Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention, 1949 (No. 94) - Guinea (Ratification: 1966)

The Committee has been commenting for several years on the absence of specific legislation or regulations concerning public contracts. It has also been pointing out that the mere application of the general labour legislation to public procurement contracts does not produce the same legal effects as the insertion of labour clauses expressly required under the terms of the Convention. The Convention seeks to ensure that the workers engaged in the execution of public contracts enjoy labour conditions at least as favourable as those applicable to workers performing similar work in the same area. It may not be sufficient therefore to refer to legislation that only provides for minimum standards, if more favourable conditions are established by collective agreements, other recognized machinery of negotiation or arbitration. The underlying reason is that in making a contractual commitment for the expenditure of public funds, the State should act as a model employer and therefore should not apply conditions that are less favourable than the most favourable practised in the area and the sector concerned.

The Committee regrets that despite its previous detailed observations and the direct contacts mission undertaken by the International Labour Office in 1981, the conditions for applying the Convention are still not fulfilled. In order to assist ratifying States in devising measures to comply with the Convention, the Office has also drafted an explanatory note outlining the legislative amendments which may be needed to ensure the inclusion and application of labour clauses.

While recalling the Government’s earlier assurances that it plans to examine the existing provisions concerning public contracts and to draft measures to comply with the Convention, the Committee urges the Government to take appropriate action and to include in its next report full details on the steps effectively taken to this end.