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

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Congo (Ratification: 1999)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report for the period ending September 2007, which was received in the Office in January 2008.

Article 11 of the Convention. Working conditions of labour inspectors. The Committee notes with interest that the staff of the labour inspectorate has been strengthened during the period since the report sent by the Government in 2004. However, it notes that no measures have been taken to improve the working conditions of inspectors and that they do not benefit from the transport facilities necessary for the discharge of their duties, nor the full reimbursement of their travelling and incidental expenses. The Government is requested to take the necessary measures to ensure that effect is given to the provisions of the above Article of the Convention and to provide information in its next report on any progress achieved in this respect, on the difficulties encountered and the solutions envisaged to overcome them.

Articles 19, 20 and 21. Reporting obligations on the inspection activities. With reference to its previous comments concerning information relating to the application in practice of the legal provisions giving effect to the Convention, the Committee notes that, contrary to the Government’s indication in its report received in 2004, no regional inspection report has been provided to the ILO. Furthermore, no annual report, as required by Articles 20 and 21 of the Convention, has been transmitted to the ILO. The Committee does not therefore have available the information that is essential on the operation of the labour inspection system in practice to allow it to monitor developments and provide support to the Government for its improvement in relation to the requirements of the Convention. The material and logistical situation described by the Government gives grounds for fearing, despite legislation that is in conformity on many points with the provisions of the Convention, that there is a significant gap between the extent of the needs for the supervision of conditions of work and the level of coverage that the inspection services are able to ensure. The Committee hopes that, so that it can fulfil its responsibilities, the Government will provide in its next report all the information available allowing it to assess the level of application of the Convention more than a decade after its ratification. This information should cover, among other matters: (i) the geographical distribution of the public officials responsible for inspection functions as defined in Article 3, paragraph 1, of the Convention (the schedule announced by the Government in its report was not attached); (ii) the geographical distribution of workplaces liable to inspection or, at the least, those for which the Government considers that the conditions of work require specific protection from the labour inspection services and the judiciary on the basis of the violations reported by the labour inspectorate; (iii) the frequency, content and number of participants at the training courses provided for labour inspectors during their career; (iv) the level of remuneration and conditions for career progression in relation to other public officials with comparable responsibilities; (v) the proportion of the national budget allocated to the public labour inspection services; (vi) a description of the cases in which inspectors travel to enterprises, the procedure followed and the transport facilities that they use for this purpose, the activities that they carry out and their outcome; and (vii) the proportion of supervisory activities carried out by inspectors in relation to their conciliation duties.

The Government is also requested to indicate the nature of the obstacles or difficulties (of a financial, structural, political or other nature) encountered in the implementation in practice of its legislation respecting labour inspection and to describe the measures adopted or envisaged to resolve them (for example, seeking international financial cooperation, inter-institutional cooperation within the country, collaboration with the social partners; the adoption of specific conditions of service for labour inspectors, rationalization of the way in which the resources of the labour administration are used).