Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Viet Nam (Ratification: 1994)

1. Articles 20 and 21 of the Convention. Annual inspection report. With reference to its observation, the Committee notes that the situation described in the report on the work of the labour inspectorate in 2002 is characterized by a general failure to comply with the legislation for which labour inspectors are responsible for the enforcement and the incapacity of inspectors to exercise adequate enforcement to remedy the situation. The Committee further notes that the information contained in the report is insufficient to serve as a basis for any evaluation of the level to which the Convention is applied. It is indispensable, if a newly established labour inspection system is to be operational, for a census of all industrial and commercial workplaces liable to inspection to be undertaken and regularly reviewed. Indeed, this is an essential prerequisite for any decision of a budgetary nature concerning the resources to be made available for the progressive achievement of the objective of the State labour inspectorate. The Committee therefore hopes that measures will be adopted rapidly to set in motion this preliminary work and that an annual inspection report containing the information required under each item of Article 21(a) to (g) will soon be published and communicated to the ILO.

2. Articles 12 and 16. Right of inspectors to enter workplaces freely and the frequency of inspections. The Committee notes that the limits imposed by the provisions of Decree No. 61/1998/ND-CP, of 15 August 1998 (sections 3 and 7), and by implementing Order No. 22/2001/CT-TTg, of 11 September 2001, on the right of inspectors to enter workplaces, are in complete contradiction with the requirements of the above Articles of the Convention and the achievement of the objective established for any inspection system. The Government is therefore requested to take measures rapidly to amend the legislation so as to empower inspectors to enter workplaces freely, in accordance with the requirements of Article 12, namely at any hour of the day or night in any workplace liable to inspection (paragraph 1(a)) and, to enter by day any premises which they may have reasonable cause to believe to be liable to inspection (paragraph 1(b)). The Committee would be grateful if the Government would keep the Office informed of any progress achieved or any difficulty encountered in this respect.