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1. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report, as well as the Framework Law No. 4703 for harmonizing national legislation with community legislation (Acquis Communautaire) and of the Safety of Machinery Implementing Regulations prepared following Decisions Nos. 1/28 and 2/97 of the Turkey-EU Association Council. The Committee also notes the adoption of the new Labour Act No. 4857 of 25/05/2003, the Regulation on the conditions for health and safety on using working equipment No. 25370 of 11/01/2004, and the Regulations on working methods and procedures and the tasks, authority and responsibilities of engineers or technical staff responsible for occupational safety, which came into force on 20 January  2004. The Committee requests the Government to provide a version of Law No. 4703 in one of the ILO working languages and of the above Regulations, so that it can examine the extent to which these texts give effect to the provisions of the Convention.

2. Article 17 of the Convention (the applicability of the Convention to all branches of economic activity). With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s statement that the scope of the acts and regulations that came into force in recent years is broader than that of the regulation on the guarding of machinery and that the criteria set forth in Law No. 4703 on reliable products are applicable not only to machinery used in the industrial and commercial sectors but also to machinery used in all sectors of the economy. The Committee will examine the relevant provisions of the Acts once the texts in one of the ILO working languages are available.

3. Article 15 and Part V of the report form (appropriate inspection services for the purpose of supervising the application of the provisions of the Convention). The Committee notes that the Board of Labour Inspection of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security has carried out, in 2003 and 2004, a number of projects for the effective inspection of hazardous economic sectors in terms of occupational health and safety. It notes that inspections to ensure effective control of all the sectors of the economy, including the informal economy, will continue to be carried out in the coming years. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the practical application of the Convention, including any difficulties encountered, as well as information on the results of the inspections carried out.

4. The Committee takes note of the comments on the application of the Convention made by the Turkish Confederation of Employers Associations (TISK), the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK) and of the Confederation of Public Employees’ Unions of Turkey (TÜRKIYE KAMU-SEN). The Committee will examine these comments at its next session, together with any observations that the Government may wish to make in response to these comments.