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Articles 7 and 8 of the Convention. Permanent and temporary exemptions. Compensatory rest. The Committee notes that, under sections L.3132-5 and R.3132-1 of the Labour Code, the weekly rest of employees in certain industries that deal with perishable materials, or that have to respond at certain times to an exceptional increase in workload, may be suspended twice a month at most on condition that the number of such suspensions does not exceed six per year. The Committee also notes that hours of work thus performed on the day of weekly rest are treated as overtime and entered as overtime credit. Since the Convention provides for compensatory leave independent of any supplementary remuneration in cases of work executed on the weekly rest day, the Committee requests the Government to specify whether compensatory rest is indeed granted to workers employed in these conditions on the weekly day of rest, regardless of the amount of overtime calculated.

In addition, the Committee notes that, under sections L.3132-7, R.3132-3 and R.3132-4 of the Labour Code, in certain enterprises operating only part of the year or engaged in activities of a seasonal nature (including hotels, restaurants and catering and also construction work), the weekly rest may be deferred in part provided that workers enjoy at least two days of weekly rest per month, as far as possible on Sundays. While recalling Paragraph 3 of the Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Recommendation, 1957 (No. 103), which indicates that persons to whom special weekly rest schemes apply should not work for more than three weeks without receiving the rest periods to which they are entitled, the Committee requests the Government to indicate how it is ensured that workers of commercial enterprises falling within the scope of the above provisions of the Labour Code enjoy a minimum period of rest and leisure at reasonably short intervals.

Part V of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee notes the statistical information provided by the Government concerning authorized exemptions to the normal weekly rest scheme. It also notes the study of the Directorate on Research and Statistics of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (DARES) published in January 2007 according to which there is a noticeable increase in atypical working hours, that is persons habitually – as contrasted to occasionally – working on Sundays, Saturdays or at night (for instance, 13 per cent of employees worked habitually on Sundays in 2005 as compared to 5 per cent in 1998 and only 3 per cent in 1991). The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide up to date information on the practical application of the Convention, including for instance, statistics on the number of workers covered by relevant legislation, labour inspection results showing the number of offences observed and penalties imposed in connection with weekly rest, copies of collective agreements containing provisions on special weekly rest schemes, etc.