Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Employment Service Convention, 1948 (No. 88) - Cyprus (Ratification: 1960)

Decisions relating to the application of the Convention. The Committee notes the simplified report provided by the Government for the period ending in July 2010. The Government indicates that, in June 2009, a private employment agency filed a complaint with the Commission for the Protection of Competition against the Public Employment Service with the allegation that the state maintenance of a Public Employment Service offering free employment services to employees violated national law and the European regulation on the protection of competition and placed private employment agencies into a less favourable or disadvantaged position. The Government indicates that, after the investigation of the complaint, the Commission for the Protection of Competition issued a decision stating that the allegations were not valid based on the fact that the Public Employment Service operates according to the Convention which has been ratified by Cyprus and which has become an integral part of the country’s legislation. The fact that the Public Employment Service provides services according to the law is compatible with the national and European regulation on the protection of competition because the competent authority is entrusted by the State to provide a public service. The Government indicates that the decision also stated that since the Convention does not discriminate between employers and employees, it is implied that services can be offered free of charge to both parties. The Committee notes with interest that this decision contributes to the achievement of the Convention objectives. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information, including statistical data, on the contribution of the public employment service to the maintenance of full employment and use of productive resources.