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The Committee notes the report supplied by the Government.

The Committee had recalled for several years that the provisions of sections 22(e)(i), (v), (vii) and (ix), 23(3)(c) and 39(7)(c) of the Permanent Labour Tribunal Act, No. 41 of 1967, as amended in 1990 and 1993, give the Court the power to refuse to register a collective agreement if the agreement is not in conformity with the Government's economic policy. The Committee had observed that the Government had explained that registration of collective agreements was intended to give them compulsory force and had admitted that registration had sometimes been refused.

The Committee notes with interest that the Government states in its report that it is seriously looking at ways of amending the legislation to bring it into conformity with the Convention. The Committee recalls as a general rule, that the provisions requiring prior approval of a collective agreement for it to enter into force are only compatible with the Convention provided they merely stipulate that approval may be refused if the collective agreement has a procedural flaw or does not conform to the minimum standards laid down by general labour legislation.

The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report all the measures taken or envisaged to bring the legislation into conformity with the Convention.