Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1994, publiée 81ème session CIT (1994)

Convention (n° 30) sur la durée du travail (commerce et bureaux), 1930 - Koweït (Ratification: 1961)

See the comments made in the observation concerning Convention No. 1 and the application of Articles 1, 2 and 6, paragraphs 1(b) and 2, of that Convention, as follows:

1. Private sector

The Committee notes the Government's statement that the Labour Bill, which has been submitted to the Council of Ministers, provides for extension of the new Code to temporary workers and workers in small enterprises. The Committee trusts that the Bill, to which the Government has been referring for many years, will be adopted shortly and that it will give full effect to Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention.

Article 6, paragraphs 1(b) and 2. The Committee notes that the Government maintains its previous position according to which the fixing of a limit of two hours' overtime per day to meet exceptional increases in workload is sufficient to give effect to these provisions of the Convention. The current legislation (Act No. 38 of 1964) also limits overtime to two hours a day in the event of serious accidents which are imminent or which have taken place, to repair the damage caused by such accidents, or to avoid certain loss. While the Convention does not provide for limits in such cases, which are comtemplated in Article 3, it does provide under Article 6, paragraph 1(b), for recourse to overtime so that establishments may deal with exceptional cases of pressure of work, and paragraph 2 of that Article requires that a maximum number of additional hours be fixed. The limit of two hours per day fixed by the Government might permit unduly high weekly or annual working hours which, in the Committee's opinion, might will lead to violation of the spirit of this Convention (see in this connection the Committee's 1967 General Survey on this instrument, ILC, 51st Session, 1967, Report III (Part IV), third part, paragraph 239). The Committee therefore again expresses the hope that the Government will take the necessary measures to fix, in the case in question, a reasonable monthly or annual limit in conformity with the Convention's objectives.

2. Public sector

Article 6, paragraph 1(b). With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes that the legislation currently in force (Ministerial Order No. 34 of 1977 concerning overtime in the public sector), still does not determine with sufficient precision the conditions and limits within which exceptions to normal working hours may be authorized. The Committee recalls that these exceptions must remain within limits which are in conformity with the Convention's objectives. It therefore again asks the Government to take the necessary steps to determine the conditions in which recourse to overtime is permitted, and to fix a reasonable annual or monthly limit on the number of additional hours which may be authorized.