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The Committee notes that the Government’s report contains no reply to previous comments. It hopes that the next report will include full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee notes that Decision No. 293 of 4 March 1988 sets out, on the basis of section 37 of Ordinance No. 85-1181 of 13 November 1985, the procedures for applying the principle of Sunday and weekly rest, in particular the occupations for which exceptions to the general principle are allowed. The Committee also notes that Decisions Nos. 313 of 22 July 1992, 468 of 27 January 1994, and 102 of 3 August 2000, extended the derogations listed in sections 8 and 10 of Decision No. 293 of 4 March 1988 regarding activities related to tourism, including commercial activities, food retail establishments and hardware and home improvement outlets.

Article 7, paragraph 1, of the Convention. The Committee recalls the conditions under which special weekly rest schemes may be applied to specified categories of persons or specified types of establishments. The Committee wishes to emphasize that the derogations from the normal weekly rest scheme can only be justified if they are applied in response to essential needs. In view of the basic criteria established in Article 7, paragraph 1, of the Convention, including all proper social and economic considerations, hardware and home improvement outlets would not appear to be among those establishments that exist to meet the essential everyday needs of the population (see section 1 of Decision No. 102 of 8 August 2000). The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate the other reasons that might justify weekly rest based on a rotation system in such cases.