Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Paraguay (Ratification: 1967)

Article 3(2) of the Convention. Additional functions entrusted to labour inspectors. Further to its previous comments on participation by labour inspectors in monitoring migrants, the Committee notes from the Government’s report that in 2016 the General Directorate of Migration concluded an inter-institutional agreement with the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security (MTESS), the Social Insurance Institute (IPS) and the Industrial Union of Paraguay, with a view to establishing a strategic alliance to monitor and regulate the situation of migrants undertaking work in the various regions of the country. The Government indicates that the aim of the agreement is to allow the parties to coordinate their work in order to monitor enterprises and workplaces housing documented or undocumented foreigners, so as to determine their migratory status and, when appropriate, regularize them as immigrants, complying with the Migrants Act and to giving effect to the labour law in force. The Committee requests the Governing to indicate the measures adopted or envisaged to ensure that the duties entrusted to labour inspectors under the inter-institutional agreement concluded by the DGM with other parties, do not interfere with the effective discharge of their primary duties, established in Article 3(1) of the Convention, or prejudice in any way the authority and impartiality which are necessary to inspectors in their relations with employers and workers, as provided in Article 3(2) of the Convention. Equally, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the number of inspections in which labour inspectors participate under the inter-institutional agreement, the results obtained and the measures subsequently adopted, providing details of the number of cases which resulted in the regularization of the migrant workers.

Article 5(a). Cooperation between the inspection services and other government services and institutions. With regard to its previous comments concerning the Employer Worker Register, the Committee notes the adoption of Decree No. 8304 of 2017, regulating the registration of workers and employers, presentation of payrolls, communication and submission of electronic data and documents to the Administrative Labour Authority. The Committee also notes the adoption of Decree No. 9368 of 2018, which modifies certain provisions of Decree No. 8304. The latter Decree makes it obligatory for employers to register at the Department for the Registration of Employers and Workers of the MTESS within a fixed time-limit (section 3), it also provides for penalties in case of non-compliance with that obligation (section 6) and allows registration through the MTESS website and by means of the Unified System for Opening and Closing Businesses (SUACE), under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (section 4), specifying that the institutions that make up the SUACE will share data on the opening and closing of enterprises (section 14). In that regard, the Committee takes note of the information contained in the MTESS management reports from 2015 to 2019 on the operation of the Worker Employer Register, which includes the number of new employer registrations each year and, in some cases, the number of workers that they employ. The Committee also notes that the SUACE web site operates as a one-stop shop for information concerning the opening and/or formalization of enterprises, and is composed of the MTESS, the IPS and the DGM, and other institutions.

Still in relation to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that a framework agreement was concluded between the MTESS and the IPS in 2015, to share information on registration of enterprises in order to monitor social security contributions and registration of workers more closely against the payrolls recorded in the Employer Worker Register. In that regard, the Committee notes the adoption of the Resolution No. 593 of 2018, which provides for automatic migration of enterprises registered with the IPS when they are absent from the MTESS registry and that, according to the MTESS management report, 2018–2019, joint monitoring with the IPS is planned, under the coordination of the MTESS General Directorate of Labour Inspection and Monitoring (DGIF) and the IPS General Directorate of Workers’ and Employers’ Contributions, with the aim of detecting violations of labour standards and of uniting elements for social security monitoring, among other matters. The Committee requests the Government to provide further information on the way in which information received by the MTESS under the agreement concluded with IPS is used for the effective planning of inspection visits. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the number of inspections carried out jointly with the IPS and their results.

Article 18. Adequate and effectively enforced penalties for obstructing labour inspectors in the performance of their duties. Further to its earlier comments on the penalties for obstructing labour inspectors, the Committee notes that Title I of Book V of the Labour Code, which the Government references, provides for penalties for non-compliance with its provisions, but not for penalties for obstructing labour inspectors in the performance of their duties. In that regard, the Committee also notes that section 18 of Act No. 5115 of 2013, creating the MTESS, establishes that, for the proper and efficient performance of its functions and attributions, when circumstances so require and where there has been opposition to inspection, the Director-General of Inspection and Monitoring may request the competent labour court to issue a search order for public and private institutions, enforceable by public force. Section 3 of Resolution No. 47 of 2016, which approves the general inspection procedure for monitoring labour, social security and occupational safety and health legislation, establishes that: (i) during inspection visits inspectors may be accompanied, among other persons, by police officers (section 2.1.1.); (ii) where access to an enterprise, or a specific part of it, is refused, the inspector may submit a report on the situation to the Director-General of Inspection and Monitoring, in accordance with section 18(2) of Act No. 5115 (section 2.1.1.); and (iii) cases of obstruction of labour inspection include: preventing the inspector from questioning persons working in the workplace; removing, or allowing those persons to withdraw before being identified by the inspector; refusal by the employer, or by another person in charge, to provide information on workers that have not been adequately identified (section 2.1.2.). The Committee notes that neither Act No. 5115, nor Resolution No. 47 provide penalties for obstructing labour inspectors in the performance of their duties. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application of sections 3, 2.1.1. and 2.1.2. of Resolution No. 47, and of section 18 of Act No. 5115, which refer to cases of obstruction of labour inspectors in the performance of their duties, specifying the number of cases of obstruction observed and giving details of cases where a labour court has issued a search order in respect of workplaces liable to inspection and where the inspectors have been accompanied by the police. Likewise, the Committee requests the Government to adopt the measures necessary in order for the national legislation to provide adequate penalties for persons who obstruct inspectors in the performance of their duty, in accordance with Article 18 of the Convention.

Articles 20 and 21. Annual report on the work of the labour inspection services. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes that section 26 of Act No. 5115 establishes that the Director-General of Inspection and Monitoring shall publish an annual report, of a general nature, on the work of the inspection service under his control. In that regard, the Government indicates that the DGIF is responsible for drawing up the report and for its transmission to the ILO. The Committee notes that the MTESS management reports for 2015 to 2019 (available on the MTESS website) contain a section on the activities of the DGIF and provide information on legislation relevant to the functioning of the labour inspection service and on the number of inspection visits.

Nevertheless, the Committee notes that the MTESS management reports do not consistently present complete information on: (i) the staff of the labour inspection service; (ii) statistics on the workplaces liable to inspection and the number of workers therein; (iii) statistics on violations committed and penalties imposed; of (iv) statistics on occupational accidents and occupational diseases. The Committee encourages the Government to continue its efforts in preparing and publishing annual reports on the activities of the labour inspection services. The Committee trusts that future reports will cover all the issues listed in Article 21 of the Convention. In that connection, the Committee reminds the Government that it may request ILO technical assistance.