Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Fee-Charging Employment Agencies Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 96) - Mexico (Ratification: 1991)

Part III of the Convention. Article 10(b). Regulation of fee-charging employment agencies. Yearly licence. In reply to the previous direct request, the Government indicates that by means of the Decree dated 21 May 2014, various provisions of the Employment Agency Regulations (RACT) were amended, added and repealed. The Government emphasizes, in particular, that an amendment was made to section 27(2) of the RACT, which now requires fee-charging employment agencies conducted with a view to profit to submit a request to renew the validity of their authorization and registration. The Committee notes that this amendment to the RACT maintains the five-year validity period for the authorization and registration of fee-charging employment agencies conducted with a view to profit, instead of establishing the yearly renewal of their licence, as required by Article 10(b) of the Convention. The Committee also notes the observations of the Confederation of Industrial Chambers of the United States of Mexico (CONCAMIN) attached to the Government’s report, which considers that the current regulations should remain in force, as reducing the period for renewing licences would only create unnecessary costs and administration, which would not make them more effective. The Committee once again recalls that in order to give effect to Article 10(b) of the Convention, the licences issued to fee-charging employment agencies conducted with a view to profit must be renewed on a yearly basis. The Committee refers once again to the Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181), which introduces greater flexibility and recognizes the role of fee-charging employment agencies conducted with a view to profit in the operation of the labour market. The ILO Governing Body has invited member States, for which Convention No. 96 is still in force, to contemplate the possibility of ratifying Convention No. 181, which would involve the immediate denunciation of Convention No. 96 (GB.273/LILS/4(Rev.1), November 1998). The Committee invites the Government to examine, with the social partners, the possibility of ratifying Convention No. 181.

Article 10(d). Placement and recruitment of workers abroad. The Government reports that, the Decree dated 21 May 2014 amended the wording of section 12 of the RACT, which currently provides that the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (STPS) shall inform the Ministry of the Interior every six months of the authorizations and registrations issued for private employment agencies that place Mexican workers abroad. Moreover, several requirements for employment agencies that place Mexican migrant workers abroad were incorporated into section 9bis of the RACT. The Committee notes that the RACT also incorporates the new provisions included in the Federal Labour Act, as amended in November 2012, which allow for closer monitoring of migrant worker recruitment agencies and a more rigorous enforcement of legal provisions to guarantee the rights of workers. The Committee invites the Government to continue providing information on the impact of the legislative changes on the operation and monitoring of private employment agencies that place Mexican workers abroad.