Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1992, published 79th ILC session (1992)

Employment Injury Benefits Convention, 1964 [Schedule I amended in 1980] (No. 121) - Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (Ratification: 1977)

1. Article 5 of the Convention. The Committee has taken note of the statistics of insured persons supplied by the Government. The Committee observes that, according to that information, the total number of active insured persons employed in industrial undertakings as defined in Article 1, subparagraph (c), of the Convention is approximately 70,000. Since the Government has availed itself of the temporary exception provided for in Article 5 of the Convention, the Committee must again point out to the Government that, in order to be able to assess whether the requirements of this provision of the Convention are met, it also needs to know the total number of employees in industrial undertakings. It consequently hopes that the Government will be able to supply all these statistics in its next report.

Furthermore the Committee points out that under the said Article 5 the application of national legislation concerning employment injury benefits may be limited to "prescribed categories of employees, which shall total in number not less than 75 per cent of all employees in industrial undertakings ...". In this connection the Committee has noted from the information given in the ILO Year Book of Labour Statistics, 1991, that, for the sectors of construction, transport, storage and communications alone, the total number of employees was 118,400 in 1989. The proportion of protected employees working in industrial undertakings is thus less than the proportion prescribed by the Convention. In these circumstances the Committee expresses the hope that the Government will be able to indicate in its next report the measures taken or contemplated gradually to extend the employment injury branch of the social security scheme to new categories of wage-earners in industrial undertakings.

Article 7. In response to the Committee's previous comments concerning commuting accident coverage, the Government refers in particular to section 7 of Legislative Decree No. 14643 of 3 June 1977 concerning benefits in case of non-industrial injury. Furthermore it indicates that in case of an accident the cost of the benefit is normally borne by the person who caused the injury (for example, the driver of the vehicle). Furthermore in practice, when the injuries resulting from a non-occupational hazard do not involve the insurance institution in heavy expense, the benefits are covered as though it was a case of industrial accident.

The Committee takes note of this information. It wishes to point out to the Government, however, that under the Convention the benefits due in case of an industrial accident or occupational disease, including commuting accidents, must be granted whether or not any third person bears any liability (without prejudice to any recourse against such a person). Furthermore, under the Convention, the granting of such benefits to the insured person or his dependants must not be made conditional upon any waiting period. Hence the obligations prescribed by the Convention cannot be met by a system of sickness, invalidity and survivors' insurance which, as in Bolivia, makes the acquisition of entitlement to benefit and the amount of benefit subject to completion of a period of membership or subscription.

In these circumstances, the Committee again expresses the hope that the Government will be able to re-examine the question so as to supplement the definition of "industrial accident" laid down in section 27 of the Social Security Code and section 115 of the Regulations thereunder to include a commuting accident, in accordance with Article 7 of the Convention.

Article 8. In its previous comments, the Committee asked for the supply of the circulars which, according to the Government, had been addressed to the agencies administering social security in order to bring to their notice the list of occupational diseases prescribed by schedule I of the Convention. In its report, the Government states that the adoption of such circulars was unnnecessary because Presidential Decree No. 14228 of 23 December 1976 for the adoption and ratification of Convention No. 121 was published in the Official Gazette of Bolivia, which is a medium for broad dissemination of the country's national standards. In this connection the Committee ventures to remind the Government that the Multidisciplinary Committee established by Presidential Resolution No. 193458 of 5 November 1980 provides among other recommendations that the list of occupational diseases shown in Annex 1 to the Social Security Code and the Regulations thereunder should undergo immediate revision in as much as it is outdated. These recommendations, which go back more than ten years, make no reference to the list of occupational diseases annexed to Convention No. 121. In these circumstances, in order to preclude any risk of confusion in the quarters concerned regarding the content of the law on compensation for occupational diseases, the Committee considers that it would be desirable, on the occasion of a forthcoming revision or publication of the Social Security Code, to publish an up-to-date list of occupational diseases and activities likely to cause them, in conformity with schedule I annexed to the Convention.

Article 9, paragraph 3. In its previous comments, the Committee expressed the hope that the Government would supply the text of all provisions of laws, regulations or other texts specifying the nature of the medical care provided in accordance with section 11 of Decree No. 14643 of 1977 at the specialised centres of the Ministry of Social Security and Public Health, together with the conditions to be met, in order to qualify for such benefits, by persons ceasing to be entitled to medical care provided through social security. Since the Government refers in its reply only to the provisions of Chapter II of the Social Security Code concerning benefits in kind, the Committee can but ask the Government once again to supply the information requested.

Articles 13, 14 and 18 (in conjunction with Articles 19 and 20). (a) The Committee takes note with interest of the text of Presidential Decree No. 20991 of 1 August 1985 which increases the amount of temporary incapacity benefit in case of an industrial accident to 90 per cent of the insured person's wage which is subject to contributions at the start of incapacity.

(b) Furthermore the Committee notes that the Government's report does not contain the statistical information which it previously requested and which it needs in order to determine whether the amount of benefit paid to the standard beneficiary in case of temporary incapacity, permanent total incapacity or death reaches the level prescribed by the Convention. It has, however, noted with interest the Government's statement in its report on Convention No. 130 that it intended to ask the help of the ILO Regional Adviser on Social Security for Latin America on this point. The Committee therefore hopes that the Government will be able to supply with its next report the information requested by the report form adopted by the Governing Body under Article 19 or 20, depending on which of these provisions is resorted to.

Article 21. The Committee again asks the Government to supply with its forthcoming reports the information requested under this Article of the Convention by the report form concerning the review of the benefits provided for in Articles 14 and 18 as a result of substantial changes in the cost of living.

2. The Committee ventures to remind the Government of the possibility of having recourse to the technical cooperation of the ILO to help it in finding a solution to the problems arising out of the application of the Convention.