Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1993, published 80th ILC session (1993)

The Committee notes that the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

1. Part II (Invalidity benefit), Article 10; Part III (Old-age benefit), Article 17; Part IV (Survivors' benefit), Article 23 (in conjunction with Article 26). The Government confirms in its report that it wishes to avail itself of Article 26 of the Convention for the purpose of calculating the various benefits; it supplies some statistical data on the number of pensions and the amount paid thereon according to type. The Committee finds that these data do not fully convey how these Articles of the Convention are applied. The Committee therefore hopes that the Government will be able to supply in its next report the statistical data required in the report form approved by the Governing Body under Article 26, Titles I to IV.

2. Part IV (Survivors' benefit), Article 21, paragraph 1 (in conjunction with Article 1, subparagraph (h), clause (i)). The Committee finds that, according to section 33 of the Social Security Act, single children under 14 years of age are entitled to a survivors' pension (except in the case of a child who is still at school or disabled). Since these provisions of the Convention provide that survivors' benefits shall be payable up to the age of 15 years, the Committee asks the Government to indicate the measures adopted or contemplated to ensure full application of the Convention on this point.

3. Part V (Standards to be complied with by periodical payments), Article 29. The Committee has noted with interest that in July 1989 (Decree No. 393) invalidity, old-age and survivors' pensions currently being paid were increased by some 40 per cent, and that old-age and invalidity pensions may in no case be less than 2,000 bolivares. However, the Committee asks the Government to be good enough to supply the data required in the report form on this Article of the Convention in order to be able to assess the real impact of the pension increases in relation to the evolution of the general level of earnings or the cost-of-living index. It also asks the Government to supply in each report information on any new increases made in this connection.

4. Part VI (Common provisions). (a) Article 32, paragraph 1(d) and (e). In its previous comments the Committee asked the Government to provide information on the practical application of section 160 of the General Regulations under the Social Insurance Act, which provides that a pension shall not be granted when the invalidity or partial incapacity is the result of a violation of the law, a crime or an offence against morals or decency. In this connection the Government states that it is the custom of the Venezuelan Social Insurance Institute (IVSS) not to interrupt or suspend benefit in the cases referred to. In the circumstances, the Committee supposes that the Government will have no difficulty in bringing the national law formally into conformity with practice and with the aforementioned provisions of the Convention, which do not authorize the suspension of benefits save where the contingency is due to a criminal offence or to the serious and wilful misconduct of the person concerned.

(b) Article 32, paragraph 2. In response to the Committee's previous comments, the Government states that Venezuelan law does not provide that, in the case of suspension of benefit, the appropriate part shall be paid to the dependants of the person concerned. In these circumstances, the Committee hopes that the Government will adopt the necessary measures to give effect to this provision of the Convention both in law and in practice.

5. Part VII (Miscellaneous provisions), Article 38, paragraph 2. With reference to the temporary exception provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article in the case of agricultural workers, the Government states that the inclusion of employees in the agricultural sector in the scheme established by the Social Insurance Act has not materialized. The Committee asks it to continue supplying in each of its forthcoming reports the information requested in paragraph 2 of this Article concerning the progress made with a view to the application of the Convention in the agricultural sector.