ILO Convention 138 concerning the Minimum Age for Admission

to Employment

Text

The General Conference of the International Labour

Organisation,

Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the

International Labour Office, and having met in its Fifty-eighth Session on 6

June 1973, and

Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to

minimum age for admission to employment, which is the fourth item on the agenda

of the session, and

Noting the terms of the Minimum Age (Industry) Convention, 1919, the

Minimum Age (Sea) Convention, 1920, the Minimum Age (Agriculture) Convention,

1921, the Minimum Age (Trimmers and Stokers) Convention, 1921, the Minimum Age

(Non-Industrial Employment) Convention, 1932, the Minimum Age (Sea) Convention

(Revised), 1936, the Minimum Age (Industry) Convention (Revised), 1937, the

Minimum Age (Non-Industrial Employment) Convention (Revised), 1937, the Minimum

Age (Fishermen) Convention, 1959, and the Minimum Age (Underground Work)

Convention, 1965, and

Considering that the time has come to establish a general instrument

on the subject, which would gradually replace the existing ones applicable to

limited economic sectors, with a view to achieving the total abolition of child

labour, and

Having determined that this instrument shall take the form of an

international Convention,

adopts this twenty-sixth day of June of the year one thousand nine

hundred and seventy-three the following Convention, which may be cited as the

Minimum Age Convention, 1973:

Article

1. Each Member for which this Convention is in force undertakes to

pursue a national policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child

labour and to raise progressively the minimum age for admission to employment or

work to a level consistent with the fullest physical and mental development of

young persons.

Article

2. 1. Each Member which ratifies this Convention shall

specify, in a declaration appended to its ratification, a minimum age for

admission to employment or work within its territory and on means of transport

registered in its territory; subject to Articles 4 to 8 of this Convention, no

one under that age shall be admitted to employment or work in any occupation.

2. Each Member which has ratified this Convention may subsequently

notify the Director-General of the International Labour Office, by further

declarations, that it specifies a minimum age higher than that previously

specified.

3. The minimum age specified in pursuance of paragraph 1 of this

Article shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling

and, in any case, shall not be less than 15 years.

4. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 3 of this Article, a

Member whose economy and educational facilities are insufficiently developed

may, after consultation with the organisations of employers and workers

concerned, where such exist, initially specify a minimum age of 14 years.

5. Each Member which has specified a minimum age of 14 years in

pursuance of the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall include in its

reports on the application of this Convention submitted under article 22 of the

Constitution of the International Labour Organisation a statement:

a) that its reason for doing so subsists; or

b) that it renounces its right to avail itself of the provisions in

question as from a stated date.

Article

3. 1. The minimum age for admission to any type of

employment or work which by its nature or the circumstances in which it is

carried out is likely to jeopardise the health, safety or morals of young

persons shall not be less than 18 years.

2. The types of employment or work to which paragraph 1 of this

Article applies shall be determined by national laws or regulations or by the

competent authority, after consultation with the organisations of employers and

workers concerned, where such exist.

3. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article,

national laws or regulations or the competent authority may, after consultation

with the organisations of employers and workers concerned, where such exist,

authorise employment or work as from the age of 16 years on condition that the

health, safety and morals of the young persons concerned are fully protected and

that the young persons have received adequate specific instruction or vocational

training in the relevant branch of activity.

Article

4. 1. In so far as necessary, the competent authority, after

consultation with the organisations of employers and workers concerned, where

such exist, may exclude from the application of this Convention limited

categories of employment or work in respect of which special and substantial

problems of application of this Convention arise.

2. Each Member which ratifies this Convention shall list in its

first report on the application of the Convention submitted under article 22 of

the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation any categories which

may have been excluded in pursuance of paragraph 1 of this Article, giving the

reasons for such exclusion, and shall state in subsequent reports the position

of its law and practice in respect of the categories excluded and the extent to

which effect has been given or is proposed to be given to the Convention in

respect of such categories.

3. Employment or work covered by Article 3 of this Convention shall

not be excluded from the application of the Convention in pursuance of this

Article.

Article

5. 1. A Member whose economy and administrative

facilities are insufficiently developed may, after consultation with the

organisations of employers and workers concerned, where such exist, initially

limit the scope of application of this Convention.

2. Each Member which avails itself of the provisions of paragraph 1

of this Article shall specify, in a declaration appended to its ratification,

the branches of economic activity or types of undertakings to which it will

apply the provisions of the Convention.

