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The Committee notes the Government's report. Referring to its previous comments (1993), it reminds the Government that it requested information concerning the application of the Convention in the territory of the former GDR and trusts that this information will be supplied in the Government's next report.

It notes that many labour inspection duties lie within the purview of insurance institutions. In the absence of annual inspection reports which are required to be produced, published and communicated to the ILO in conformity with Article 26 of the Convention with the content specified in Article 27(a) to (g), the Committee is not in a position to assess the degree of application of the Convention. For this purpose, it would be grateful if the Government would supply information in particular on the manner in which, in conformity with Article 7(1) and (2), labour inspection is placed under the supervision and control of a central body established at either federal level or at the level of a federated unit. With reference to the Government's report in regard to the 1996 general observation, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply specific information on the manner in which the statistics required by these provisions of the Convention are collected and consolidated at central level so that they can then be used for the purpose of enhancing prevention of occupational accidents and diseases.

Recalling that the preparation, publication and communication to the ILO of the annual inspection reports mentioned above should be placed under the control of a central body as defined by the Convention, the Committee emphasizes again, as it did in paragraph 109 of its 1985 General Survey on labour inspection, that the attachment of inspection systems to a central authority or body facilitates the establishment and application of a uniform inspection policy for the whole of the national territory. It would be grateful if the Government would supply information on the precise distribution of competence in regard to labour inspection in agriculture between the public labour inspection authority and the insurance institutions exercising similar functions as well as the cooperation between their respective inspection bodies. It hopes in addition that in future annual reports on the activities of the inspection services in agriculture will be regularly published and communicated to the ILO.