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The Committee takes note of the Government's reports covering the period from 1 July 1995 to 30 June 1997. It also takes note of the copies of annual inspection reports provided for the same period, and the 1995 agricultural census document attached to the previous report on the application of the Convention.

The Committee notes with regret that the last two reports received do not contain any information on the manner in which the Convention is applied in the establishments covered by the Convention and that the annual inspection reports to which the Government refers do not refer to any of the subjects listed in points (a) to (g) of Article 27 concerning the agricultural sector.

With reference to its previous comments, in which it reiterated its request for detailed information on labour inspection in agriculture in the light of the points raised in 1985 in relation to Convention No. 81, the Committee recalls that it had expressed the hope that action would be taken to enable the labour inspection service to meet all its obligations throughout the territory. Given that the labour inspection service operates in all sectors of the economy, this referred implicitly to labour inspection in agriculture, since issues relating to human and material resources and the status of labour inspectors must be regulated in the same way for all the sectors covered by the service. The information supplied on these points in the annual inspection reports is general information for all sectors, and provides no useful indication as to the degree to which the provisions of the Convention are applied in the agricultural sector, on which the Government's most recent information was contained in its reports of 1991 and 1993. The Committee wishes to point out in this regard that, under Article 4 of the Convention, the system of labour inspection in agriculture shall apply to agricultural undertakings in which employees or apprentices work, however they may be remunerated and whatever the type, form or duration of their contract, and that under Article 21, agricultural undertakings must be inspected as often and as thoroughly as is necessary to ensure the effective application of the relevant legal provisions. The argument put forward by the Government in its report of 1993, that the very low level of activity by the inspection service in this sector is explained by the limited number of agricultural employees who have contributed to the Social Security Fund, is not relevant with regard to these provisions of the Convention, and suggests that the criteria used for identifying agricultural undertakings subject to labour inspection should be re-examined.

Noting recent developments in the situation of the labour inspection service characterized by conceptual and organizational difficulties faced by the decentralized state services and the territorial authorities, the Committee trusts that the Government will soon be in a position to report on positive developments in the situation with regard to the objectives of the Convention, and that it will be able to provide information on any progress made in giving effect to the provisions of the Convention, in accordance with the obligations imposed by the declaration of application of the instrument.