Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

Medical Examination of Young Persons (Industry) Convention, 1946 (No. 77) - Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (Ratification: 1973)

1. For more than 20 years, the Committee has been drawing the Government's attention to the absence of any laws or regulations giving effect to Articles 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 of the Convention. The Committee has noted on several occasions the Government's intention of adopting general regulations to implement the Act on Occupational Safety and Health and Welfare, which would to some extent give effect to the provisions of the Convention.

In its report of 1994, the Government reported on specific activities for organizing the operation of medical services in enterprises with the ultimate aim of drawing up a pilot plan for a medical control service. It was envisaged that the plan in question would contribute to providing information and data needed for the implementation of the Regulations on Medical Services in Enterprises which had already been elaborated. According to the Government, the plan was to have gone into operation in the early part of 1995, after consultations with employers' and workers' organizations, and would have given effect to the Committee's comments.

2. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its latest report to the effect that, in the absence of suitable structures in the ministry concerned, measures to apply the Convention have not been taken and that, consequently, the Labour Code with its implementing regulations still applies. The Committee also notes with concern that the Government indicates that documentary evidence of fitness for employment, as required under Article 3 of the Convention, does not correspond to standard practice in the country. The Committee recalls once again that neither the provisions of the Labour Code nor existing practice ensure compliance with the Convention. It also notes once again the Government's intention to consider the possibility of making regulations giving effect to all the provisions of the Convention.

3. The Committee is bound to recall that, when a government in exercise of its sovereign right decides to ratify a Convention, it undertakes to adopt any legislation or regulations that might be necessary to give effect to the provisions of the Convention in question. In the case in point, the Government must, in accordance with the provisions of Article 2 of the Convention, take the necessary measures to issue, through its competent authority, documents certifying fitness for employment for children and young persons aged below 18 years. The document in question should be issued following a medical fitness examination, which is to certify that the young person is in good health but also that he or she is fit for the work in question.

4. The Committee recalls that it previously suggested that the Government might wish to call upon the Office for technical assistance in order to solve the technical problems which the application of this Convention appears to have posed for a number of years. The Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures as soon as possible to adopt legislation or regulations ensuring full application of the Convention, and trusts that the Government will provide information on any progress in this regard in its next report.