Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

The Committee notes with interest the information provided by the Government in its first report, and the comments of the Council of the Trade Union Federation of Uzbekistan. It requests the Government to provide further details on the following points.

Article 1 of the Convention. Averaging of working hours. The Committee notes that section 123 of the Labour Code allows for the averaging of working hours over a period of not more than one year, and that in this case daily working hours may not exceed 12 hours. In this respect, the Committee refers to Paragraph 12 of the Reduction of Hours of Work Recommendation, 1962 (No. 116), adopted with a view to facilitating the application of the Convention. Under the terms of this Paragraph, "the calculation of normal hours of work as an average over a period longer than one week should be permitted when special conditions in certain branches of activity or technical needs justify it". The Government is requested to indicate whether other provisions limit the averaging of working hours under such conditions, especially taking into account the length of the authorized reference period (up to one year).

Part V of the report form. The Committee requests the Government to provide indications on the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice, and particularly the categories and number of workers who do not yet enjoy a working week of 40 hours. Furthermore, the Committee notes that, in an observation attached to the Government’s report, the Council of the Trade Union Federation of Uzbekistan states that the principle of the 40-hour week is still not applied in small and medium-sized enterprises, or in the informal economy, where trade unions are not present. The Committee requests the Government to provide comments on the observation made by this trade union organization and to indicate the measures taken to ensure the effective application of the Convention in all sectors of activity.

More generally, the Committee requests the Government to indicate whether amendments have been made to the Labour Code since 25 December 1998 and, if so, to provide a copy thereof.