Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Central African Republic (Ratification: 1964)

The Committee refers the Government to its observation and wishes to raise the following additional points.

Article 3(2) of the Convention. Additional duties of labour inspectors. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that additional duties had been assigned to labour inspectors including the settlement of labour disputes and the supervision of unlawful employment, and that only 18 of the 53 serving inspectors had supervisory duties. The Committee notes in this connection that Act No. 09-004 of 29 January 2009 issuing the Labour Code continues to assign responsibility for conciliation in collective and individual labour disputes to labour inspectors (section 345 et seq. and section 367 et seq. of the Code). The Committee reminds the Government of the primary functions of labour inspectors under Article 3(1) of the Convention (enforcement of the legal provisions relating to conditions of work and the protection of workers and advice to employers and workers). It also reminds the Government of the guidelines set out in Paragraph 8 of the Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81), which specifies that “the functions of labour inspectors should not include that of acting as conciliator or arbitrator in proceedings concerning labour disputes.” The Committee requests the Government to provide an estimate of the time spent on the primary functions as set out in Article 3(1) of the Convention as compared to the other functions of the labour inspectorate. In view of the limited human resources available to the labour inspection services, the Committee hopes that the Government will take the necessary steps to ensure that, in accordance with Article 3(2), any duties entrusted to labour inspectors in addition to their primary duties are not such as to interfere with the latter or to prejudice in any way the authority necessary to inspectors in their relations with employers and workers. It requests the Government to include in its next report all available information on the measures taken or envisaged in this respect.

Articles 5(b), 17 and 18. Cooperation between the labour inspection services and judicial bodies. The Committee notes that according to section 322 of the abovementioned Act No. 09-004, labour inspectors record offences against labour laws and regulations in written reports and may notify the competent judicial authorities directly. Recalling that collaboration between the labour administration and judicial bodies was already advocated in the ILO technical memorandum produced in 2004 following a mission for diagnosis and evaluation of the labour administration services, the Committee requests the Government to provide statistics pertaining to the action taken on the reports submitted by the labour inspectorate to judicial bodies and to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to strengthen cooperation between the labour inspectorate and judicial bodies, for example by setting up a system for recording judicial decisions, to be made available to the labour inspectorate and by allowing the central authority to use this information in pursuance of its objectives and to include the data in its annual report, pursuant to Article 21(e) of the Convention.

Article 6. Status and conditions of service of labour inspectors. The Committee notes that according to section 319(3) of Act No. 09-004 mentioned above, the regulations of the labour inspectorate shall be established in a decree issued by the Council of Ministers at the proposal of the minister responsible for labour. The Committee recalls its previous comments in which it noted that Act No. 99/916 of 19 July 1999 issuing the general public service regulations did not give effect to Article 6 of the Convention. It also recalls the Government’s statement in its report of 2008 under the Labour Administration Convention, 1978 (No. 150), that specific regulations for labour inspectors and administrators were being drafted. In its direct request of 2010 under Convention No. 150, the Committee also noted that in the context of the 2009 budget the Government planned to “release” the remuneration of labour administration officials and staff, frozen since 1986 for economic reasons, along with that of all other public employees in the country. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any measures taken or envisaged for the adoption of the draft regulations governing labour inspectors and administrators and hopes that the draft will set conditions for recruitment and conditions of service, particularly remuneration and promotion, that will enable labour inspectors to discharge their duties effectively and remain independent of improper external influences.

The Government is also asked to provide information on developments in the area of labour inspectors’ wages and to provide copies of any pay scales adopted in the period covered by the next report.

Article 7. Initial and continuous training. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the training programmes for labour inspectors (subjects covered, duration of training, number of participants, etc.), and particularly the programmes set up in the context of international or interregional cooperation. It also asks the Government to send to the ILO the labour inspection methodology guide, which has been validated according to the Government’s report sent to the ILO in 2011.