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Article 7, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Special scheme for weekly rest. The Committee notes that resolution No. 293 of 4 March 1988 prescribes the methods by which the principle of Sunday rest is to be applied and the exemptions that may be granted. In particular, the resolution provides for exemptions for a limited period on the basis of an individual request (section 5) and also provides that certain types of establishment are entitled to permanent exemptions (sections 8 to 10). Following an amendment of 27 January 1994, article 10 of this resolution grants an exemption by right from Sunday rest on Sunday morning until 1 p.m. to establishments whose main activity is the sale of foodstuffs. Resolution No. 102 of 8 August 2000 extends this exemption to "hardware and home improvement outlets".

The Committee also notes that the Government has transmitted a copy of the report to the Congress of New Caledonia containing a presentation of the purpose of draft resolution No. 102. According to this report, a request for exemption was submitted by a large commercial outlet specializing in hardware and home improvement goods, on the grounds that "the store must meet the needs of those who make use of their free time at the weekend, and thus Sunday, to engage in home improvement, work on the layout of their homes and building work". The report also states that other similar outlets remain open on Sundays, despite not having requested such an exemption, that the procedure for considering exemption requests is cumbersome and that it is important to have a level playing field in the case of competing establishments in a similar situation. The resolution adopted by the Congress of New Caledonia after a favourable opinion from the Consultative Labour Committee therefore establishes a permanent exemption by right for these types of business.

The Committee is surprised to note that, according to the information provided by the Government, the large outlet mentioned above and the businesses which remain open on Sundays without authorization have been accorded equal treatment with the establishment of a permanent exemption favouring all these establishments, rather than ensuring compliance with the applicable provisions.

As it has already done in previous comments, the Committee recalls that Article 7, paragraph 1, of the Convention only allows the establishment of special regimes for weekly rest when the nature of the work, the nature of the services provided by the establishment, the size of the population requiring such services or the number of people employed precludes the application of the normal regime (in this case, the Sunday rest). As the Committee highlighted in its General Survey of 1984 on working time (paragraph 166), "in certain sectors such as commerce, however, the trend could lead to the establishment of special schemes that might not necessarily correspond to the terms of these international standards." Such exemptions in the business sector would not seem to be justifiable unless they truly respond to the basic needs of the population. The Committee again observes that hardware and home improvement outlets do not seem to count amongst the establishments meeting such needs. In this regard, the Committee refers to the Administrative Court of Paris which, in 19 decisions dated 24 November 1993 ("Mondial Décor", "Leroy Merlin", "But", "Bricaillerie" and others) ruled that the notion of prejudice to the public interest, one of the conditions for granting an exemption at the level of a prefecture "must be interpreted as the impossibility of accessing services on a Sunday which either respond to an immediate need, which cannot be postponed, or correspond to family or leisure activities which, in the case of the majority of the population, cannot take place on another day of the week without entailing serious inconvenience". The Conseil d’Etat (the highest legal and advisory body in administrative matters) also considered that, in a case involving a home improvement outlet ("Sidef-Bricorama" decision of 29 July 1983), that "such prejudice to the public may not be established when the opening hours allow the clients to make their purchases without difficulty on the other days of the week". The Committee again requests the Government to indicate any other possible grounds of a social or economic nature that might justify a weekly rest on a rotational basis in hardware and home improvement outlets. It also requests the Government to transmit copies of the extract of the deliberations of the Consultative Labour Committee with regard to draft resolution No. 102.

Furthermore, the exemption to the Sunday rest provided for by resolution No. 102 for hardware and home improvement outlets has been granted for Sunday morning up to 1 p.m. The workers governed by the weekly rest on a rotational basis regime therefore seem to have ended up with a half-day of rest on Sunday. The Committee requests the Government to provide more detailed information on the manner in which the weekly rest of its workers is ensured and, more specifically, to indicate whether they enjoy a rest of at least 24 consecutive hours during the week.

Article 8, paragraph 1. Temporary exemptions. Section 8 of Law of the Land No. 2002-020 of 6 August 2002 provides for the possibility of certain enterprises obtaining an exemption to extend the maximum duration of the working week from 48 to 60 hours under exceptional circumstances which temporarily give rise to a significant increase in the workload. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether these exemptions have any effect on the weekly rest regime applicable within these enterprises.

The Committee requests the Government to inform it of any other developments concerning working hours since the adoption of Organic Law No. 99-209 on New Caledonia, of 19 March 1999.