Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2000, publiée 89ème session CIT (2001)

The Committee notes that no annual inspection report, as envisaged in Articles 20 and 21, has been provided since 1989. As a result, the Committee does not have at its disposal the elements which it needs to assess the extent to which the Convention is applied in practice, and particularly the manner in which effect is given to Article 16, which requires that workplaces liable to inspection shall be inspected as often and as thoroughly as is necessary to ensure the effective application of the legal provisions which come under the responsibility of labour inspectors. The Committee emphasizes that one of the requirements for the effectiveness of inspections is set out in Article 12(a), and consists of the right which should be conferred upon inspectors to enter any workplace liable to inspection without previously notifying the employer or his representative with a view to inspecting the normal conditions of work, and it would be grateful if the Government would provide copies of the texts governing the right of inspectors to enter workplaces in each state. The Government is also requested to take the appropriate measures to ensure this right, in accordance with the above provision, and to provide information on these measures, in cases where this right is not granted, and particularly in states where the right of free entry is subject to the prior notification of the employer or his representative.