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

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - Nepal (Ratification: 1995)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in November 2003 and September 2004, and in particular the efforts made to implement tripartite consultations at both regional and local levels. The recommendations formulated by the tripartite committee, recently set up under the auspices of the Director-General of the Department of Labour and Employment Promotion, should enable the application of the Convention to be reinforced in practice. The Government indicates that tripartite consultations are necessary to maintain cordial labour relations and for this purpose it commits itself to institutionalizing this procedure even further. A procedure for revising labour legislation, with which the social partners are associated, is currently in progress. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide detailed information to allow a detailed examination of the effect given to each of the provisions of the Convention. It would appreciate receiving additional information on the following points.

1. Effective tripartite consultations. The Government indicates that it made numerous efforts to ensure effective tripartite consultation on the matters covered by Article 5, paragraph 1, particularly by the setting up of numerous tripartite committees or councils, mainly constituted under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour and Transport Management. The Central Labour Advisory Board, which takes care of regular consultations at national level under section 62 of the 1992 Labour Code, plans to organize a second national labour conference. The Committee requests the Government to describe in detail the procedures established to ensure effective tripartite consultations, indicating how the nature and form of these procedures are determined and whether consultations with the representative organizations took place for this purpose (Article 2 of the Convention).

2. Free choice of representatives and equal representation. The Government indicates that the representatives of employers and workers are freely chosen by their representative organizations and that they are represented on an equal footing in all consultative bodies. The Committee invites the Government to describe how these representatives are chosen, indicating the measures taken to ensure their representation on an equal footing in these bodies (Article 3).

3. Administrative support and training. The Government mentions the setting up in 2004 of a permanent secretariat at the Central Labour Advisory Board, further to the request made by the representative organizations. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether this secretariat is responsible for providing administrative support for the procedures covered by the Convention and invites it to provide information on the arrangements made for financing any necessary training of participants in these procedures (Article 4).

4. Tripartite consultations required by the Convention. The Committee notes that it is now current practice for the Government to consult the representatives of employers and workers before drawing up replies to any questionnaire or submitting any report dealing with the Convention, or making any proposals to the competent authorities. The Government indicates that consultations took place on the matters covered by Article 5, paragraph 1, particularly thanks to the assistance of the ILO Kathmandu Office concerning a possible ratification of Conventions Nos. 87 and 105. The Committee notes that the reports to be submitted under article 22 of the ILO Constitution are generally prepared in collaboration with the social partners, except in certain cases where the Government simply communicates to them a copy of the report sent to the Office. In this regard, it recalls that the obligation of consultation laid down in Article 5, paragraph 1(d), goes beyond the obligation of communication of reports under article 23, paragraph 2, of the ILO Constitution as it consists, in this case, in holding consultations on matters that may arise from those reports. Reports that the employers’ and workers’ organizations may transmit to the Office cannot replace the consultations which have to be held during the preparation of the reports (paragraph 92 of the 2000 General Survey on tripartite consultation). The Committee invites the Government to indicate how observance of this provision is ensured and requests it in general to continue to provide detailed information on the consultations held on each of the matters set out in Article 5, paragraph 1, during the period covered by the report, specifying their purpose, their frequency and the nature of any reports or recommendations resulting from these consultations.

5. Operation of the consultative procedures. The Committee again requests the Government to indicate whether the representative organizations were consulted with regard to the production of an annual report on the working of the procedures covered by the Convention and, if so, to state the outcome of these consultations. Please communicate a copy of any report drawn up under Article 6 or any other useful information on the practical application of the Convention.