Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Tajikistan (Ratification: 2009)

The Committee notes that the Government’s first report does not contain information on the application of the provisions of the Convention in law and practice. However, it notes that the Government refers to efforts to improve occupational safety and health (OSH) conditions of workers, amongst others through the adoption of OSH legislation in different economic sectors, and that the Government’s report of 10 July 2012 on the application of the Working Environment (Air Pollution, Noise and Vibration) Convention, 1977 (No. 148) and the Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155) contains some information on labour inspection.

The Committee would like to remind the Government that in order to enable it to assess the situation of the national labour inspection system and provide useful recommendations for the progressive application of the requirements of the Convention, following its entry into force, full information should be provided on each of the provisions of the Convention and in response to each of the questions set out in the report form. The Committee asks the Government to make every effort to supply in its next report under Article 22 of the ILO Constitution the information required by each part of the report form for the Convention. It reminds the Government that it may avail itself of technical assistance of the ILO, if it so wishes, in order to fulfil its reporting obligations.

In addition, the Government is requested to provide information on the following points:

Article 3 of the Convention. Additional functions entrusted to labour inspectors. The Committee notes that under the terms of Governmental Decree No. 104 of 3 March 2007 on the State Labour Inspectorate (SLI), state labour inspectors are entrusted, among other tasks, with the control of internal (voluntary) and ecological migration. The Committee asks the Government to define the meaning of the term “internal (voluntary) and ecological migration” and to specify the nature and proportion of the activities of labour inspectors dedicated to this issue, the number of infringements detected, legal provisions concerned and sanctions imposed, as well as the impact of these activities on the enforcement of the legal provisions relating to conditions of work and the protection of workers (Article 3(1)(a)).

Articles 3, 4, 5(b), 6, 8, 10, 13, 17 and 18. Operation of the labour inspection system under the supervision and control of a central authority and duality of inspection functions assumed by state and trade union labour inspectors in this system. The Committee notes from the Government’s report of 23 September 2005 on the application of all ILO Conventions ratified by Tajikistan, that an SLI was set up under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection pursuant to Government Order No. 596 of 30 December 2001. A regional labour inspectorate in each of the four regions of the country and about 60 district labour inspectorates have been established throughout the country. Governmental Decree No. 104 of 3 March 2007 contains provisions on the required number of inspectors in the SLI, including in its central office.

The Committee also notes that section 225 of the Labour Code provides that labour inspection tasks can be discharged not only by governmental bodies, but also by trade unions. Furthermore, section 27 of OSH Act No. 517 of 19 May 2009 specifically provides for the possibility of setting up trade union inspection bodies in the area of OSH. In the Government’s report of 10 July 2012 on the application of Conventions Nos 148 and 155, it is indicated that the trade union labour inspectorate operating under the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Tajikistan is composed of 20 bodies throughout the country, in which 36 labour inspectors are currently carrying out inspection functions.

The Committee would like to emphasize that, in accordance with Article 4 of the Convention, labour inspection should be placed under the supervision and control of a central authority and that the enforcement powers foreseen in Articles 17 and 18 of the Convention should be the exclusive prerogative of labour inspectors in the sense of the Convention, whose status and conditions of service are such that they are assured of stability of employment and are independent of changes of government and of improper external influences, and of the justice system.

The Committee requests the Government to provide an organizational chart of the labour inspection system and to describe its structure and functioning.

It also asks the Government to indicate the manner in which the central SLI maintains supervision and control of the labour inspection system in its entirety and to specify the conditions and modalities under which it collaborates with the technical and legal labour inspection bodies under the authority of the trade unions (including the manner in which it delegates powers and supervises their activities).

Emphasizing that enforcement functions should be the exclusive prerogative of the labour inspection services, the Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the functions exercised by the SLI and trade union labour inspectors in the areas of enforcement, prevention and provision of information and advice (Articles 3(1)(a) and (b) and 13).

It further asks the Government to provide up-to-date information on the number of both state labour inspectors and trade union labour inspectors, their gender and geographical distribution by rank and grade, and their fields of specialization (Article 10). Please ensure that this information is also included in the annual report on the work of the labour inspection services, together with any available information on the number and geographical distribution of industrial and commercial workplaces liable to inspection and the workers employed therein (Articles 10, 21(b) and (c)).

Finally, the Committee requests the Government to specify the status and conditions of service of labour inspectors serving in the SLI, in relation to the conditions applicable to similar categories of public servants and trade union inspectors.

Articles 5(a), 20 and 21. Obligation to publish and communicate an annual report on the work of the labour inspectorate and the value of establishing a register of workplaces in this regard. The Committee notes that the Government has not communicated an annual report on the activities of the labour inspection services. Nor does such a report appear to be available on the Internet. In this regard, the Committee would like to draw the Government’s attention to its general observation of 2010, where it emphasized the benefits to be derived from drawing up and publishing an annual report on the work of the labour inspectorate. When well prepared, the annual report offers an indispensable basis for the evaluation of the results in practice of the activities of the labour inspection services and, subsequently, the determination of the means necessary to improve their services. In this context, it also recalled that the ILO supervisory bodies, including the Committee of Experts, based on all the information contained in the annual report, are able to provide support to governments in the most relevant manner possible in the implementation of the commitments deriving from the ratification of the Convention. The Committee would also like to draw the Government’s attention to its general observation of 2009, in which it emphasized the importance of establishing and updating a register of workplaces and enterprises liable to inspection and the number of workers employed therein, which would provide the central labour inspection authorities with the data that are essential to prepare the annual report.

The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the steps taken by the central labour inspection authority under Articles 20 and 21 of the Convention with a view to publishing and transmitting to the Office an annual report on the work of the inspection services under its control and on the efforts made to establish or, where appropriate, to improve a register of workplaces liable to inspection, including inter-institutional cooperation between the labour inspection services and other government bodies and public or private institutions (tax services, social security bodies, technical supervisory services, local administrations, the judicial authorities, occupational organizations, etc.) in possession of relevant data (Article 5 of the Convention).

[The Government is asked to report in detail in 2013.]