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The Committee notes that the Government’s report received on 20 September 2005 does not reply to its comments addressed in 2004. It therefore hopes that a report will be supplied for examination at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee notes that the Government has replied in part to its previous comments. It notes in particular that, contrary to the indications provided previously by the Government, no inspection report as required by Articles 20 and 21 of the Convention has been received by the ILO.

The Committee also notes that the ILO has not been able to gain access to the orders requiring public officers to be sworn to secrecy on the Government’s web site as indicated in the report. It nevertheless emphasizes even now that the obligation of confidentiality and the maintenance of professional secrets should, in accordance with Article 15(b) and (c), be respected even after the termination of the service of labour inspectors.

The Committee would be grateful if the Government would: (i) ensure that an annual report on the activities of the inspection services is published rapidly and communicated to the ILO by the central labour inspection authority; (ii) provide copies of the orders respecting the obligation for the confidentiality of public officers, take any measures necessary to ensure that this obligation is complied with, even after the end of the service of labour inspectors, and keep the ILO informed of any progress in this respect; (iii) provide copies of the legal provisions on the extent of the right of labour inspectors to enter workplaces freely and any document relating to the application in practice of their right of entry; and (iv) provide information on the role of the labour inspection services in combating child labour, and on the results of their activities in this field.