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The Committee notes that the Government’s report contains no reply to previous comments. It must therefore repeat its previous observation which read as follows:

The Committee refers to its previous comments and to the communication sent by the International Labour Office to the Government on 26 September 2002 with a view to receiving the Government’s comments on the observation made by the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FTUU) concerning the application of this Convention. The Committee notes that no answer has been provided by the Government to this letter.

The Committee takes note of the information from the Government’s latest report received after the termination of its 73rd Session (November-December 2002).

The Committee recalls that in its comments the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FTUU), while acknowledging that the requirements of the provisions of the Convention were contained in the workers’ protection laws and that they were generally respected, stated that unfortunately, due to the difficult financial situation, many enterprises in Ukraine currently use more than 800 machines, mechanisms and equipment which were not in conformity with the technical safety requirements mainly due to the absence of protective devices or features, which indeed constitute a potential danger to those working in these enterprises.

In its previous comments, the Committee noted that the national legislation within the occupational safety and health area gave only partial effect to the Convention. Indeed, the Workers’ Protection Act of 14 October 1992 contains certain provisions giving too general effect to Article 2, paragraphs 3 and 4, Articles 7 and 9, Article 10, paragraph 1, Article 11 and Article 15, paragraph 2, of the Convention. The Committee refers to the information provided by the Government in its earlier report concerning the adoption of some regulations and texts of Ukrainian state standards relating to machinery as well as the elaboration of the Industrial Production Safety Bill which had been submitted for consideration to the Council of Ministers.

The Committee requests the Government to supply information concerning any progress made with respect to the application of the Convention and copies of laws and regulations, as well as state standards, codes of practice, technical guidelines and instructions, in order to make possible the examination of the conformity of the legislation and practice in Ukraine with the requirements of all provisions of the Convention.