Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Rwanda (Ratification: 1980)

Article 3(1) and (2) of the Convention. Additional functions entrusted to labour inspectors. Article 12(1)(a). Right of labour inspectors to enter freely workplaces liable to inspection. Bringing laws and regulations into conformity with the Convention. In reply to the Committee’s previous comments concerning the application of Articles 3(2) and 12(1)(a) of the Convention, the Government indicates that it is currently reviewing Act No. 13/2009 of 27 May 2009 regulating labour in Rwanda (the Labour Law) and its implementing orders, and that measures will be taken to amend these texts to bring them into conformity with the requirements of the Convention, particularly with regard to the additional functions entrusted to labour inspectors and the scope of the right of inspectors to freely enter workplaces liable to inspection. In this regard, the Committee notes, according to the information available to the Office, that the Government has requested the Office to examine a recent draft Labour Law and that the Office has provided the Government with its comments on this subject, including on the provisions respecting labour inspection. The Committee hopes that the Government will take the necessary measures, in the context of this revision, to ensure that the provisions of the Labour Law and its implementing orders fully reflect the requirements of the Convention, and particularly that labour inspectors are not entrusted with functions relating to the settlement of individual and collective labour disputes (Article 3(2)) and that inspectors are empowered to freely enter workplaces liable to inspection at any hour of the day or night, even outside working hours (Article 12(1)(a)).

Articles 19, 20 and 21. Annual reports on the activities of the labour inspection services. The Committee notes that, contrary to the Government’s indication in its report, the annual report on the activities of the labour inspection services, drawn up by the central authority, has not been received. It notes the Government’s indication that the objective for data collection by labour inspectors is only for them to know the number of establishments liable to inspection in the area assigned to them.

The Committee wishes to recall the fundamental importance that it attaches to the publication and communication to the ILO of an annual labour inspection report, which is an indispensable tool for assessing the results of the activities of the labour inspection services, the identification of priorities and the determination of the budgetary and other resources necessary to improve their effectiveness. It emphasizes that, under the terms of Article 20 of the Convention, the central labour inspection authority shall publish and transmit to the ILO an annual general report on the work of the labour inspection services, which shall include information on all the matters enumerated in Article 21. In this regard, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the extremely valuable guidance provided in the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81), on the manner in which this information can be presented and compiled. Expressing the firm hope that the Government will soon be in a position to provide a copy of the annual labour inspection reports, the Committee urges it to take the necessary measures to ensure the preparation and submission by local inspection offices of regular reports on the results of their activities, as required by Article 19, with a view to enabling the central authority to prepare, publish and transmit to the Office an annual labour inspection report (Article 20) containing information on all the subjects enumerated in Article 21 of the Convention. It also requests the Government to provide information on any progress achieved in this regard, and on any difficulties encountered.