Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2002, publiée 91ème session CIT (2003)

1. The Committee notes with interest the amendments made to the Labour Code by means of Acts Nos. 19739 of 26 June 2001 and 19759 of 11 September 2001, which extend protection against discrimination in employment. With the inclusion of national extraction as a prohibited ground of discrimination in employment and occupation, all of the grounds set out in the Convention are now covered. Furthermore, the Committee notes that age and civil status of persons have been introduced as prohibited grounds of discrimination in employment and occupation.

2. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report concerning discrimination on grounds of political opinion. The Government once again indicates that the Legislative Decrees (Nos. 112 and 139 of 1973, 473 and 762 of 1974, 1321 and 1412 of 1976) which grant wide discretionary powers to Chilean university vice-chancellors to suspend the contracts of persons in academic and administrative posts are no longer in force and that the necessary prerequisites do not currently exist for their application, as they were issued under absolutely exceptional historical circumstances which have now been superseded. Despite the fact that the Civil Code in sections 52 and 53 provides for the tacit repeal of a law through the enactment of new provisions which cannot be reconciled with the former legislation, the Committee repeats its previous comments and emphasizes that the best way of ensuring that there is no uncertainty with regard to the positive law that is in force is to repeal or amend explicitly laws or other provisions which are not effectively in force. Moreover, with regard to section 55 of Legislative Decree No. 153 of 19 January 1982 issuing the statutes of the University of Chile and section 35 of Legislative Decree No. 149 of 7 May 1982 regulating the statutes of the University of Santiago de Chile, the Committee notes that they still have not been amended or repealed as it requested in previous comments. Furthermore, the Committee notes that the Framework Bill respecting state universities submitted in 1997 has currently been put aside. The Committee once again requests the Government to take the necessary measures to bring the national legislation into compliance with the provisions of the Convention.

3. The Committee notes the Government’s statements with regard to its comments on the amendment of section 349 of the Commercial Code, which provides that a married woman who is not covered by the marital regime of the individual ownership of property may only enter into a commercial partnership agreement with her husband’s special authorization. The Committee hopes that the Government will once again consider the possibility of amending section 349 of the Commercial Code so as to ensure that women, irrespective of their civil status and the marital property regime which they and their spouses have selected, may conclude commercial partnership agreements without the prior authorization of their spouse and exercise their professional activities under equal conditions with men. The Committee refers to this matter in greater detail in a direct request.

The Committee is also addressing a request directly to the Government on other points.