This new decision which was taken by the Higher Labour Committee at its meeting last week under the chairmanship of Mattar Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, will be issued soon in a circular bringing it into effect, said Eisa Saleh, member of the committee.

Under the existing rules, any company, when notifying the ministry about an absconding worker has to furnish a special guarantee whose amount is equivalent to the rate of an air-ticket to that worker's country, so that the government can deport him/her when apprehended on the account of the sponsor.

"However, there is no need to provide such a guarantee in the case of the women workers who are sponsored by their husbands or fathers and not by the companies employing them," Mr. Saleh said, explaining that unlike employees sponsored by their employers, this category of working women do not have to leave the country when they leave their employers and are not being deported, but they are penalised when committing labour violations by being banned from working in the country for one year.

According to Mr Saleh the committee, which approved at an earlier meeting the introduction of a new measure allowing the UAE national employer to transfer the employees he sponsors among companies he owns without applying for sponsorship transfer, has decided to postpone the implementation of this measure until conducting further studies on it.

The committee listened at the meeting to a detailed explanation from Dr Khalid Al Khazraji, Undersecretary for labour Affairs on the new organisational structure of the ministry, Mr. Saleh disclosed noting that the committee will hold another meeting this week to discuss other labour related topics.

Another new development in the labour sector is the ministry's decision to suspend dealings with the labour supply offices if they are found to be practicing other activities that were added to their licences.

An administrative circular issued on Sunday by Dr Al Khazraji stressed that the establishments' affairs unit at the ministry should reject the application for opening a company file submitted by labour supply agencies whose trade licences issued by the economic departments or municipalities concerned, included other activities besides labour supply.

Under the circular, this new rule will also apply upon the renewal of the licences of the labour supply agencies at the ministry. It stipulates that the renewal of the licence will be suspended until the establishment in question removes all the additional activities from its trade licence. The suspension of the ministry's dealings with the establishment in question will continue until it adjusts its status and observes the new rule.

In separate circular, Dr Al Khazraji instructed the visa committees studying applications for employment visas, to ensure that the information listed in the applications reflect the actual status of the company in terms of the number of employees, their educational level among others.

The applications which are lacking such accurate information have to be returned to the applicants or can be rejected, according to the circular. The move is aimed at collecting accurate data on the manpower in the country and their educational qualifications as part of a study being conducted by the ministry's experts.