3. The provisions of the Convention shall be applicable as a minimum

to the following: mining and quarrying; manufacturing; construction;

electricity, gas and water; sanitary services; transport, storage and

communication; and plantations and other agricultural undertakings mainly

producing for commercial purposes, but excluding family and small-scale holdings

producing for local consumption and not regularly employing hired workers.

4. Any Member which has limited the scope of application of this

Convention in pursuance of this Article:

a) shall indicate in its reports under article 22 of the

Constitution of the International Labour Organisation the general position as

regards the employment or work of young persons and children in the branches of

activity which are excluded from the scope of application of this Convention and

any progress which may have been made towards wider application of the

provisions of the Convention;

b) may at any time formally extend the scope of application by a

declaration addressed to the Director-General of the International Labour

Office.

Article

6. This Convention does not apply to work done by children and

young persons in schools for general, vocational or technical education or in

other training institutions, or to work done by persons at least 14 years of age

in undertakings, where such work is carried out in accordance with conditions

prescribed by the competent authority, after consultation with the organisations

of employers and workers concerned, where such exist, and is an integral part

of:

a) a course of education or training for which a school or training

institution is primarily responsible;

b) a programme of training mainly or entirely in an undertaking,

which programme has been approved by the competent authority; or

c) a programme of guidance or orientation designed to facilitate

the choice of an occupation or of a line of training.

Article

7. 1. National laws or regulations may permit the

employment or work of persons 13 to 15 years of age on light work which is:

a) not likely to be harmful to their health or development; and

b) not such as to prejudice their attendance at school, their

participation in vocational orientation or training programmes approved by the

competent authority or their capacity to benefit from the instruction received.

2. National laws or regulations may also permit the employment or

work of persons who are at least 15 years of age but have not yet completed

their compulsory schooling on work which meets the requirements set forth in

sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph 1 of this Article.

3. The competent authority shall determine the activities in which

employment or work may be permitted under paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article and

shall prescribe the number of hours during which and the conditions in which

such employment or work may be undertaken.

4. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 of this

Article, a Member which has availed itself of the provisions of paragraph 4 of

Article 2 may, for as long as it continues to do so, substitute the ages 12 and

14 for the ages 13 and 1 in paragraph 1 and the age 14 for the age 15 in

paragraph 2 of this Article.

Article

8. 1. After consultation with the organisations of

employers and workers concerned, where such exist, the competent authority may,

by permits granted in individual cases, allow exceptions to the prohibition of

employment or work provided for in Article 2 of this Convention, for such

purposes as participation in artistic performances.

2. Permits so granted shall limit the number of hours during which

and prescribe the conditions in which employment or work is allowed.

Article

9. 1. All necessary measures, including the

provision of appropriate penalties shall be taken by the competent authority to

ensure the effective enforcement of the provisions of this Convention.

2. National laws or regulations or the competent authority shall

define the persons responsible for compliance with the provisions giving effect

to the Convention.

3. National laws or regulations or the competent authority shall

prescribe the registers or other documents which shall be kept and made

available by the employer; such registers or documents shall contain the names

and ages or dates of birth, duly certified wherever possible, of persons whom he

employs or who work for him and who are less than 18 years of age.

Article

10. 1. This Convention revises, on the terms set

forth in this Article, the Minimum Age (Industry) Convention, 1919, the Minimum

Age (Sea) Convention, 1920, the Minimum Age (Agriculture) Convention, 1921, the

Minimum Age (Trimmers and Stokers) Convention, 1921, the Minimum Age

(Non-Industrial Employment) Convention, 1932, the Minimum Age (Sea) Convention

(Revised), 1936, the Minimum Age (Industry) Convention (Revised), 1937, the

Minimum Age (Non-Industrial Employment) Convention (Revised), 1937, the Minimum

Age (Fishermen) Convention, 1959, and the Minimum Age (Underground Work)

Convention, 1965.

2. The coming into force of this Convention shall not close the

Minimum Age (Sea) Convention (Revised), 1936, the Minimum Age (Industry)

Convention (Revised), 1937, the Minimum Age (Non-Industrial Employment)

Convention (Revised), 1937, the Minimum Age (Fishermen) Convention, 1959, or the

Minimum Age (Underground Work) Convention, 1965, to further ratification.

3. The Minimum Age (Industry) Convention, 1919, the Minimum Age

(Sea) Convention, 1920, the Minimum Age (Agriculture) Convention 1921, and the

Minimum Age (Trimmers and Stokers) Convention, 1921, shall be closed to further

ratification when all the parties thereto have consented to such closing by

ratification of this Convention or by a declaration communicated to the

Director-General of the International Labour Office.

