E/CN.4/1992/52 page 89 III. CONSIDERATION OF GENERAL INFORMATION RELATING TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECLARATION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF INTOLERANCE AND OF DISCRIMINATION BASED ON RELIGION OR BELIEF A. Replies to a questionnaire 76. In the implementation of his mandate and in order to appraise better the constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief, the Special Rapporteur has been collecting information transmitted to him by Governments, non-governmental organizations and other religious and lay sources, with a view to acquainting himself with the measures taken by States to combat intolerance, and incidents and governmental actions which might be inconsistent with the provisions of the Declaration. The Special Rapporteur once again wishes to express his gratitude for the thorough and detailed explanations as well as the voluminous legal documentation he has received in this regard. 77. When examining the information provided by Governments concerning legislation, the complaints regarding religious discrimination and intolerance received over the years and the answers of Governments concerning these allegations, the Special Rapporteur felt that it would be useful to examine certain specific questions within the purview of his mandate on the basis of a comparative study of relevant national legislation. In view of the fact that his mandate is not to evaluate national legislation with regard to religious intolerance, as indicated in his report to the Commission on Human Rights at its forty-seventh session (E/CN.4/1991/56), he did so on the basis of information provided by Governments concerning such legislation, but also taking into account concrete complaints regarding religious discrimination and intolerance he had received over the years. It may be recalled that the Special Rapporteur formulated a questionnaire encompassing 11 general questions which he considered particularly relevant in the light of the experience he has gained so far. The questionnaire was sent out to all Governments on 25 July 1990. 78. Most countries provided answers following the structure of the questionnaire. Their replies are reproduced in their totality and have only been summarized as far as purely historical references are concerned. A number of countries did not answer question by question but provided answers of a general nature, excerpts from legislation, or referred to earlier replies. Some countries gave interim replies. To the extent that material could be extracted from these answers, it has been reproduced. In other cases, a descriptive summary has been provided. 79. In view of the fact that replies were still arriving when his report to the forty-seventh session of the Commission on Human Rights was being finalized, the Special Rapporteur decided to postpone his analysis of the material received to his report to the Commission on Human Rights at its forty-eighth session. All replies received by 20 December 1990 are reflected in chapter II, part A of his report to the Commission at its forty-seventh session (document E/CN.4/1991/56); those received by 30 November 1991 are reflected in chapter II of the present report. In order to reflect all the replies received on an equal basis, the Special Rapporteur has retained the presentation appearing in his last report. The present report should thus be considered together with document E/CN.4/1991/56.