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Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention, 1949 (No. 94) - Austria (RATIFICATION: 1951)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report, especially the enactment of the new Federal Law on Public Procurement (BGB1 I No. 17/2006) (Bundesvergabegesetz 2006) to implement directives 2004/18/EG and 2004/14/EG of the European Parliament. The Committee notes in particular that section 84(1) of the new legislation essentially reproduces section 71(1) of the previous Federal Law on Public Procurement of 2002, making an express reference to ILO Convention No. 94 and to all ILO fundamental Conventions, as being applicable in the process of bidding for, or executing, public contracts. The new legislation applies to contracts involving an expenditure of more than 40,000 euros (or 60,000 euros in certain sectors like electricity, water and traffic). Public procurement continues to be controlled at the national level by the Federal Public Procurement Office (Bundesvergabeamt, BVA) and at the level of the regions and municipalities by autonomous assemblies.

The Committee would be grateful if the Government would supply up to date information on the practical application of the Convention including, for instance, available statistics on the number of public contracts awarded per year and the approximate number of workers protected by the federal legislation implementing the Convention, sample copies of public contracts containing labour clauses, activity reports of the BVA or other official studies on matters related to the labour conditions applicable in the execution of public contracts, extracts from inspection reports of the competent services showing the number and nature of violations and the sanctions imposed, etc.

Finally, the Committee seizes this opportunity to refer to this year’s General Survey which contains an overview of public procurement practices and procedures in so far as labour conditions are concerned and makes a global assessment of the impact and present-day relevance of Convention No. 94.