The Government relaunched its bid to introduce race reporting regulations into the workplace yesterday with the claim that similar laws were common in the UK, Canada and the States.

But research by The Royal Gazette revealed that such laws only apply to Government workers in the UK and Canada while the private sector is untouched.

The Bermuda International Business Association (BIBA) said it could not support the proposals which, it said, could mean small businesses would be forced to hire staff to cope with the forms.

And BIBA said it was angry the Government failed to make form four, which asks for hiring and firing and promotion information, only apply to way out-of-line companies.

Development and Opportunity Minister Terry Lister said Commission for Unity and Racial Equality (CURE) staff had done research in Canada, the UK and the US, which found organisations there were required to maintain data on the racial composition of their employees and job applicants.

He said: "Overseas reporting requirements are extensive and include reviews and audits of all employment practices and procedures necessary to achieve equal opportunity in employment.'' He claimed other jurisdictions were more stringent in what they demanded.

Asked why he thought mandatory race reporting was done in the UK, Mr. Lister replied: "UK is moving toward that. They're making it mandatory in the Government sector, not the private sector.'' And Mr. Lister said the UK was moving toward CURE regulations in the private sector.

But a spokesman for the UK's Commission for Racial Equality said: "There are no laws requiring monitoring in private businesses and there are no plans to do so.

"We suggest and encourage monitoring but there is no requirement by law. In Government departments they have to monitor.

"There is a Race Relations Amendment Act going through at the moment which extends that act in public bodies placing a positive duty to those to promote race equality.'' Mr. Lister said Canada and the United States were far more advanced.

"Canada is the most advanced and we will be outlining that when we table this,'' said Mr. Lister.

Minister defends re-worked CURE proposals Asked about the law in America, Mr. Lister said: "In their organisations they use different numbers but it's similar.

"In the case of the States they're looking at minority groups. In the case of Canada they call them designated groups (there they are looking at natives -- i.e. Indians and Eskimos), they are looking at ethnic minorities and thirdly handicapped and disabled.

"They have rules in place to reflect all three groups and to reflect their equity and fairness in the workplace.

"In Canada, an employer must have a plan to ensure what's going to happen with these groupings.'' However Kass Sunderji, Senior Project Officer with the Department of Canadian Heritage, said: "There is no legal requirement in terms of the private sector unless they have a contract with the federal government and they might be required to do that.

"There's no overarching legislation requiring the private sector to do that but some of them do it anyway so if a human rights' case comes against them they can show the make up of their workforce.

"The federal government has race reporting in the workplace -- it gives government the demographic make up of the civil service.

"This information can be used for recruitment if a certain group is under represented.'' BIBA chief executive officer Pat Phillip-Bassett also denied mandatory race reporting laws were commonplace elsewhere.

She said: "The Minister made the point these proposals are not more onerous than what's being done overseas but we will have to agree to disagree, that's not the case.'' And she said small firms would be forced to hire staff to cope with the extra red tape.

She said: "This is a significant administrative burden, particularly for companies who don't have a formal human resources systems set up.

"We suggested it should only have been used for companies who fall below the average for their category on achieving racial balance.

"Now some companies may have to hire people just to track everyone.'' Mr. Lister said Government had compromised by dropping questions about training and transfers from form four but further watering down of the rules would have destroyed the point of it.

He said: "These are the meat of the issue. To leave it out would be foolhardy. You would not be able to see the movement over time.'' And he said the Government had pushed back deadlines to help businesses adjust and that the law would be good for Bermuda in ensuring access to equality of opportunity in the workplace.

Form three, which covers employees' race, income and benefits, will have to be returned to Government by August 31 to allow companies time to adjust and form four will not be required until the same time next year.

And he said the manpower survey would be time tabled for the same deadline as the CURE forms to allow the same information to be collected at the same time.

He said: "It was claimed that this is onerous work wise but that alone will take a lot of the `oner' out of `onerous', that by itself.'' However the legislation still has to get past the Senate, who rejected it in March after independents Senators voted with the Opposition.

Mr. Lister said he did not know whether the independents would vote in favour of it this time but said he was optimistic the regulations would get through.