Paragraph 3: Operation

The Vice-Chairman of the Conseil national d'orientation des conditions de travail is appointed by order of the Minister for Labour under the conditions set out in III of Article R. 4641-3. The Secretary General, who assists the Vice-Chairman in his duties, is appointed by order of the Minister for Labour. Under the authority of the Vice-Chairman, he is responsible for organising and leading the work of the Conseil national d'orientation des conditions de travail and the Comité national de prévention et de santé au travail and for drawing up their reports. He is an ex-officio member of each of the Council's configurations, and may chair any of them in the absence of the full and alternate chairmen.

Notices of meetings and agendas for meetings of the Conseil national d'orientation des conditions de travail and the Comité national de prévention et de santé au travail are drawn up by the secretary general of the Conseil d'orientation des conditions de travail, who acts as secretary. Notices of meetings and agendas for meetings of the General Commission and specialised commissions are drawn up by the Director General of Labour or his representative, who acts as secretary. For the specialised committee responsible for issues relating to agricultural activities, these functions are carried out by the Director of Financial, Social and Logistical Affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture or his representative.

The opinions, proposals and other deliberations of the Working Conditions Advisory Council's panels are validly adopted if more than half of the members with voting rights are present, including members taking part in the debates either by means of a telephone or audiovisual conference or by electronic consultation, or have given a mandate and, for the missions provided for in 3° to 5° of Article L. 4641-2-1 by deliberation under the conditions provided for in Article R. 4641-8.

When the quorum is not reached, these committees deliberate validly without a quorum requirement after a new notice of meeting with the same agenda and specifying that no quorum will be required.

The positions of the National Occupational Health and Safety Committee are adopted by consensus.

The opinions of the committees of the Conseil d'Orientation des Conditions de Travail required in application of II of Article R. 4641-1 are recorded in the minutes of the meeting drawn up by the departments of the Ministry of Labour and, for the committee responsible for issues relating to agricultural activities, by the departments of the Ministry of Agriculture. These minutes are signed by the Chairman of the meeting.

If he deems it necessary, the chairman of the advisory committees may take a vote. The members of the working conditions advisory committees mentioned in 2° of article R. 4641-3 each have one vote. When not deputised, each of these members may give a mandate to another member of the same committee to represent him/her.

The chairman of each committee of the Conseil d'Orientation des Conditions de Travail may, within the scope of its remit, set up and commission working groups and call in experts to provide technical advice on a particular issue, make recommendations or commission studies. These groups are given a mandate and a provisional timetable, and report the results of their work to the committee that mandated them.

Attendance at meetings of the Conseil d'Orientation des Conditions de Travail entitles members to travel and subsistence allowances under the conditions laid down by Decree no. 2006-781 of 3 July 2006 setting the conditions and procedures for payment of expenses incurred by civil servants on temporary trips.