4. When the obligations of this Convention are accepted:

a) by a Member which is a party to the Minimum Age (Industry)

Convention (Revised), 1937, and a minimum age of not less than 15 years is

specified in pursuance of Article 2 of this Convention, this shall ipso jure

involve the immediate denunciation of that Convention,

b) in respect of non-industrial employment as defined in the

Minimum Age (Non Industrial Employment) Convention, 1932, by a Member which is a

party to the Convention, this shall ipso jure involve the immediate

denunciation of the Convention,

c) in respect of non-industrial employment as defined in the

Minimum Age (Non-Industrial Employment) Convention (Revised), 1937, by a Member

which is party to that Convention, and a minimum age of not less than 15 years

is specified in pursuance of Article 2 of this Convention, this shall ipso jure

involve the immediate denunciation of that Convention,

d) in respect of maritime employment, by a Member which is a party

to the Minimum Age (Sea) Convention (Revised), 1936, and a minimum age of not

less than 15 years is specified in pursuance of Article 2 of this Convention or

the Member specifies that Article 3 of this Convention applies to maritime

employment, this shall ipso jure involve the immediate denunciation of that

Convention,

e) in respect of employment in maritime fishing, by a Member which

is a party to the Minimum Age (Fishermen) Convention, 1959, and a minimum age of

not less than 15 years is specified in pursuance of Article 2 of this Convention

or the Member specifies that Article 3 of this Convention applies to employment

in maritime fishing, this shall ipso jure involve the immediate

denunciation of that Convention,

f ) by a Member which is a party to the Minimum Age (Underground

Work) Convention, 1965, and a minimum age of not less than the age specified in

pursuance of that Convention is specified in pursuance of Article 2 of this

Convention or the Member specifies that such an age applies to employment

underground in mines in virtue of Article 3 of this Convention, this shall ipso

jure involve the immediate denunciation of that Convention,

if and when this Convention shall have come into force.

5. Acceptance of the obligations of this Convention:

a) shall involve the denunciation of the Minimum Age (Industry)

Convention, 1919, in accordance with Article 12 thereof,

b) in respect of agriculture shall involve the denunciation of the

Minimum Age (Agriculture) Convention, 1921, in accordance with Article 9

thereof,

c) in respect of maritime employment shall involve the denunciation

of the Minimum Age (Sea) Convention, 1920, in accordance with Article 10

thereof, and of the Minimum Age (Trimmers and Stokers) Convention, 1921, in

accordance with Article 12 thereof,

if and when this Convention shall have come into force.

Article

11. The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be

communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for

registration.

Article

12. 1. This Convention shall be binding only upon those

Members of the International Labour Organisation whose ratifications have been

registered with the Director-General.

2. It shall come into force twelve months after the date on which

the ratifications of two Members have been registered with the Director-General.

3. Thereafter, this Convention shall come into force for any Member

twelve months after the date on which its ratification has been registered.

Article

13. 1. A Member which has ratified this Convention may

denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the

Convention first comes into force, by an act communicated to the

Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration. Such

denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it is

registered.

2. Each Member which has ratified this Convention and which does

not, within the year following the expiration of the period of ten years

mentioned in the preceding paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation

provided for in this Article, will be bound for another period of ten years and,

thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten

years under the terms provided for in this Article.

Article

14. 1. The Director-General of the International Labour

Office shall notify all Members of the International Labour Organisation of the

registration of all ratifications and denunciations communicated to him by the

Members of the Organisation.

2. When notifying the Members of the Organisation of the

registration of the second ratification communicated to him, the

Director-General shall draw the attention of the Members of the Organisation to

the date upon which the Convention will come into force.

Article

15. The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall

communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration in

accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations full

particulars of all ratifications and acts of denunciation registered by him in

accordance with the provisions of the preceding Articles.

Article

16. At such times as it may consider necessary the Governing Body

of the International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a

report on the working of this Convention and shall examine the desirability of

placing on the agenda of the Conference the question of its revision in whole or

in part.

Article

17. 1. Should the Conference adopt a new Convention

revising this Convention in whole or in part, then, unless the new Convention

otherwise provides:

a) the ratification by a Member of the new revising Convention

shall ipso jure involve the immediate denunciation of this Convention,

notwithstanding the provisions of Article 13 above, if and when the new revising

Convention shall have come into force;

b) as from the date when the new revising Convention comes into

force this Convention shall cease to be open to ratification by the Members.

2. This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its actual

form and content for those Members which have ratified it but have not ratified

the revising Convention.

Article

18. The English and French versions of the text of this

Convention are equally authoritative.