Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

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:

Article 7, paragraph 3, and Article 8, paragraph 2, of the Convention. Permanent and temporary exemptions. The Committee notes the information provided in the Government’s report on the legal provisions concerning the consultation of workers’ organizations with regard to special weekly rest schemes and temporary exceptions from the weekly rest schemes, in particular with regard to tourist, thermal and cultural resorts (section L.221-8-1 of the Labour Code) and the possibility to abolish the weekly Sunday rest in retail establishments on five Sundays every year (section L.221-19 of the Labour Code). In each instance, the public authority has to hear in accordance with section L.221-6 of the Labour Code the opinion (“avis”) of workers’ and employers’ organizations, wherever they exist.

A previous observation made by the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) expressed doubt on the compatibility between “avis” in the French legislation and “consultation” under the Convention. It appears from the wording and the intention of the Convention that consultation should be distinguished from mere “information” (CEACR, 2000, General Survey on tripartite consultation, paragraph 29). The consultations required under the terms of Conventions are intended, rather than leading to an agreement, to assist the competent authority in taking a decision. “Avis” goes beyond mere “information”. As long as it is interpreted in the way that the competent authority has the obligation to take the opinion of workers’ and employers’ organizations into serious consideration, it appears to be in line with the meaning of consultation under the Convention.

Concerning its previous request on “full information on the manner in which consultations are carried out with workers’ representatives”, the Committee wishes to obtain information on the practical and factual, and not only on the legal application of the Convention. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide it with information in this regard, in line with Part V of the report form, in particular concerning consultation of workers’ representatives as requested in Article 7, paragraph 4, and Article 8, paragraph 2, of the Convention.

Moreover, the Committee notes the preparation of draft legislation with a view to reforming the exemptions to Sunday rest, which was submitted to the Presidency of the National Assembly on 24 April 2008. It requests the Government to provide all relevant information concerning the process of adoption of that text and the measures taken to ensure the full application of the provisions of the Convention setting the conditions for exemptions to the normal weekly rest scheme.