that there are no statistics on the number of violations reported that are specifically related to equal remuneration. The Committee also notes the four rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Communities respecting equality of treatment between men and women in cases concerning Germany, Denmark and Great Britain. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would continue to supply statistics and other information on the measures taken by the labour inspectorate and any decisions by the courts which relate to the application of the Convention, and particularly the interpretation by the courts of the concept of equal value.