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The Committee notes the Government’s report for the period from
1 June 1999 to 31 May 2007, which also contains its reply to the direct request of 1999 and an observation made by the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK). The Committee notes the statistical information concerning adjustment of benefits requested under Article 21 of the Convention and provided by the Government in its report on Convention No. 128.

With regard to the application of the Articles of the Convention, the Government states that it has “nothing new to report”. The Committee would like to point out that, even if no legislative changes have occurred in the reporting period, under the report form on the Convention, the Government is requested to supply once every five years updated statistical information on the scope of personal coverage of the Convention, the amounts of the benefits paid for different contingencies and their replacement level in relation to the reference wage of a standard beneficiary. In order to confirm that the quantitative requirements of the Convention are being complied with, the Government is requested to furnish such detailed statistical data for examination by the Committee at its next session in November–December 2009.

Article 8 of the Convention. For many years, the Committee has been pointing out that the list of occupational diseases contained in Decree No. 1347 of 1988 does not mention the following diseases which appear in the list (amended in 1980) included in Schedule 1 to the Convention: (a) broncho-pulmonary diseases caused by hard metal dust (item No. 2); (b) primary epithiliomatous cancer of the skin caused by tar, pitch, bitumen, mineral oil, anthracene, or the compounds, products or residues of these substances (item No. 27). Consequently, it has asked the Government to take measures to ensure that workers exposed to the risk concerned and afflicted with the abovementioned diseases could fully benefit from the presumption of their occupational origin established by the Convention, and to consider the possibility of including these diseases into the list contained in Decree No. 1347.

In reply, the Government states that lung diseases caused by hard metal dust are included in Decree No. 1347. The Committee asks the Government to confirm this statement by supplying a consolidated copy of the Decree including all the amendments made and indicating the relevant provision. As regards primary epithiliomatous cancer of the skin caused by tar, pitch, bitumen, mineral oil, anthracene, or the compounds, products or residues of these substances, the Committee regrets to note that no specific measure has been taken during the reporting period to recognize the occupational origin of such disease. The report states however that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has established a working group to reform the current Act on Occupational Diseases (1343/1988), which will consider the Committee’s recommendations in this respect. The Committee hopes that the Government in the near future will take measures to expressly recognize occupational origin of the disease mentioned in item No. 27 of the list given in Schedule I to the Convention, so as to dispense the afflicted workers of the burden of proof.

Finally, the Committee hopes that the Government will reply to the observation made by the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) in its next report.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2009.]