Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1997, published 86th ILC session (1998)

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 following matters raised in its previous direct request:

1. Article 2, paragraph 1, and Article 4 of the Convention. For a number of years the Committee has been drawing the Government's attention to the absence of any provision in the national legislation expressly prohibiting the sale and hire of any machinery, whether new or second-hand, of which the dangerous parts are without appropriate guards (irrespective of the sector of economic activity in which the machinery is used) and requiring the vendor and the person hiring out this machinery to ensure compliance with the prohibition.

In answer to the Committee's comments, the Government refers several times to the provisions of sections 3 and 6 of Ministerial Decision No. 56 of 1982 as giving effect to the above-mentioned provisions of the Convention. Section 3 of the above Decision, however, applies only to road vehicles and mobile agricultural machinery, and section 6, which applies to machinery which may have dangerous parts, but without specifying them, does not prohibit its sale or hire.

In its last report the Government indicates the difficulties it is having in importing machinery with proper guards. The Committee notes this information. It asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to ensure the application of these provisions of the Convention.

2. Article 16. In its last report the Government states that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour takes account of this requirement in drafting any legislation on this subject. The Committee notes the Government's statement.