| GB.267/6
267th Session Geneva, November 1996 |
SIXTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA
Report of the Meeting of Experts
on Workers' Privacy
(Geneva, 1-7 October 1996)
1. The Meeting of Experts on Workers' Privacy was held in Geneva from 1 to 7 October 1996, under the chairmanship of Ms. Kathy Leigh (Government, Australia).
2. The agenda of the Meeting as approved by the Governing Body at its 262nd Session (March-April 1995),(1) was as follows: draft code of practice on the protection of workers' personal data, and recommendations for future ILO action, including consideration of the possibility of adopting international labour standards in this field.
3. The proceedings of the Meeting, the code of practice on the protection of workers' personal data adopted by the Meeting, and the recommendations for future ILO action adopted by the Meeting are included in the report of the Meeting, which is attached as Appendix I.(2)
4. The Meeting adopted the code of practice and recommended that it be widely distributed. The Meeting also requested that the commentary prepared by the Office, attached in Appendix II,(3) be published with the code of practice as it contains explanations that the experts felt would be helpful in interpreting and applying the code. The Office will revise the commentary in the light of the Meeting's discussions. The Meeting also recommended that the provisions contained in the code be used in ILO technical cooperation programmes and advisory activities and that the results be monitored on an ongoing basis.
5. The Meeting could not agree on the possibility of adopting international labour standards in this field, and thus did not make a recommendation on standards. The views of the experts on possible standard setting and other ILO action are reflected in paragraphs 67 to 72, 75 and 76 of the report of the Meeting. The recommendations for future ILO action that were adopted by the Meeting are found in paragraph 78 of the report of the Meeting.
6. The Governing Body may wish to authorize the Director-General to distribute the code of practice on the Protection of Workers' Personal Data and the revised Office's commentary on the code --
- to governments, employers' and workers' organizations;
- to the international employers' and workers' organizations concerned;
- to international organizations; and
- to others as appropriate.
7. The Governing Body may wish to request the Director-General to bear in mind, when drawing up proposals for the agenda of the International Labour Conference, the views expressed by the Meeting in paragraphs 67 to 72, 75 and 76 of the report of the Meeting.
8. The Governing Body may wish to request the Director-General to bear in mind, when drawing up proposals for the programme and budget, the recommendations of the Meeting in paragraph 78 of the report of the Meeting.
Geneva, 18 October 1996.
Points for decision:
Paragraph 6;
Paragraph 7;
Paragraph 8.