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The Committee recalls that under provisions of the Administrative Code (sections 873, 878, 882, 884 and 887) and Act No. 112 of 1974, police chiefs are empowered as administrative authorities to impose sentences, including labour on public works and detention. As has been pointed out on many occasions, this is not in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 2(c) of the Convention, under which work can be exacted only as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law, so that the imposition of compulsory labour by administrative authorities is not compatible with the Convention.

The question was discussed in the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards in 1995, and that Committee noted with regret that the draft had not been adopted, though the Government had been referring to draft legislation before the Legislative Assembly for more than ten years.

In its report received in May 1997, the Government has once again indicated that legislation for this purpose is still pending. It states that the Executive Authority, in a session of the Cabinet Council (Consejo de Gabinete) on 26 May 1997, approved Bill No. 22 to repeal and amend certain provisions of the Administrative Code in order to bring it into line with Convention No. 29; and that the Bill has now been submitted to the Legislative Assembly for final approval.

The Committee once again expresses the hope that the legislation will be adopted in the near future, in order to bring this legislation into line with the Convention.