Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Peru (Ratification: 1960)

Referring to its observation, the Committee wishes to raise the following additional points.

Follow-up to the recommendations of the tripartite committee (representation made under article 24 of the ILO Constitution)

Article 3 of the Convention. Functions entrusted to inspection personnel. The Committee recalls that the tripartite committee set up to examine the representation made by the Autonomous Workers’ Confederation of Peru (CATP) (henceforth the tripartite committee) considered, in its conclusions, that the Government should take steps to ensure that inspection personnel are not required to perform purely administrative functions and can devote themselves fully to their duties under the Convention. In this regard, the Committee notes with interest that, according to the Government, the supervisory inspectors of the National Labour Inspection Authority (SUNAFIL) benefit from administrative support.

Article 5(a). Effective cooperation between the inspection services and other government services and public or private institutions engaged in similar activities. The Committee recalls that the tripartite committee invited the Government to consider the adoption of additional practical measures to improve the cooperation of the inspection services with the police, particularly in the event that labour inspectors are obstructed in their work, and with public prosecutors and the public prosecution service in dealing with employment accidents, as well as the adoption of the necessary measures to develop the cooperation envisaged in Act No. 29981. The Government indicates that section 7 of the General Labour Inspection Act establishes the requirement for persons discharging duties in the public sector including the national police to collaborate with the labour inspection system when they are so requested and to provide it with the information available to them. Furthermore, the Government indicates that where the labour inspection services find evidence of a potential crime, they are required to submit the relevant information to the public prosecution services, in accordance with section 8(3) of the General Labour Inspection Act. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the cooperation in practice between the labour inspection services and the police.

Article 9. Collaboration of qualified technical experts and specialists with the inspection services. The Committee recalls that the tripartite committee expressed the hope that qualified experts and specialists would soon be associated with the inspection services when required for the performance of their duties. The Government indicates that the draft Regulations on supervision, inspection and penalties in relation to occupational safety and health for the mining, electricity and hydrocarbon subsectors, Title III of which covers the appointment of occupational safety and health experts, is under revision by the General Policy Directorate of the Labour Inspectorate (formerly the Directorate General of the Labour Inspectorate) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion (MTPE). The Committee requests the Government to ensure that the necessary measures are taken rapidly to guarantee in practice the collaboration of qualified experts and technicians in the work of the labour inspection services and to provide a copy of any text adopted or issued in this respect.

Articles 12(1)(a) and (c), and 15(c). Scope of the right of free entry of labour inspectors to workplaces liable to inspection. The Committee recalls that the tripartite committee considered that the Government should take the necessary measures to follow up on the comments of the Committee of Experts in relation to Articles 12(1)(a) and (c), and 15(c) of the Convention. In its previous comments, the Committee indicated that it is essential that labour inspections are not subject to any requirement for pre-authorization and that the requirement of a mission order containing a description of the purpose of the inspection constitutes an obstacle to the guarantee by inspectors of confidentiality concerning the source of the complaint and the link between the inspection and a complaint (Article 15(c)). The Committee therefore requested the Government to take measures as soon as possible to bring the legislation and practice into conformity with the Convention on this point, in particular through the repeal of the legal provisions which make inspection visits dependent on an order issued by a higher authority as well as requiring that the scope and purpose of inspections must be identified in advance for all inspection visits.

The Committee notes that the Government indicates that the powers of inspectors are provided for in section 5(1) and (3) of the General Labour Inspection Act. Labour inspectors are prohibited from divulging the origin of any complaint bringing to their notice a defect or breach of legal provisions, under section 16 of the Regulations governing the careers of labour inspectors. However, the Committee notes that, under the terms of section 10(2) of the General Labour Inspection Act, the labour inspection services shall always take action in accordance with an order from a higher authority, including in the case of complaints, and that, under the terms of section 13 of the same Act (as amended by Act No. 29981), the competent authorities shall issue the inspection order indicating the inspector or inspection team designated to conduct the inspection visit and setting out the specific action to be taken. The Committee trusts that the Government will rapidly take the necessary measures to repeal the legal provisions which systematically subject inspections to an order issued by a higher authority, as well as the provisions requiring specific actions undertaken to be determined previously.

Article 14. Notification to the labour inspection services of industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease. The Committee recalls that in its conclusions, the tripartite committee invited the Government to discuss with the social partners the possibility of developing a mechanism for the transmission of information on industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease received by the MTPE and the Ministry of Health to the labour inspection services, and on any other means that could assist in the collection of more reliable statistical data on this subject. The Government indicates that the Occupational Safety and Health Act and its Regulations determine the cases of the notification of industrial accidents, hazardous incidents and occupational diseases and that a single form is available for such notifications, and that it is the responsibility of employers to comply with these provisions. The Committee recalls, as it did in paragraphs 118–120 of its 2006 General Survey on labour inspection, the importance of the establishment of mechanisms for the notification of the necessary data to the labour inspection services, so that it can fulfil the preventive mandate assigned to it by the Convention. The Committee therefore requests the Government to ensure the establishment of a mechanism through which the labour inspection services can be notified of industrial accidents and cases of occupational disease.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2015.]