Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention, 1949 (No. 94) - Democratic Republic of the Congo (Ratification: 1960)

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Articles 1 to 9 of the Convention. National framework governing labour clauses in public contracts. For many years, the Committee has been drawing the Government’s attention to the need to take all appropriate steps to give full effect to the principle of the Convention by incorporating it into the general administrative clauses set out in the specifications prescribed by Act No. 10/010 concerning public contracts (section 49). The Committee notes with regret that, in its last report, the Government merely reiterates that, according to the above-mentioned legislation and the implementing decree establishing the manual of procedures for the Act on public contracts, any bidder who has won a public contract is bound to apply the labour and social welfare legislation in force. The Committee recalls that the mere fact of the national legislation being applicable to all workers does not release the States which have ratified the Convention from the obligation to take the necessary steps to ensure that public contracts contain labour clauses that ensure that workers receive wages and enjoy other working conditions not less favourable than those established at the national level, including by way of collective agreements, for work of the same character in the trade or industry concerned in the district where the work is carried on. The Committee notes, however, that the Government requests ILO technical assistance in order to bring its legislation and practice into conformity with the requirements of the Convention and hopes that the Office will be in a position to provide the technical assistance requested in the near future. The Committee recalls that the amendment of the national legal framework in order to comply with the Convention depends directly and essentially on the willingness of the Government to fulfil its international obligations. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to act without further delay to give effect to the Convention. To this end, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to several publications, including practical guides, which are high value-added tools for the purpose of effectively implementing the Convention, as they identify best practices in the area of public procurement with regard to the labour clauses contained in such contracts and the principle of the Convention. Therefore, in addition to the General Survey on the Convention, which provides a global overview of the way in which labour clauses are governed in public contracts, the Committee also draws the Government’s attention to the existence of a practical guide on the application of Convention No. 94 and Recommendation No. 84, and the work of an interagency roundtable (ILO, UNCTAD and OECD) on corporate social responsibility in 2014, which focused on the topic of sustainable public procurement as a tool for promoting sustainable business practices, and which recognized the importance of ILO standards and the matter of labour clauses in public contracts.