Three ministries to jointly monitor manufacturing sector

Three ministries to jointly monitor manufacturing sector

Three ministries have set up a joint team to monitor the manufacturing sector’s compliance with existing regulations, including workplace conditions, in a bid to avoid overlaping inspections.

According to a joint directive issued on Friday, the team will comprise of officials from the Labour, Industry and Handicrafts and Environment ministries.

The directive obtained yesterday was signed by Minister of Labour Ith Samheng, Minister of Industry and Handicraft Cham Prasidh and Minister of Environment Say Samal.

“The establishment of the Inter-Ministerial Inspection team aims at conducting a joint inspection to oversee the implementation of regulations and normative letters by enterprises and institutions in the labour, industry and handicrafts and the environment sectors,” it said.

Heng Sour, a Labour Ministry spokesman, said yesterday the formation of the joint team follows a directive by Prime Minister Hun Sen during the 18th Government-Private Sector Forum on March 29, 2019.

Mr Hun Sen had laid out 15 comprehensive packages of reforms aimed at facilitating business, enhancing competitiveness and promoting the diversification of the Cambodian economy.

“This integration [of inspection teams] will save time for the enterprises which previously had separate inspections done by each ministry and the work often overlapped,” he said. “From April this year, we will only inspect each factory once a year.”

Collective Union of Movement of Workers president Pav Sina said yesterday that it is good the three ministries will jointly inspect labour conditions, environment and the other issue in the enterprises or factories to ensure the managements follow and fully implement regulations and employment standards.

“The establishment of the joint inspection team is good, but what is important is the implementation and whether it will be effective in pushing employers to follow and implement the regulations,” he said.

Mr Sina added that it will not be effective if the team only inspects factories or enterprises once a year because some factories do not follow the labour law or workplace regulations at all.

“I think if these three ministries want factories to implement better working conditions and follow regulations and the labour law, they have to conduct regular inspections,” he said. “They have to monitor each factory at least once in three months and not just once per year.”

Source: Khmer Times