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The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its report received in September 1996.

1. It notes, in particular, the adoption of the National Defence Act (Act CX of 1993), which contains provisions concerning the obligation to perform compulsory labour for the purpose of national defence. Thus, section 133 of the Act provides that during an extraordinary situation or a state of emergency declared in accordance with the Constitution, men of age 16 to 65 and women of age 18 to 60 may be obliged to do long-term or short-term manual or intellectual work in accordance with their abilities. It also stipulates that a citizen may only be obliged to perform such long-term work if no appropriate skilled labour is available, and that citizens must be primarily ordered to perform such work for their own employer and in their own job. According to the same section 133 of the Act, temporary (short-term) work for national defence (such as construction of defence systems, loading, life-saving, etc.) cannot last longer than seven consecutive days. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate, in its next report, whether any time-limits are provided for performance of long-term work for national defence, and if not, what guarantees are provided to ensure that work exacted in case of emergency shall cease as soon as the circumstances that endanger the population or its normal living conditions no longer exist.

2. The Committee notes that the Act XVII of 1993 on the Amendment of Criminal Laws introduced into the Penal Code provisions concerning "public utility labour". According to the new text of section 49 of the Penal Code, public utility labour as a penal sanction is performed, without deprivation of a person's freedom, at least one day per week, without remuneration, for the maximum period of 100 days. The public utility labour may be replaced by confinement in prison, if the convicted person fails to fulfill his or her labour obligations. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide, in its next report, information on the application in practice of the above-mentioned provisions, indicating, in particular, kinds of work and conditions of work to be performed as public utility labour.