If a complaint meets the basic admissibility requirements, the Office gives the complaint a case number, informs the government concerned of the complaint and asks for its observations on the allegations. To know more, see the “Rules for relations with the government concerned” in the Procedures for the examination of complaints alleging violations of freedom of association.
The CFA has recently decided to adopt a similar approach of optional voluntary conciliation for complaints as has been adopted with respect to representations under article 24 of the ILO Constitution. Upon acknowledging a complaint and transmitting it to the government, an additional paragraph will be included pointing to the possibility of optional voluntary conciliation which, if agreed to by both parties, would lead to a temporary suspension of the examination of the complaint for a period of six months. Such cases will be noted in a special paragraph of the introduction of the CFA report, demonstrating the willingness of the parties to attempt to find appropriate solutions at national level. The CFA will review the impact of this approach after a trial period.
In terms of information responding to the allegations, the CFA may hear the parties, or one of them, where:
- the complainants and the government have submitted contradictory statements on the substance of the matters at issue; or
- the CFA considers it useful to have an exchange of views on certain matters with the government concerned and the complainants in order to appreciate more fully the factual situation, examine
- the possibilities for solving the problems and seek conciliation; or
- particular difficulties have arisen in the examination of questions involving the implementation of its recommendations.
In practice, face-to-face hearings occur very exceptionally.
