CMNT_TITLE

The Committee notes the first report of the Government which also contains a reply to the questions raised in its previous observation in connection with the comments made by the Union of Autonomous Trade Unions of Croatia (UATUC).

1. The Committee recalls that in its previous comments the UATUC alleged that a large number of workers in Croatia were denied health protection on the basis of section 59 of the Health Insurance Act in force as of 13 August 1993 which provides, in particular, that for contribution payers who fail to pay the insurance contribution, the use of health protection funded by the Institute for Health Insurance shall be reduced to the right to emergency medical aid only. The UATUC pointed out that under the said legislation the obligation to pay a contribution rests with the employer who deducts it from the wage of the insured workers employed by him, and that in case the employer fails to pay the contribution, the insured worker has no legal possibility personally to pay the contribution, nor does he have any other legal means of recourse to force the employer to pay it, while the Institute for Health Insurance to which the contributions are paid has the legal possibility to exact payment from employers.

In reply, the Government indicates that amendments to the Health Insurance Act, which have been in force since July 1996, provide for measures which give the Institute for Health Insurance the authority to collect arrears of contributions from the persons under obligation to pay them. The Government considers that in this way the measures for the collection of health insurance contributions will be directed exclusively towards employers who are obliged to pay them.

The Committee notes this information. It asks the Government to supply a copy of the amendments in question as well as to confirm that the legal provisions contained in section 59 of the Health Insurance Act, as well as the practice, referred to by UATUC, concerning the restriction of health protection funded by the Institute of Health Insurance to emergency medical aid, in case of non-payment of contributions by the employers on behalf of their insured workers, were abolished in conformity with Article 69 of the Convention.

2. In its previous observation the Committee has raised a number of questions in connection with the UATUC's comments alleging that, as a result of the amendments of the Employment Act of 21 October 1994, a number of unemployed persons have been taken off the unemployment record on the grounds which were considerably wider than those provided for in section 51 of this Act which regulates the loss of the right to an unemployment allowance. The Committee notes that the Government refers in its report to a new law on employment adopted by the Croatian Parliament on 28 June 1996, and, in particular, to the provisions under which the right to an unemployment benefit could be suspended, inter alia, in cases where the person concerned establishes an enterprise or becomes self-employed (personal labour or professional activity). The Committee would like the Government to supply the text of the law on employment of 1996 in force, together with any other relevant regulations.

3. The Committee will proceed with a detailed examination of the information contained in the Government's report once it has at its disposal the translation into English or French of the text of the various relevant legislative texts.