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1. The Committee notes the Government’s report and the extensive documentation attached, as well as the comments made by the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions and the Union of Swiss Employers. The Committee appreciates the wealth of information supplied on the measures taken to promote the application of the Convention. It asks the Government to continue to provide such information in its future reports, including information on the implementation and results of the various equal pay projects financed under the Equality Act, as well as on the activities of the equality offices at the cantonal and federal level to promote and ensure equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value.

2. Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Public contracts. Recalling that under the 1994 Public Contracts Act, enterprises performing public contracts must guarantee equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, the Committee notes with interest that the project to develop an instrument to monitor compliance with this requirement has been completed and that as a result a monitoring instrument is now available. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on how this instrument is applied in practice by the competent authorities and the enterprises concerned, including information on whether equal remuneration monitoring has led to adjustment of salaries or any exclusions from public contracts.

3. Enforcement. The Committee notes that in the context of the evaluation of the operation of the Equality Act a systematic review of relevant jurisprudence will be undertaken. The Committee asks the Government to provide the relevant results of this review and to provide information on recent jurisprudence concerning equal remuneration.

4. Article 3. Objective job evaluation. The Committee notes the information submitted by the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions indicating that in all branches of economic activities differentials of remuneration of men and women could not be fully explained by objective reasons such as qualification, seniority or hierarchical position in the enterprise. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken by the Government to promote the use of objective job evaluation methods, including information on the measures taken by the social partners in this regard.

5. Part V of the report form. Differentials in the earnings of men and women. The Committee notes from the Swiss Survey on Wage Structure 2002 that the differential in the remuneration received by men and women in the private sector (20.9 per cent) and in public employment at the cantonal level (20.7 per cent) has slightly decreased since 2000. However, the differential between men’s and women’s remuneration in federal public employment has increased from 10.1 per cent in 1998, and 10.2 per cent in 2000, to 10.7 per cent in 2002. The Committee also notes that a study on men’s and women’s remuneration has been commissioned by the Government which will analyse the development of the gender remuneration gap over time, based on the wage structure surveys. The Committee asks the Government to: (i) indicate the measures taken to address the increasing gender wage gap in the federal public sector; (ii) continue to provide detailed statistical information on the earnings received by men and women in the private and public sectors and to supply a copy of the study on the development of the gender wage gap over time commissioned by the Government; and (iii) provide information on any study undertaken to examine the impact of increasing reliance on fringe benefits as a form of remuneration, as found by the Swiss Survey on Wage Structure 2002 on the gender pay gap.