Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Chemicals Convention, 1990 (No. 170) - Zimbabwe (Ratification: 1998)

The Committee notes the communication sent by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and received on 21 September 2009. The Committee will examine this communication along with the comments that the Government would wish to provide. Noting also that the Government’s report has not been received the Committee must repeat its previous observation, which read as follows:

Article 6, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Classification systems. With reference to its previous comments the Committee notes the observations submitted by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) on behalf of theZCTU in which concerns were raised regarding the absence of a chemicals register which should monitor the inflow of chemical substances into the country and, more generally, that the penalties for non-compliance with laws on occupational health are too low and ought to be such as to act as an effective deterrent against the violation of occupational safety and health laws. The Committee notes that, in a brief response received in 2006 to these observations, the Government indicates that the issue of a chemicals register is undertaken at enterprise level in line with the Hazardous Substances and Articles Act, 1971. The Committee notes that the legislation referred to contains provisions related to the declaration and regulation of hazardous substances and articles, but that it does not appear to prescribe systems and specific criteria for the classification of all chemicals according to the type and degree of their intrinsic health and physical hazards and for assessing the relevance of the information required to determine whether a chemical is hazardous. Against this background, and in addition to the request for information already transmitted to the Government in its comment in 2005, the Committee requests the Government to provide additional information on how effect is given to this Article of the Convention, in law and in practice.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future.