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With reference also to its observation on the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to provide additional information on the following points:

1.  Organization and distribution of responsibilities in the field of public labour administration; consultation, collaboration and cooperation (Articles 1, 4, 5 and 6 of the Convention).  The Committee notes Decree No. 191/97 modifying the organization of the Ministry of Labour, within which the National Coordination Directorate is responsible for the implementation, coordination and supervision of the policies, plans and programmes developed by other executive bodies in the Ministry and duly approved in the fields of labour, human resources, employment and the promotion of social policy. The Committee notes that this Directorate has 38 local offices throughout the country. The Government also refers to the existence within the labour administration system of new inter-ministerial coordinating bodies. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide copies of any activity report prepared by the National Coordination Directorate, if it would enumerate precisely the inter-ministerial coordinating bodies, provide information on their responsibilities and activities and supply copies of any texts relating to them.

2.  Matters relating to labour administration regulated, in accordance with the law, by having recourse to direct negotiations between employers and workers (Article 3) and supervision of the labour administration activities carried out by parastatal agencies (Article 9).  The Committee notes the possibility of creating, by means of a collective agreement between one or more enterprises and their workers, a health insurance fund under the control of the Social Insurance Bank. Noting that the Decree to which the Government refers does not concern this subject, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate whether this possibility is applied in practice and if it would provide, where appropriate, a copy of the relevant legal text.

The Committee also requests the Government to indicate the bodies in the labour administration system which are responsible for discharging the functions covered by the provisions of Article 9 and to provide information of a practical nature on the role played by such bodies.

3.  Extension of the functions of the system of labour administration to specific categories of workers who are not, in law, employed persons (Article 7).  The Committee notes with interest the information that workers in cooperatives and self-managed enterprises, as well as self-employed workers, are entitled to social security benefits, employment accident prevention measures and unemployment benefits in the same way as other workers. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide copies of any relevant legal text, as well as information on the number and categories of workers concerned.