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

Radiation Protection Convention, 1960 (No. 115) - Guinea (Ratification: 1966)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation, which read as follows:

1. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in reply to its comments. The Government indicates that a draft Order respecting air pollution, noise and vibration, cesspools, drinking water and protection against radiations had been prepared, but was subsequently separated into several draft Orders to make them more easily applicable. These draft Orders should have been adopted some time ago. However, the Advisory Commission on Labour and Social Legislation, as a tripartite commission, is composed of various members with very different concerns and sometimes constraints at the national level, which prevented it from completing its usual session. Furthermore, the Government states that the State of Guinea has priorities, even with regard to the adoption of laws and regulations. The Committee states that the Government has been expressing the intention for many years of adopting regulations to protect workers against ionizing radiations, without however in practice taking the necessary measures to this effect. It notes with regret that the Government’s attitude disregards the urgency of taking the necessary legislative action for the adoption of regulations respecting protection against ionizing radiations. In this respect, the Committee recalls that this Convention was ratified by Guinea in 1966 and that since then the Committee has had to comment on various points concerning the application of the Convention. The Committee recalls that, when the Government takes the sovereign decision to ratify a Convention, it undertakes to adopt all the necessary measures to give effect to the provisions of the Convention in question. The Committee also considers that, while the Government may cite the existence of other matters which must take priority in the adoption of laws and regulations, it would be appropriate after the number of years that have elapsed for it to take the necessary measures to ensure that the draft Orders relating to the application of the provisions of this Convention are adopted as soon as possible. The Committee therefore once again hopes that the Government will soon be in a position to report on the adoption of provisions covering all activities involving the exposure of workers to ionizing radiations in the course of their work and in conformity with the dose limits referred to in its general observation of 1992, in the light of current knowledge, such as that contained in the 1990 Recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and in the Basic Safety Standards for Protection Against Ionising Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sources of 1994.

2. Further to its previous comments, the Committee once again draws the Government’s attention to the following points.

Articles 2, 3, paragraph 1, 6 and 7 of the Convention. In its previous comment, the Committee noted the Government’s statement that the current dose limits correspond to an equivalent of an annual dose of 50 mSv for persons exposed to ionizing radiations. The Committee had recalled the maximum dose limits for ionizing radiations established in the 1990 Recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection and in the 1994 Basic International Safety Standards for Radiation Protection. For workers directly engaged in work exposed to radiation, this limit is 20 mSv per year averaged over five years (100 mSv over five years), and the actual dose must not exceed 50 mSv in any year. The Committee also draws attention to the dose limits envisaged for apprentices aged from 16 to 18 years, set out in Annex II, paragraph II-6, of the 1994 Basic International Safety Standards for Radiation Protection.

The Committee once again hopes that the maximum doses and quantities to be included in the Government’s draft Order will be in conformity with the maximum permitted doses and quantities, and that the Government does indeed envisage adopting the above draft Order.

Situations of exposure in emergencies: provision of alternative employment. The Committee once again requests the Government to indicate the measures which have been taken or are envisaged in relation to the points raised in paragraphs 35(c) and (d) of the conclusions of its 1992 general observation under this Convention.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future.