Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Mauritania (Ratification: 1963)

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

The Committee notes the Labour Code, which assigns to labour inspectors important missions in the settlement of individual and collective industrial disputes (Book V). The methodological guide for the labour inspection indicates that, as part of individual disputes, the officer of the labour inspectorate informs each party of his/her rights and must refuse to ratify any agreement affecting the undisputable rights of the worker. As part of collective disputes, either party can refer the matter to the officer or he/she can take the initiative to intervene with the parties by way of conciliation and mediation in order to reconcile the points of view. The Committee wishes to remind the Government that, according to Article 3(1) of the Convention, labour inspectors should be responsible for providing supervision, advice and information and for contributing to the improvement of the legislation relevant to the subject matter of this Convention. Pursuant to paragraph 2 of this Article, any further duties which may be entrusted to labour inspectors shall not be such as to interfere with the effective discharge of their primary duties or to prejudice in any way the authority and impartiality which are necessary to inspectors in their relations with employers and workers. In this connection, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to paragraph 8 of the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947, (No. 81), according to which the functions of labour inspectors should not include that of acting as conciliator or arbitrator in proceedings concerning labour disputes. Furthermore, it emphasizes that the frequency of inspections of facilities is the best way to ensure compliance with the legislation relating to working conditions and to the protection of workers, and thus to identify the factors of dissatisfaction of workers, with a view to eliminating them and to preventing the proliferation of disputes. It is therefore vitally important that inspectors and controllers spend most of their working time and their material resources carrying out visits at workplaces. However, as noted in the report of the high-level fact-finding mission conducted by the ILO and, in the few summary reports of regional labour inspectorates received in the past, the staff and the resources of the labour inspectorate suffer from a chronic shortage and it is thus unable to carry out its primary functions. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would ensure that, given their poor working conditions and the meagre means available to them, controllers and inspectors, already entrusted with difficult and extremely complex tasks defined under Article 3(1) of the Convention and section 369 of the Labour Code, namely: (a) inspection in undertakings; (b) education of employers and workers and their organizations; and (c) contribution to the improvement of the relevant legislation, are gradually discharged, to the extent possible, of their functions of conciliation, mediation or arbitration.

Article 12(1)(b). Inspection of workplaces not formally liable to labour inspection. The Committee notes that the methodological guide does not mention inspection visits at the premises, which the labour inspectors may have reason to believe are liable to inspection, as provided for by section 376 of the Labour Code in accordance with Article 12(1)( b) of the Convention, under which inspectors should be empowered to enter by day onto these premises. The Committee calls the Government’s particular attention to this issue, given the importance of the informal economy in the country. In paragraph 264 of its 2006 General Survey on labour inspection, the Committee stresses that, in view of the broad definition of premises liable to inspection, labour inspectors must observe strict respect of privacy. The Committee requests the Government to ensure that the next update of the methodological guide will provide the opportunity to introduce lessons on the supervisory procedure provided for under Article 12(1)(b) of the Convention and to keep the Office informed.

[The Government is asked to supply full particulars to the Conference at is 101st Session and to reply in detail to the present comments in 2012.]