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Article 3 of the Convention. Prohibition of night work for women. The Committee notes the Government’s explanations that the Labour Code of 2003 no longer contains a general prohibition against the employment of women during the night with the exception of section 125(2) which provides that pregnant women, women after childbirth and nursing women may not be obliged to perform night work. As the Committee noted in its previous comment, therefore, the Convention has ceased to apply in law and practice.

In this regard, the Committee wishes to refer to paragraph 93 of its General Survey of 2001 on the night work of women in industry in which it firmly encouraged those governments which opted to no longer apply Convention No. 89 for reasons of gender equality and non-discrimination in employment to take concrete measures under ILO constitutional procedures with a view to formally terminating their obligations arising out of those Conventions. While recognizing that certain international treaty obligations might have grown outdated over time, the Committee considered that any contradiction between those obligations and domestic legislation should be properly removed in the interest of preserving a coherent body of international labour standards and giving full meaning to the Organization’s supervisory organs. For all useful purposes, therefore, the Committee recalls that Convention No. 89 may be denounced every ten years and will again be open to denunciation for a period of one year as from 27 February 2011. It also recalls that, to date, all EU member States which were previously bound by the Convention have proceeded to its denunciation, except for Romania and Slovenia. The Committee once again invites the Government to give favourable consideration to the ratification of Convention No. 171 and to keep the Office informed of any decision taken or envisaged in this regard.