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Article 22 reports can be detailed or simplified. First reports on newly ratified Conventions should always be detailed reports. Detailed reports should be prepared on the basis of the report forms for the Convention at issue. Subsequent, regular reports are simplified reports.
Reports on fundamental and governance Conventions are requested every three years and reports on all other technical Conventions are requested every six years.
The Committee of Experts can break the reporting cycle on certain conditions and call for out-of-cycle reports. The Committee of Experts may decide that such out of cycle reports should be detailed.
The Committee of Experts examination of reports results in comments. Comments addressed directly to governments are called direct requests. Comments destined to be published in the Committee of Experts report are called observations.
Reminder: As part of your preparations, please ensure that you have the report forms for the ratified Conventions available at all times. They are available in electronic format in NORMLEX and printed copies can always be requested from the Office.

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Reminder 1: Please note that Committee of Experts comments are made available in NORMLEX in two steps: observations are uploaded in February and directs requests are uploaded in May each year.
Reminder 2: As of 2012 the reporting cycle for fundamental and governance Conventions has been extended from two to three years. As of 2019 the reporting cycle for technical Conventions has been extended from five to six years.Please verify the situation for your country in NORMLEX.

Provided you have access to the Internet, your best source of information is NORMLEX. Please note, however, that Committee of Experts comments are made available in NORMLEX in two steps: observations are uploaded in February and directs requests are uploaded in May each year. The Office also sends individualized information to each government in February. Information is sent in two batches. The first one with information on reports and replies to comments due the current year and the second batch with preliminary information on reports and replies to comments due subsequent years.

Parties to Convention No. 144 are required to hold effective consultations with the representative organizations of employers and workers on any questions arising out of article 22 reports. You are well advised to engage in tripartite consultations at an early stage.

In this case you are required to communicate copies of all article 22 reports to the representative organizations of employers and workers. This can be done either before you finalize your report or, at the latest, when you send in your reports to the ILO by the due date.

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The subject matter of most Conventions goes beyond the immediate competence of the Ministry of Labour. The preparation of reports therefore often requires that consultations be held with other ministries or government agencies concerned. In many countries, such consultations are greatly facilitated by institutionalized consultations mechanisms. If such mechanisms are not available in your country, please ensure that such inter-ministerial consultations are scheduled and carried out in a timely fashion.

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The subject matter of most Conventions goes beyond the immediate competence of the Ministry of Labour. The preparation of reports therefore often requires that consultations be held with other ministries or government agencies concerned. In many countries, such consultations are greatly facilitated by institutionalized consultations mechanisms. If such mechanisms are not available in your country, please ensure that such inter-ministerial consultations are scheduled and carried out in a timely fashion.

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Reminder 1: If you have any first reports to prepare, you may wish to start early to prepare them, as detailed reports require more time.
Reminder 2: If you have regular, simplified reports to prepare, you may wish to start preparing them and complement them subsequently with your responses to any possible comments by the supervisory bodies.

You may wish to start preparing your work in January based on information available in NORMLEX. If you have any first reports to prepare, you may wish to start early to prepare them, as detailed reports require more time. If you have regular, simplified reports to prepare, you may wish to start preparing them and complement them subsequently with your responses to any possible comments by the supervisory bodies.

Excellent! You can always verify the situation in NORMLEX.

A newly ratified Convention will enter into force one year after the date of ratification and the first report will be requested in February the following year. Example: If your country ratified a Convention on 12 December 2013, it will enter into force for your country on 12 December 2014. A request to submit a first report will be addressed to your country in February/March 2015, which then is due by 1 September the same year. You can always verify the situation in NORMLEX.

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First reports are always detailed reports and should be based on the report forms approved by the Governing Body for each Convention, which are available in NORMLEX. Your preparations should include the steps below.
(a) An examination of the report form. In addition to specific questions related to the application of the terms of the Convention in your country, the report form also contains some general questions (indicated in bold with roman numerals).
(b) Collection of legislative information. As indicated in the general questions of the report form, you are required to collect and attach relevant laws, regulations and other information concerning how the provisions of the Convention are applied in your country. A useful source of information may be any documentation used to prepare ratification.
(c) Collection of information on application in practice. The information required will vary depending on the subject matter of the Convention and will normally require that you consult with other ministries and agencies. Include, in particular, any statistical data and reports of the enforcement authorities such as, for example, the labour inspectorates.
(d) Preparation of the report - using the format of the report form - and of the annexes to the report.
Reminder 1: Trials are underway to prepare for online reporting. You may wish to prepare for that.
Reminder 2: Although most reports after the first report are simplified reports, you may, under certain conditions, be required to prepare a detailed report at a later stage.

Flexibility devices are provisions in the Conventions, which allow to limit the scope of their application in a country in certain defined ways. If your country intends to exercise the right to use such flexibility devices, you are required to:
(a) follow the procedure required in the Convention which often includes holding consultations on this issue with the representative organization of employers and workers concerned; and
(b) indicate in your first report on the application of the Convention the extent to which recourse has been made to them.
Reminder: It is essential that first reports include indications in this respect, since if they don’t, you will be precluded from applying such flexibility devices.

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Reminder: If the first reports do not include indications as to the intentions to use any available flexibility devices, you will be precluded from applying them.

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Reminder: Regular reports are normally simplified reports. The Committee of Experts may, however, decide to request your country to prepare detailed reports. Furthermore, if there are major changes in the application of a Convention for which a simplified report normally would be due, for instance if new major legislation has been adopted, you are required, at your own initiative, to prepare a detailed report. You are therefore well advised to carry out a preliminary examination of the situation at an early stage.

Normally, the regular reports subsequent to the first one should be simplified reports.
Reminder: The Committee of Experts may, however, decide to request your country to prepare detailed reports. Furthermore, if there are major changes in the application of the Conventions for which a simplified report normally would be due, for instance if new major legislation has been adopted, you are required, at your own initiative, to prepare a detailed report. You are therefore well advised to carry out a preliminary examination of the situation at an early stage.

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Most reports submitted after the first detailed report, are simplified reports. They should contain:
(a) any new legislative or other measures affecting the application of the Convention. New in this respect means intervening after the submission of the previous report;
(b) replies to the questions in the report form on the practical implementation of the Convention, such as statistical and other information;
(c) replies to any pending comments of the supervisory bodies; and
(d) information on the representative organizations of employers and workers to whom you have sent copies of the report and on any observations received from these organizations.
Reminder: Even if a simplified report does not have to contain a response to all the specific questions in the report form, you are well advised to use the report form as a checklist when you prepare a simplified report.