Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Benzene Convention, 1971 (No. 136) - Slovakia (Ratification: 1993)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee notes the detailed information contained in the Government’s report. It particularly notes the adoption of Act No. 67/2002 as amended by Decree No. 180/2003, Collection of laws (coll.) on chemical substances and preparations. The Committee also notes that the legislative texts adopted by the former Czechoslovakia have remained in force in present-day Slovakia.

Article 11, paragraph 2, of the Convention. Prohibition on the employment of young persons under 18 years of age in work processes involving exposure to benzene. The Committee notes that Regulation No. 286/2004 on the types of work prohibited for adolescents states that adolescents may not be employed in work processes involving exposure to benzene. The Committee asks the Government to explain, in its next report, whether the term “adolescent” covers all young workers under 18 years of age, as stipulated in paragraph 2 of this Article.

Part IV of the report form. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that a health protection body, in cooperation with labour inspectors, is responsible for monitoring the application of the Convention, in accordance with the provisions of Regulation No. 95/2000 on labour inspection. The Committee asks the Government to provide, in its next report, information on the application of the Convention in practice, in particular any available statistical information on the number of workers covered by the legislation, disaggregated by gender if possible, and details of the number and nature of the contraventions reported and the penalties imposed.