Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2003, published 92nd ILC session (2004)

Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) - Morocco (Ratification: 1979)

With reference also to its observation, and noting that the information on the application of certain provisions of the Convention relates to provisions of the new Labour Code, the Committee requests the Government to transmit a copy to the Office as soon as it enters into force.

1. Assignment of specific duties to women labour inspectors (Articles 6, paragraph 2, and 10, of the Convention). The Government is asked to indicate whether measures have been taken or are envisaged to assign specific duties to women labour inspectors, in particular with regard to advisory or enforcement functions regarding legal provisions relating to conditions of life of workers and their families in agricultural enterprises.

2. Collaboration with employers’ and workers’ organizations (Article 13). Noting that, according to the Government, collaboration between officials of the labour inspectorate and occupational organizations of employers and workers is identified in the administrative instructions issued to inspectors as being a means enabling them to carry out their mission under the best possible conditions, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide a copy of any relevant instructions.

3. Transport facilities and reimbursement of professional travel expenses (Article 15(1)(b) and (2)). The Committee notes that the necessary operational mobility of labour inspectors, compared with the sedentary nature of other public servants, is not taken into account in calculating the amount of flat-rate compensation for travel expenses or the reimbursement scale for professional travel expenses. The Government is asked to provide any current text or document serving as a basis for determining the flat-rate compensation for inspection trips, and the procedures for reimbursing the expenses incurred by agricultural labour inspectors in the course of their duties. It is also requested to take the necessary measures to ensure that the specific characteristics of the function of labour inspection is duly taken into account in future in this respect and to keep the ILO informed.

4. The right of inspectors to freely enter agricultural enterprises (Article 16(1)(a) and (b)). According to the Government, by virtue of section 44 of the Dahirof 24 April 1973, inspectors are empowered to enter by day any premises which they may have reasonable cause to believe to be liable for inspection. However, this text does not contain any restrictions on the period during which this power may be exercised, nor does it extend the purview of inspectors to all agricultural enterprises without distinction.  The Government is therefore asked to take measures to give effect in practice to the right of free entry of inspectors, in accordance with the above provisions of the Convention.

5. Labour inspection in health and safety matters (Article 18). With reference to its numerous previous comments, the Committee notes that the Government has not identified any text in support of its statement concerning the powers of injunction that are reported to be conferred on labour inspectors in agriculture in situations constituting a threat to the health and safety of workers. The annual inspection report of 2002 refers to a high number of employment accidents, although the observations addressed to employers on safety, health and employment accidents constitute only a small portion of the total observations, while there is no indication of the proportion of the six reports of violations which relate to occupational health and safety. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would describe the procedure for initiating legal proceedings for violations of the occupational health and safety legislation covered by labour inspectors from the time a violation is reported to the outcome of the legal action, where appropriate, taken as a result of the report.

In the hope that the new Labour Code will contain provisions enabling labour inspectors in agriculture to implement an effective prevention policy, the Committee requests the Government in any case to take measures to give full effect to the provisions of Article 18 in both law and practice and to keep the ILO informed.

6. Obligation of confidentiality of labour inspectors. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would also take measures to give full effect to Article 20(a) in both law and practice, by extending the prohibition envisaged by this provision so that it covers the period after inspectors have left the service, and to Article 20(c) to ensure that the principle of confidentiality regarding the source of the complaint is based on a legal text.

7. Publication and content of the annual report. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would take measures to ensure the publication and transmission to the ILO by the central inspection authority of an annual report on the work of the inspection services in agriculture, as envisaged under Article 26, and that this report will include all the information required under Article 27, as well as the number of agricultural enterprises liable to inspection, as previously requested.