Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

The Committee notes the Government’s report for the 2006–07 period, the legislative texts attached and also the information and detailed statistics contained in the annual reports on the work of the labour inspection services for 2006 and 2007.

Articles 3, paragraph 2, 5(b) and 18 of the Convention. Technical information and advice on labour legislation. Collaboration between officials of the labour inspectorate and employers, workers or their organizations. Penalties for obstructing labour inspectors. The Government indicates in its report that measures providing in particular for consultations with the social partners to examine the most effective means of implementing labour legislation have been adopted. However, the annual reports for 2006 and 2007 show that, despite training activities and advice in the area of labour relations given to employers during the reporting period, the latter, in particular in small enterprises, continue to lack knowledge of labour law. The 2006 report indicates also that labour inspectors are confronted with aggressive reactions from employers, and this makes their job particularly difficult. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or contemplated to step up training and advisory activities for employers, workers and their organizations with a view to ensuring enforcement of the legislation relating to conditions of work and the protection of workers, and also a better understanding of the role of labour inspectors. The Government is also requested to supply information on the legal action taken, where appropriate, to follow up reported cases of obstruction, particularly under the provisions of the Code of Administrative Offences, which provide for fines ranging from 100 Moldovan lei (MDL) to MDL6,000 for any person who attempts to obstruct labour inspectors in the performance of their duties.

Articles 6 and 15. Obligations of labour inspectors arising from their status. The Committee notes with interest the adoption on 22 February 2008 of the Act concerning the code of conduct of public servants, which reinforces the obligations of impartiality, professional secrecy and confidentiality regarding complaints and reports already established by the Labour Inspection Regulations (paragraph 24) as approved by Ordinance No. 1481 of 27 December 2001. The Act of 2008, which will come into force on 1 January 2009, lays down the ethical principles to which public servants are subject – namely, observance of the law, impartiality, independence, professionalism and integrity – and also the standards of conduct to follow particularly with regard to access to information, use of public resources, gifts and favours, and conflicts of interest. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide information and also any available texts on the implementation of this Act with regard to labour inspectors. It requests the Government to provide detailed information on the practical measures taken to disseminate these rules of conduct to labour inspection officials and to ensure observance thereof.

Article 11. Labour inspection means of action. Reinforcement of computer resources for the collection and processing of data relating to labour inspection activities. The Committee duly notes the information supplied by the Government in reply to its previous comments, to the effect that measures have been taken to equip regional labour inspection offices with telephones, fax machines, computers and transport facilities. It also notes that procedures are under way to obtain the necessary funds for the purchase of new computer equipment. In the report communicated in 2007 on the application of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), the Government also refers to steps taken to obtain funds from the European Union in order to establish a new computerized data management system for labour inspection. The Committee requests the Government to keep the Office informed of progress made on this project and supply information on the logistical resources made available to labour inspectors to ensure the effective discharge of their duties and to facilitate the collection and processing of data to be included, in accordance with Article 21 of the Convention, in the annual report on the work of the labour inspectorate.

Article 12, paragraph 1(a) and (b). Inspectors’ freedom of access to workplaces. Timing of inspections. The Committee notes that, although Act No. 140-XV of 10 May 2001 on labour inspection authorizes inspectors to enter workplaces “at any hour of the day or night” without informing the employer in advance (section 8), the scope of this right is actually restricted by the regulations implementing this Act, approved by Ordinance No. 1481 of 27 December 2001, to the period of “working hours” (paragraph 22). The Committee recalls that, according to Article 12, paragraph 1, of the Convention, labour inspectors must be empowered to enter freely at any hour of the day or night any workplace liable to inspection (clause (a)) and to enter by day any premises which they may have reasonable cause to believe to be liable to inspection (clause (b)). In its General Survey of 2006 on labour inspection (paragraph 270), the Committee emphasized that the conditions for the exercise of the right of free entry to workplaces laid down by Conventions Nos 81 and 129 are intended to allow inspectors to carry out inspections, where necessary and possible, to enforce the application of legal provisions relating to conditions of work. It pointed out that the protection of workers and the technical requirements of inspection should be the primordial criteria for determining the appropriate timing of visits, for example to check for violations such as abusive night work conditions in a workplace officially operating during the daytime, or to carry out technical inspections requiring machinery or production processes to be stopped. Referring to Recommendation No. 133, Paragraph 9 of which provides that the activity of labour inspectors at night should be limited to those matters that cannot be effectively controlled during the day, the Committee considered that it should be for the inspector to decide whether or not a visit is reasonable, since inspections should only be carried out at night or outside working hours where this is warranted. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take steps to amend the legislation so as to bring it into line with the Convention with regard to the scope of inspectors’ right to enter freely at any hour of the day or night any workplace liable to inspection and to enter by day any other premises believed to be liable to inspection. It would be grateful if the Government would send information on these measures to the Office and supply copies of any relevant texts.

Articles 14 and 21. Notification of industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease. Content of the annual report. The Committee notes that the Labour Code provides that the employer is required to notify industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease (section 225(u)), according to the procedures established by the Government (section 243(3)). Under the terms of Government Decision No. 1361 of 22 December 2005, industrial accidents shall be reported immediately by the employer to the labour inspectorate (section 9), which shall undertake an investigation in the case of a serious or fatal accident (section 14). As regards cases of occupational disease, although Order No. 257 of 8 November 1993 provides that the Ministry of Health must be notified, there do not appear to be any mechanisms for informing the labour inspectorate, the 2006 and 2007 annual reports on the work of the labour inspectorate containing no data on the subject. Recalling that, according to Article 14 of the Convention, the labour inspectorate must be notified of cases of occupational disease, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to give full effect to this provision and to ensure that statistics on occupational diseases are included in the next annual report of the labour inspectorate (Article 21).

Article 20. Publication of the annual report. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate the manner in which the annual report on the work of the labour inspectorate is published or disseminated, so that it is accessible to in particular the social partners and the public and private bodies concerned and any comments from them on the working of the inspection system with a view to improving it can be obtained.

Labour inspection and child labour. The Committee notes with interest the Government’s indication that measures have been adopted, on the basis of Order No. 105 of 30 May 2007 adopted by the General Labour Inspector, to promote observance of the legislation relating to young persons under 18 years of age. The Committee requests the Government to describe these measures in its next report and send a copy of the abovementioned Order.