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The Committee notes that the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee notes the Government's report, the copies of regulations and the statistical tables appended to the report.

1. In a previous report, the Government stated that it was considering proposals for the amendment of the Conditions of Employment Act of 1952 so as to bring it into line with the principle established in the Convention. It indicated its intention to include provisions to establish equal remuneration for work of equal value, as well as provisions establishing sanctions against discrimination in this respect. The Committee asks the Government to keep it informed of any developments in the proposed amendment of the above Act.

2. Recalling that the Minimum Weekly National Standard Order (LN 42 of 1976) issued under section 4 of the above Act, setting national minimum weekly wage rates, expressly prohibited any discrimination in the wage payable to men and women for equal work or work of equal value, the Committee notes that the National Minimum Wage National Standing Order (LN 189, 1995) no longer contains this provision. The Committee asks the Government to indicate in its next report which text currently applies the principle of equal remuneration for men and women in respect of the national minimum wage. The Committee points out that according to Article 1(a) of the Convention, the term "remuneration" includes the ordinary, basic or minimum wage or salary and any additional emoluments whatsoever payable directly or indirectly, whether in cash or in kind, by the employer to the worker and arising out of the worker's employment, and would be grateful if the Government would also provide precise and detailed information enabling the Committee to ascertain the extent to which this provision of the Convention is applied.

3. With regard to the table showing employment returns by sex in the public sector at 31 July 1996, the Committee notes that it does not contain the data needed for a precise evaluation of how far the principle of the Convention is being applied. It therefore asks the Government to supplement the information in the table by indicating the number of workers and average rates of remuneration in the public sector, disaggregated by sex and by job category.

4. The Committee notes from the information in the table showing the distribution of men and women in companies governed by collective agreements that the representation of women is considerably lower than that of men in all the categories shown except clerks. It would be grateful if the Government would supplement this information by providing statistics in its future reports, on the average rate of remuneration by sex and by job category of the workers covered by the above table.

5. The Committee notes the Government's indication that the collective agreements concluded by workers and employers in enterprises are treated as confidential and that copies are not made available to persons other than the interested parties. In these circumstances, the Committee asks the Government to indicate how the application of these agreements is supervised, in particular by the labour inspectorate whose attributions are defined by section 39 of the 1952 Conditions of Employment Act, or by the courts in the event of judicial proceedings concerning individual or collective labour disputes.