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

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Costa Rica (Ratification: 1960)

The Committee notes the information provided in reply to its previous comments and the attached documentation. It draws the Government’s attention to the following points.

1. Adapting resources to the needs of the labour inspectorate and the impact of additional duties on the effectiveness of inspection activities. The Committee notes the information that the Government has been constrained, due to the economic situation in the country, to implement an austerity programme for public expenditure leading to budgetary restrictions which have affected state services as a whole. The Committee however notes with interest the Government’s commitment, despite the difficulties referred to above, to make all the necessary effort to reinforce the human resources of the National Labour Inspection Directorate for the effective discharge of its duties. It also notes that the annual activities planned have been undertaken. The Committee joins with the Government in hoping that decisions of a budgetary nature will be taken with a view to providing the inspection system with the resources required to meet its needs in terms of personnel, equipment and logistics. It also wishes to emphasize that the effective discharge of functions that are as numerous and complex as those deriving from its principal functions, set out in Article 3, paragraph 1, of the Convention, is only possible where inspectors are not also called upon to undertake other duties such as to interfere with the effective discharge of their primary duties or to prejudice in any way the authority and impartiality which are necessary to inspectors in their relations with employers and workers (Article 3, paragraph 2). With reference to its previous comments, the Committee therefore requests the Government to keep the ILO informed of any developments in this respect and of any decision of a budgetary nature adopted with the purpose of giving effect to each of the relevant provisions of the Convention (Articles 7, 9, 10, 11 and 16), and of any progress achieved.

Conditions of service of labour inspectors. The Committee notes the agreement concluded between the Administrative Director-General of the Ministry of Labour, the National Director of the Labour Inspectorate and the President of the National Association of Labour Inspectors (ANIT) relating to the transfer of labour inspectors. According to this agreement, the National Director of the Labour Inspectorate will be empowered by decree to establish, under certain conditions, a system of the six-monthly rotation of labour inspectors by sector of activity and within the same administrative area. Furthermore, the transfers denounced by ANIT may be either maintained or revoked based on the results of the consultations held with the inspectors concerned. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the reasons for the envisaged regulations, any provisions adopted and the conclusions reached by the consultations.

Publication and communication of an annual inspection report (Articles 20 and 21). The Committee notes with regret that, since the ratification of the Convention in 1960, no inspection report as provided for by these provisions of the Convention has been communicated to the ILO. With reference to paragraphs 272 and 273 of its General Survey of 1985 on labour inspection, the Committee recalls that these reports constitute valuable sources of information from two points of view. From the national point of view, they are essential for an assessment of the practical results of the activities of labour inspectorates. Moreover, these reports give the national authorities significant data for the application of labour legislation and may also reveal gaps in the legislation which may be instructive for the future. The publication of annual inspection reports should also provide information to employers and workers and their organizations and illicit their reactions in a constructive spirit. From an international point of view, the communication of such reports to the ILO, within the time-limits set out in Article 20, is intended to enable the ILO’s supervisory bodies to follow developments in the application of the Convention and provide useful guidance on the efforts made by member States to raise progressively the level of the achievement of the social objectives pursued by the instrument. Annual reports also make it possible for the Committee to assess the extent to which the international labour Conventions ratified by the various countries are applied. The Committee therefore trusts that the Government will take the necessary measures for the purposes referred to above and that it will provide information in its next report on the progress achieved with a view to the publication and communication to the Office of such reports, the form and content of which are set out in the above Articles of the Convention.

The Committee is addressing a request directly to the Government on other matters.