Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Colombia (Ratification: 1967)

The Committee refers the Government to its observation and draws its attention to the following points.

Article 2, paragraph 2, and Part II of the Convention. Scope of the Labour Inspectorate’s duties. Referring to the comment in its observation that, in the view of the trade union organizations, the labour inspectorate should also cover commercial establishments, the Committee is aware that by reason of the declaration appended to its ratification excluding Part II from its acceptance of the Convention, the Government is not bound by its provisions. It nonetheless reminds the Government that, pursuant to Article 25, paragraph 2, of the Convention, any Member which has made such a declaration may at any time cancel it by a subsequent declaration, and would be grateful if the Government would give its views on this matter.

Article 5(a). Cooperation with judicial bodies. In response to the Committee’s general observation of 2007 on the usefulness of effective cooperation between the labour inspection services and the justice system to the attainment of the objectives of inspection, the Government merely states that labour inspectors notify to the competent authorities the cases that have been submitted to them and for which they are not competent and that, where conciliation fails to settle a dispute, the parties are free to take the matter to the courts. The Committee observes that the procedure described above does not amount to cooperation and points out that what it implied more particularly in its general observation was that judicial bodies and inspectors should exchange information so as to raise awareness about each other’s roles, thereby prompting due diligence and thoroughness on the part of judicial bodies in their treatment of inspectors’ reports and any complaints about the same issues brought directly by workers or their organizations. The Committee also expressed the hope that a system for recording judicial decisions would be made available to the Labour Inspectorate to enable the central authority to make use of such data in pursuing its objectives and include them in its annual report as provided by clause (e) of Article 21. It therefore asks the Government to take measures to this end, to inform the ILO of them and to send any relevant documents.