Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - Republic of Moldova (Ratification: 1996)

The Committee has noted the Government's first report on application of the Convention and the comments made by the National Confederation of Employers of the Republic of Moldova. It notes the Government's wish to promote dialogue with employers' and workers' representative organizations, particularly on the subjects set out in Article 5, paragraph 1, of the Convention. In this context, the Government indicates that the social partners are consulted at national level in the Commission for the Settlement of Social and Labour Disputes. The Government also states that a governmental order instituting the Agency for Dialogue and Social Partnership has been adopted. The Committee notes this information and requests the Government to provide a copy of the abovementioned order. The Committee notes moreover that the information of a general nature contained in the Government's report does not permit it to appreciate fully the manner in which the provisions of the Convention are given effect. It requests the Government to supply in its next report detailed information on the application of all Articles of the Convention, taking duly into account the questions on each of them set out in the report form and the indications given hereafter:

Article 2 of the Convention. Please describe how the nature and form of procedures conducted in the Commission on the Settlement of Social and Labour Disputes, or in any other competent body, ensure application of this Article. Pursuant to Article 2, paragraph 1, the consultations envisaged in the Convention must necessarily cover each of the matters listed in Article 5, paragraph 1. The consultation procedures must be effective, that is, they must allow employers' and workers' organizations to make valid comments on the questions under consideration. To this end, in particular the consultations must take place prior to the decision made by the Government.

Article 3. Please give information on the measures taken to ensure that employers' and workers' organizations are represented on an equal footing at consultations relating to international labour standards.

Article 4. Please describe the manner in which administrative support is provided for the consultation procedures set out in the Convention and state whether arrangements have been made or are envisaged on the basis of paragraph 2 for the financing of any necessary training of participants in the consultative procedures.

Article 5(1). The Government does not indicate whether consultations have been undertaken in the abovementioned Commission or any other body on the matters covered in this Article. Please supply detailed information on the consultations conducted on each of the matters set out below, including information about their frequency and the nature of all ensuing reports or recommendations. In this regard, the Committee recalls that certain matters (replies to questionnaires, submissions to the competent authorities, reports to be submitted to the ILO) involve annual consultation, while others (re-examination of unratified Conventions and of Recommendations, proposals for the denunciation of ratified Conventions) entail less frequent examination.

Article 5(1)(a) (items on the agenda of the Conference). Under this provision, the Government has an obligation to consult employers' and workers' representative organizations before preparing the final text of its replies to ILO questionnaires. These consultations should cover not only the replies to questionnaires sent for the purpose of first discussions, but also the Government's comments on draft texts prepared by the ILO to serve as the basis for second discussions.

Article 5(1)(b) (submission of Conventions and Recommendations to the competent authorities). On this point, the Convention goes beyond the obligation of submission set out in article 19 of the ILO Constitution by requesting the Government to consult the representative organizations before finalizing the proposals to be submitted to the competent authority in relation to the submission of Conventions and Recommendations that must be made to them. An exchange of views or information that takes place after the submission to the competent authority would therefore not comply with the purposes of the Convention.

Article 5(1)(c) (re-examination of unratified Conventions and of Recommendations). The tripartite consultations on the matter are intended to promote the implementation of international labour standards by permitting the Government to envisage, in the light of changes in national legislation and practice, the measures that could be taken in order to facilitate ratification of a Convention or implementation of a Recommendation to which it had been unable to give effect at the time of the submission.

Article 5(1)(d) (report on ratified Conventions). This provision goes beyond the obligation to communicate reports pursuant to article 23, paragraph 2, of the Constitution; it entails holding consultations on the problems which may be raised by the reports due under article 22 on the application of ratified Conventions; in general, these consultations relate to the content of the reply to the comments by the supervisory bodies.

Article 6. Under this provision, the Government has an obligation to consult employers' and workers' representative organizations on the need to produce an annual report on the working of the procedures provided for in the Convention. Please undertake appropriate consultations in the near future or, where relevant, provide information on the results of such consultations.