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The Committee has noted the Government’s reply to its earlier comments.

1. Right of public officials to resign. The Committee previously referred to sections 78 and 79 of Law No. 9 of 1967 respecting the public service, according to which officials could not leave their work until their resignation had been accepted by the competent authorities. The Committee has noted from the Government’s report that the above legislation was repealed by the Civil Service Law No. 1 of 2001. It has noted, however, that sections 109 and 110 of the new Law contain provisions similar to those of the repealed sections 78 and 79 referred to above: officials cannot leave their work until their resignation is accepted by the competent authorities; the decision on the application to resign should be taken within 30 days from the date of the application; resignation is deemed to be accepted if the authority fails to decide upon its refusal or acceptance within the said period.

The Committee again draws the Government’s attention to paragraphs 67 and 68 of its General Survey of 1979 on the abolition of forced labour, in which the Committee has considered that the effect of statutory provisions preventing termination of employment of indefinite duration by means of notice of reasonable length is to turn a contractual relationship based on the will of the parties into service by compulsion of law, and is thus incompatible with the Convention. The Committee also recalls in this connection that the above provisions, which make it possible to retain workers in their employment, do not affect the observance of the Convention only where they are necessary to cope with cases of emergency within the meaning of Article 2, paragraph 2(d), of the Convention.

While noting the Government’s indications in the report that it is extremely rare for public administration to turn down an official’s resignation, as well as a possibility to appeal against a Minister’s decision to refuse an application to resign, under section 93 of the Law, the Committee hopes that the necessary measures will be taken in order to bring sections 109 and 110 of the Civil Service Law No. 1 of 2001 into conformity with the Convention. Pending the adoption of such measures, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application of these provisions in practice, indicating the number of resignations accepted and refused, as well as the reasons for refusal, and to supply copies of decisions handed down under section 93 on the appeal against refusal.

2. The Committee has noted the legislative texts supplied by the Government with its report, as well as the Government’s indication that there is no law on military service. Referring to the Government’s previous indication concerning preparation of a new Penal Code, the Committee hopes that a copy will be communicated to the ILO, as soon as it is adopted.