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The Committee notes the detailed information contained in the Government's report received in August 1997. It also notes the annual reports of the inspection services for 1995, 1996 and 1997. The Government attention is drawn to the following points.

Articles 3, 13, 16 and 17 of the Convention. The Committee notes the small number of reports referred to justice following infringements of labour legislation relative to the number of routine inspection visits. It observes that the only cases subject to legal proceedings are those arising from receipt of complaint or denunciation. In this connection, the Committee notes from the information contained in the annual report for 1997, that inspection visits consist of questioning workers and employers and by examining various records. This procedure does not seem to answer fully to the requirements of Article 16 of the Convention, which stipulates that workplaces should be inspected as thoroughly as is necessary. This provision implies that labour inspectors should also carry out thorough inspections of the premises, installations, and, where necessary the living accommodation provided for the workers on or near the workplace, in particular testing the safety of working equipment and tools and also the quality and storing of products and provisions. Respect of the pertinent legislation is only possible through thorough inspection visits, to reveal such anomalies as may jeopardize safety and health at work or endanger the well-being of workers, and allowing the removal of these anomalies or the initiation of civil or criminal proceedings in conformity with Articles 13 and 17. However, the Committee notes that a large proportion of the activities of the labour inspectorate consists in resolving individual or collective disputes to the detriment of inspection activities. The Committee must remind the Government that if the Convention is to be correctly applied, the principal functions of the labour inspection services must be those set forth in Article 3, paragraph 1, and that, if any further duties are entrusted to labour inspectors, they must not, according to paragraph 2 of the same Article, be such as to interfere with the effective discharge of their primary duties or to prejudice in any way the authority and impartiality which are necessary to inspectors in their relations with employers and workers. The Government should take the appropriate measures in the near future to reassert the principal duties of the labour inspection services in the terms defined by the Convention, as opposed to such functions as mediation, arbitration or the resolving of individual or collective disputes. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate in its next report the measures taken or envisaged in this regard.

Article 5. With reference to a Government report announcing a draft Act establishing a coordinating body between the various Ministries responsible for the safety of workers, the Committee requests the Government to supply all information or a copy of any text in this connection.

Article 8. Noting with interest the consistent increases in the number of inspectors from 1996 to 1997, as well as the information that the Acts governing the public service statute of 1950 and 1985 do not provide for any discrimination on the basis of sex for appointment to posts in the public service, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide details on the number and distribution by sex of labour inspectors and indicate in what manner effect is given to this provision of the Convention, specifying, where necessary that special duties may be assigned to men and women inspectors.

Articles 20 and 21. The Committee notes with interest the information supplied in the annual reports of the inspection services regarding Article 21(a), (b), (d), (e), (f), and (g). To allow an overall appreciation of the application of the Convention, information should also be provided on Article 21(c), regarding statistics of workplaces liable to inspection and the number of workers employed therein. Please also indicate whether the annual reports of the inspection services are published regularly within the time limits set forth in Article 20 so that the information contained therein may be brought to the attention of the parties concerned. The Committee requests the Government to supply this information in its next report.