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

Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention, 1949 (No. 94) - Costa Rica (Ratification: 1960)

Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Inclusion of labour clauses in public contracts. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes with regret that the Government makes no reference to any progress made with regard to bringing its legislation into line with the provisions of the Convention. It regrets this in particular because in 2006 it supplied the additional explanations which the Government had requested with regard to Executive Directive No. 34 of 8 February 2002, as well as specific information on a possible formulation which would be in conformity with the Convention based on the draft Decree of 1980 drawn up following an ILO direct contacts mission that year. Noting that the situation remains practically unchanged since then, the Committee reiterates that clauses in public contracts which merely recall the applicability and binding nature of the national legislation, particularly with regard to wages, hours of work and other working conditions, are not sufficient to ensure conformity with the provisions of the Convention. The Committee refers to paragraph 44 of the General Survey of 2008 on labour clauses in public contracts, in which it emphasizes that the Convention seeks to ensure that public contracts are executed under conditions of labour which are not less favourable than those established by collective agreement, arbitration award or national laws or regulations for work of the same character in the trade or industry concerned in the region where the work is carried out. This obliges the contractor to apply the most advantageous pay rates, including overtime pay, and other working conditions, such as work hour limits and holiday entitlement, established in the industrial sector and geographical region in question.

The Committee attaches a copy of the Practical Guide prepared by the Office in September 2008, based principally on the conclusions of the abovementioned General Survey, which contains an analysis of national law and practice in this field and also legislative examples giving full effect to the requirements of the Convention. The Committee hopes that the Government will be able to draw on the information contained in both the General Survey and the Practical Guide and that it will soon be in a position to report on progress made in this area.

Finally, with regard to the comments of 17 May 2008 made by the Union of Workers of the Ministry of Finance and the National Customs Service (SITRAHSAN) – previously called the Union of Customs Workers – the Committee requests the Government to refer to its comments under the Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95).

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2010.]