Social Protection

>> Question 9 : Which are the supervisory mechanisms?

>> Supervisory mechanism 1 : Regular reporting under the supervision of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendation


Once a country has ratified an ILO convention, it is obliged to report regularly on measures it has taken to implement it.

• Every two years, governments must submit reports detailing the steps they have taken in law and practice to apply any of the eight fundamental and four priority conventions they may have ratified;
• for all other conventions, reports must be submitted every five years, except for conventions that have been shelved (no longer supervised on a regular basis).

Governments are required to submit copies of their reports to employers¿ and workers¿ organizations. These organizations may comment on the governments¿ reports; they may also send comments on the application of conventions directly to the ILO.

The Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendation (CEACR) was set up in 1926 to examine the growing number of government reports on ratified conventions. Today it is composed of 20 eminent jurists appointed by the Governing Body for three-year terms. The Experts come from different geographic regions, legal systems and cultures. The CEACR¿s role is to provide an impartial and technical evaluation of the state of application of international labour standards.

When examining the application of international labour standards the CEACR makes two kinds of comments:

• Observations contain comments on fundamental questions raised by the application of a particular convention by a state. These observations are published in the Committee's annual report.
• Direct requests relate to more technical questions or requests for further information. They are not published in the report but are communicated directly to the governments concerned.

The annual report of the Committee of Experts is submitted to the International Labour Conference at its next Lecture, where it is examined by the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards.

A standing committee of the International Labour Conference, the Conference Committee is made up of government, employer, and worker delegates. It examines the report in a tripartite setting and selects from it a number of observations for discussion.

The governments referred to in these comments are invited to respond before the Conference Committee and to provide information on the situation in question. In many cases the Conference Committee draws up conclusions recommending that governments take specific steps to remedy a problem or to invite ILO missions or technical assistance.

The discussions and conclusions of the situations examined by the Conference Committee are published in its report. Situations of special concern are highlighted in special paragraphs of its General Report.


Supervisory mechanism 2 : Representations