Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

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:

1. The Committee states that the Government's report does not contain any replies to the questions that have been raised on the application of the Convention. It recalls that its previous comments concerned the following points.

Article 3, paragraph 1, of the Convention. The Committee recalls that the Government had indicated that the provisions of the Convention are applied in the Labour Code and in Decree No. 39 of 1984 on general occupational safety and health measures. The Committee points out once again that the text in question contain no provisions concerning asbestos, although Article 3 of the Convention calls for specific measures to be prescribed for the prevention and control of, and protection of workers against, health hazards due to occupational exposure to asbestos.

The Committee also recalls that section 95 of the Labour Code provides that occupational safety and health conditions are to be defined by ministerial decree, after consultation with the National Commission on Occupational Safety and Health, and that these decrees must, taking into consideration local conditions, assure workers' protection in conformity with, among others, the standards recommended by the International Labour Organization. The Government is therefore requested to indicate in its next report the steps taken to implement section 95, and hence also the provisions of the Convention.

Article 19. The Committee notes that section 3 of Act No. 89/027 of 29 December 1989 concerning toxic and hazardous wastes provides that local industry generating such waste are required to declare the volume and nature of production and ensure that its disposal is without risk to the population or the environment. The measures for implementation in this regard are to be set out by decree. The Government is requested to provide with its next report a copy of any decree issued under this Act concerning disposal of waste containing asbestos.

2. Lastly, the Committee notes that the Government had been intending to request the Office's technical assistance in adopting the measures needed to give effect to the Convention. It hopes that the Government will take the necessary steps to request this assistance.