Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention, 1949 (No. 94) - Aruba

Articles 2, 4 and 5 of the Convention. Contractual provisions. Inspections and sanctions. Application of the Convention in practice. In its previous comments, the Committee reiterated its request that the Government take the necessary measures to give effect to the core requirement of the Convention, namely the insertion in public contracts of labour clauses of the type prescribed by Article 2, and to transmit copies of standard bidding documents currently in use, sample tender letters and concession agreements, as well as the tender instructions used in recent procurement operations, to enable the Committee to better understand the manner in which the Convention is implemented in law and in practice. The Committee notes that the requested documents are not included in the Government’s report. It further notes that the Government does not provide information on measures taken or envisaged to give effect to the core requirement of the Convention. The Government refers to its past reports, indicating that no changes have been made to legislation during the reporting period. Nevertheless, the Committee notes the initiative taken by the Government to introduce the Procurement Ordinance (Aanbestedingsverordening) that will update the existing public procurement legislation. In this regard, the Committee refers to the International Monetary Fund’s 2021 country report on Aruba (IMF Country Report No. 21/81), which indicates that the, “Aruban authorities are developing a Procurement Ordinance that will improve transparency, particularly by specifying the circumstances when variations will be permitted to projects and establishing an e-procurement system”. Noting that the Committee has been commenting for several years on the Government’s failure to give effect to the Convention, the Committee expresses the hope that the Government will take the opportunity presented by the development of the Procurement Ordinance to bring its national legislation into full conformity with the provisions of the Convention, particularly with respect to: the determination of the terms of the labour clauses to be included in public contracts to which the Convention applies, after consultation with the organizations of employers and workers concerned (Article 2(3)); the dissemination of the labour clauses, by advertising specifications or otherwise, so that tenderers are aware of the terms of the clauses (Article 2(4)); and the establishment and implementation of a system of inspection and adequate sanctions, by the withholding of contracts or of payments due, for failure to apply the provisions of labour clauses (Article 5). The Committee requests the Government to keep the Office informed of progress made and recalls that the Government can avail itself of the technical assistance of the ILO in this regard, should it wish to do so.