Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

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

The Committee notes the Government’s report for the period ending May 2006, as well as the activity report by the inspectorate for the metropolitan county of Pest. However, it notes that the Government has not provided the information requested on the implementation in law and in practice of the provisions of Article 12 of the Convention on labour inspectors’ powers of investigation, or on the changes in the functioning of the labour inspection system as a whole following the efforts made in legislative, judicial, structural and material terms, in the context of the harmonization required by European directives. The Committee hopes that the Government will not fail to provide detailed information in its next report in this regard, as well as a copy of any relevant text.

Article 3, paragraph 1(b), of the Convention. Technical information and advice to employers and workers. The Committee notes that, according to the report for 2005 by the labour inspectorate for the Pest region, most of the irregularities noted are due to a lack of knowledge of the labour legislation by employers. The Committee recalls that the Convention attaches the same importance to the supervisory function of labour inspectors as to their advisory role through the provision of technical information and advice, and that the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81), specifies the various forms of collaboration between officials of the labour inspectorate and organizations of employers and workers, during which questions concerning the enforcement of labour and occupational health and safety legislation can be discussed (Paragraph 6), as well as the measures by which employers and workers can be given advice and instruction in labour legislation and questions of industrial hygiene and safety: lectures, radio talks, posters, pamphlets and films explaining the provisions of labour legislation and suggesting methods for their application and measures for preventing industrial accidents and occupational diseases; health and safety exhibitions; and instruction in industrial hygiene and safety in technical schools (Paragraph 7). The Committee hopes that the Government will not fail to ensure that it takes advantage of this guidance and that it will provide information in its next report on any development in this regard.

Article 14. Use by the labour inspectorate of information concerning specific cases of occupational disease. The Committee notes with interest the significant reduction in the number of workers suffering from occupational diseases in 2005 compared to previous years. However, it notes that the number of workers affected by certain infections – particularly those caused by biological factors – has not fallen. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to reduce as much as possible the occupational risks responsible for such pathologies or to indicate any difficulty encountered in this regard.

Article 3, paragraph 1(a), and Article 21. Content of the annual report on labour inspection activities. The Committee notes that the information contained in the labour inspectorate’s annual report for 2005 mainly concerns activities relating to health and safety. Noting that, in accordance with article 3 of Act LXXV of 1996, the labour inspectorate’s functions extend to other areas (employment contracts, compulsory employer records, equality of treatment, the employment of women, young persons and people with disabilities, working time, protection of trade union rights, etc.), the Committee requests the Government to ensure that future annual reports also cover these areas of competence of the labour inspectorate and that they indicate the level of effectiveness of its functioning so that ways of improving it can be considered in collaboration with employers and workers.