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

The Committee notes that the draft amendment to the Labour Code is currently being examined by the competent national authorities. It hopes that this amendment will be adopted in the near future and requests the Government to keep it informed of any developments in this respect. Furthermore, it would appreciate receiving additional information on the following points.

Articles 1 and 3 of the Convention. Public service. The Committee notes that the hours of work of employees in government and municipal services, who are not covered by the rules governing public officials and are excluded from the application of the Labour Code, are governed by Decree No. 5883 of 3 December 1994 issuing the general regulations applicable to employees. It also notes that section 10 of this Decree establishes the maximum number of weekly hours of work for these employees at 48 hours, but does not establish a limit for daily hours of work. The Committee hopes that this provision will be amended with a similar wording to that used in the draft amendment of the Labour Code so as to ensure that hours of work do not exceed eight in the day, as prescribed by the Convention.

Article 5. General interruptions of work. The Committee notes that the Labour Code does not currently contain a provision providing for the making up of hours of work which have been lost in the case of a general interruption of work. However, in its report in 2003, the Government indicates that the new draft section 34 of the Labour Code provides for the possibility of making up hours of work on condition that the extension of daily working hours does not exceed one hour and that the hours of work in the day do not exceed ten. The Committee draws the Government’s attention to the fact that Article 5 of the Convention further provides that hours of work which have been lost must not be allowed to be made up on more than 30 days in the year and that they must be made up within a reasonable lapse of time. It requests the Government to indicate whether it envisages including these conditions in the amended version of the Labour Code.

Article 7, paragraph 1. Permanent exceptions. The Committee refers to its previous comments concerning section 32 of the Labour Code, which authorizes increases in hours of work "in certain cases". The Committee recalls that Article 7 of the Convention only allows the adoption of such permanent exceptions for clearly specified classes of workers or establishments. Furthermore, the regulations made under this provision have to determine the number of additional hours of work which may be allowed in the day. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures adopted or envisaged to ensure that the legislation is in conformity with the Convention on these points. The Government is also requested to provide a copy of Regulations No. 30 of 20 February 1956 which, according to the indications provided by the Government in its report in 1998, allow weekly hours of work to be increased to 54 hours in commercial establishments.

Article 7, paragraph 2. Temporary exceptions. The Committee notes that, according to the information provided by the Government in its report in 2003, the new draft section 33 of the Labour Code reduces from 12 to ten hours the daily hours of work authorized in the case of temporary exceptions. However, it does not indicate whether the circumstances in which such an extension of hours of work is allowed have been defined more specifically than in the current wording of section 33, which allows temporary exceptions "in cases of emergency". Moreover, in the case of employees in government and municipal services, to whom Decree No. 5883 of 3 December 1994 applies, daily working hours may also be extended in cases of emergency, although no limit is determined for the number of additional hours allowed (section 10 of the Decree).

The Committee recalls that the Convention allows the granting of temporary exceptions in specific circumstances, and particularly "in case of accident, actual or threatened, force majeure, or urgent work to machinery or plant, but only so far as may be necessary to avoid serious interference with the ordinary working of the establishment". The Committee hopes that, in its amended version, section 33 of the Labour Code will enumerate the circumstances in which temporary exceptions to the rules respecting hours of work are allowed, in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 of the Convention. The Committee also requests the Government to indicate the measures adopted or envisaged to amend Decree No. 5883 in the same sense and to determine the daily and annual limits to the additional hours allowed under this Decree.

Article 8. Consultation of workers’ and employers’ organizations. The Committee requests the Government to specify whether, as indicated in its previous reports, the special commission established to examine the measures which are necessary to bring the legislation into conformity with ratified Conventions has examined the issue of the application of this provision, which provides for consultation with the workers’ and employers’ organizations concerned before the adoption of regulations providing for permanent or temporary exceptions.

Part V of the report form. While recalling that the Government has not yet provided general indications on the manner in which the Convention is applied, in practice, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on this subject in its next report including, for example, statistics on the number of workers covered by the relevant legislation, extracts from the reports of the inspection services and, if possible, indications of the number and nature of the contraventions reported.