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The Committee notes the Government’s last report on the application of the Convention and the information it contains in reply to its previous comments. It notes with regret that no measures have been taken by the Government to harmonize the Labour Code with the provisions of Article 7 of the Convention. The Committee recalls that since 1975 it has been commenting on the need to set an annual limit on the number of hours’ overtime provided for in section 36(4) of the Labour Code. Deeming the 468 hours’ overtime per year allowed by this provision to be too high, the Committee expressed the hope that the Government would take account of the maximum of 250 hours per year proposed in the Bill drawn up following the direct contacts made in 1977 by a representative of the Director-General of the ILO. In the Committee’s view, the study commissioned by the Ministry of Labour on the above Bill, a copy of which was sent with the report, raises no real objections to the adoption of this annual limit on overtime, and the difficulties raised concerning the compatibility of some Articles of the Convention with the provisions of the national Constitution and legislation arise from too rigid an interpretation of minimum or optional standards.

The Committee is bound once again to ask the Government to take all necessary steps at the earliest possible date to bring its legislation into line with the prescriptions of Article 7 of the Convention and reminds it that it may seek technical assistance from the ILO.

[The Government is asked to report in detail in 2002.]