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

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Madagascar (Ratification: 1971)

Also referring to its observation, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the following points.

Article 5(b) of the Convention. Collaboration between the labour inspection services and employers’ and workers’ organizations. According to the Government, the Tripartite National Council (CNT) and the tripartite regional councils constitute a forum for close collaboration between the social partners and the labour inspection services. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply a copy of Decree No. 2005-329 establishing the CNT and provide detailed information on the frequency and content of the meetings of the Council, together with extracts of reports on its work and of the work of the tripartite regional councils on the subjects covered by the Convention.

Article 6. Status and conditions of service of labour inspection staff. With reference to its repeated previous comments concerning the application of this provision, the Committee notes, according to the information supplied in 2006 and again in 2007, that a draft decree establishing the special conditions of the inspectorate of labour social legislation has already received the approval of the Higher Civil Service Council. It requests the Government to keep the Office informed of the progress made on the above draft decree or to send a copy of it if it has been adopted. If not, it requests the Government once again to provide information on the distribution of labour inspection staff according to their status as public officials or contractual public employees, giving details of their respective conditions of service.

Article 8. Number of women inspectors. Please provide the clarifications requested in the Committee’s previous comments with regard to the problems which explain the low numbers of women in the labour inspection staff and indicate the measures taken to rectify the situation.

Article 13. Powers of injunction of labour inspectors with regard to occupational safety and health. The Committee notes that section 240 of the new Labour Code provides that inspectors are authorized to issue orders or have orders issued for the imposition of measures within a specific deadline or that have immediate executory force with regard to occupational health and safety. The Committee emphasizes that the alternative contained in this respect in the wording of Article 13 of the Convention is a flexibility clause under which the national legislative authority is competent to decide whether labour inspectors shall be directly empowered in this area or shall be bound to request a designated competent authority to issue the necessary order for the same ends. The relevant provisions of national law must be clear in this respect, otherwise problems of application may arise which undermine the credibility of labour inspectors. The Committee hopes that the Government will not fail to take steps as soon as possible to clarify the scope of section 240 of the new Code by clearly defining the extent and limits of the powers of inspectors provided for by Article 13 of the Convention and will keep the ILO informed.

Article 14. Notification of industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease. The Committee again asks the Government to indicate whether steps have been taken to ensure coordination between the central health authority and the Labour Inspectorate, with a view to the establishment of an appropriate system for the registration and declaration of cases of occupational disease, and to send a copy of any relevant text and a copy of any form drawn up for this purpose. At all events, the Committee requests the Government to adopt measures to give full effect to this Article of the Convention, which is a prerequisite for the central authority to fulfil its obligation to include statistics of cases of occupational disease in the annual report. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would inform the ILO of any difficulties encountered in this respect and indicate the alternative solutions which it envisages for achieving the same ends.

Articles 19, 20 and 21. Reporting obligations. The Committee once again draws the Government’s attention to the twofold relevance, with a view to achieving the socio-economic objective of the Convention, of compiling the information required by Article 21 in an annual summary report. Such a document enables the central authority to evaluate the functioning of the inspection system, identify deficiencies or inadequacies, seek the opinion of the social partners with a view to making improvements and make appropriate and justified budgetary forecasts. The transmission to the ILO of an annual inspection report also enables the ILO supervisory bodies to assess the degree of application not only of the Convention but also of other ratified international labour standards concerning conditions of work and the protection of workers and to formulate useful guidance for improving the inspection system. The Government is requested to ensure that inspection activities are the subject of periodic reports to the central inspection authority in order to enable the latter to publish and communicate, within the required deadlines, an annual report on the work of the services under its control, progressively containing information, as far as possible, on the subjects listed by Article 21, clauses (a)–(g).

In this respect, the Committee observes that, contrary to what is stated in the Government’s report, the inspection statistics available for 2006 have not been received at the Office. It requests the Government to send these statistics and also those relating to the subsequent period covered by the next report.