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The Committee takes note of the Government's report and the excerpts from a recent collective bargaining agreement which attest to the non-discriminatory nature of negotiated remuneration rates above the minimum wage.

1. In its previous direct request, the Committee had noted that the 1992 amendments to the Labour Code, while continuing to attempt to apply the Convention through the requirement of equal wages "for the same work", had not included the concept of "work of equal value", a concept that goes beyond a reference to the "same" or "similar" work, in choosing the "value" of the work as the comparison (see paragraphs 19 to 21 and 44 to 50 of the 1986 General Survey on equal remuneration). It notes with interest from the present report that the Government is taking measures to include in the most recent draft amendments to the Labour Code, due to be discussed in the State Duma (Parliament) in October 1996, provisions meeting exactly the terms of Article 2 of the Convention, namely equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value. This step is particularly important in view of the Committee's 1990 general observation, in which it pointed out that, where governments choose to apply the Convention through legislation (one of the options available under Article 2, paragraph 2, of the Convention), and the legislation does not after some time embody the broader principle of equal pay for work of equal value, they should consider taking steps to amend their legislation accordingly. The Committee trusts that the Government's next report will contain information on the adoption of the new amendments, and looks forward to receiving a copy of them.

2. Regarding its previous request for information on how the principle of equal remuneration is applied in the negotiation of wages above the national minimum wage (which the Government acknowledges is extremely low), the Committee notes the information supplied by the Government concerning the possibility of filing complaints before the labour courts in cases of alleged unequal pay, as well as on the role of the labour inspectorate in applying sanctions. The Committee also notes that the Government indicates that, in September 1996 in Moscow, the minimum monthly wage was 75,900 roubles whereas the average real remuneration was 600,000 roubles. The Committee hopes that the Government, in its next report, will supply information on the recent activities of the labour inspectorate in this connection, in particular in view of Federal Act No. 109-FZ of 18 July 1995 to amend the Labour Code, which strengthens state labour inspection and the control of violations of labour legislation (including, for example, details on the number of infringements reported and on penalties imposed).

3. The Committee, in its previous direct request, had asked for recent information on how the principle of the Convention is applied in practice, such as copies of the public sector wage scales and statistical data. As the Government points out that the State Committee on Statistics does not publish such data on wages and salaries which could be used to evaluate the difference in remuneration between men and women, the Committee trusts that in future reports such information - perhaps available from other sources (such as the national report prepared for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women or by government departments responsible for following up on the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action) - will be supplied so that the Committee is in a position to assess that the Convention is being applied in practice.