CMNT_TITLE

The Committee notes the detailed information supplied by the Government in response to its previous comments.

1. Article 18 of the Convention. Protecting workers against noise. The Committee notes that according to the Government, the Occupational Safety and Health Committee has prepared standards for individual protection and that the standardization department has adopted a number of Tunisian standards (NT) on acoustics, some of which are listed as an illustration. According to the Committee’s understanding the above texts - the draft standards on individual protection and the Tunisian standards - appear to cover the same subject, at least in part. The Committee therefore requests the Government to specify the legal status and the scope of the Tunisian standards. Furthermore, with reference to its previous comments, the Committee requests the Government to indicate whether the draft decree submitted to the occupational organizations of employers and workers for their opinion, to which the Government referred for the first time in its report of 1992, is still under study. It requests the Government to provide a copy of it as soon as it is adopted.

2. Part IV of the report form. Practical application. The Committee notes the wide-ranging information sent by the Government on the inspection system set up to monitor, inter alia, noise in the working environment, which reports to the labour inspectorate in coordination with the occupational safety and medical inspectorate and with assistance, if necessary, from the Occupational Safety and Health Institute. The Government is asked to provide information on the results of inspections carried out together with information on the number of workers covered by the legislation, the number and nature of infringements reported, penalties imposed, etc. The Committee takes this opportunity to draw the Government’s attention to the fact that such information provides valuable indicators for an assessment of the manner in which the Convention is applied in the country.