Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2000, published 89th ILC session (2001)

Medical Examination of Young Persons (Non-Industrial Occupations) Convention, 1946 (No. 78) - Lebanon (Ratification: 1977)

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its report and in reply to its direct request.

1.  Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention.  The Committee notes with interest the provision of section 22 of the Labour Code, as amended by Act No. 536 of 24 July 1996, making the commencement of employment for young persons aged from 13 to 18 years conditional on a medical examination to ensure that they may undertake the work for which they are recruited. In addition, section 1 of Order No. 157/1 of 2 August 2000 taken in application of Conventions Nos. 77 and 78, read in conjunction with section 8 of the Labour Code, provides for an examination on commencement of employment for minors aged under 18 years employed in non-industrial occupations.

According to the information supplied by the Government in its report, the Committee notes that the question of application of the provisions of the Convention to certain categories of children or young persons employed for wages, or working directly or indirectly for gain, in non-industrial occupations which are considered, for the purposes of the Convention, as being all occupations other than those recognized by the competent authority as industrial, agricultural and maritime occupations, has received only a partial reply in that section 7 of the Labour Code has not been amended as the Government stated in its previous report. In fact, under section 7 of the Labour Code, the following are excluded from its application:

(1)  servants employed in domestic work in private homes;

(2)  agricultural corporations which have no connection with trade or industry; they will be the subject of special legislation;

(3)  establishments in which only family members work under the direction of either the father, the mother, or a guardian;

(4)  governmental and municipal services in regard to workers and wage earners employed on a temporary or daily basis who do not enjoy the status of civil servants and who will be covered by special legislation.

The Committee therefore asks the Government to supply indications in regard to the measures it intends to take or has taken to bring national legislation into conformity with the provisions of the Convention in regard to the scope of national legislation.

With regard to workers who are engaged as servants in private homes, the Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that the Ministry of Labour makes it incumbent on private employers to be as strict in preserving the health of their domestic workers as that of members of their family and, hence, to make them undergo medical examinations, whatever their nationality, whenever this is necessary. The Committee understands that these examinations are dependent on the employer’s judgement and do not therefore furnish the necessary guarantees for application of the Convention. It therefore requests the Government to communicate the legal provisions in regard to this matter so that it can ascertain their conformity with the Convention.

With regard to workers employed by the public administration, the Committee takes note of Decree No. 5883 of 3 November 1994 concerning the regulations applicable to employees. It notes that municipal workers are subject to regulations adopted by each municipality. It notes, in particular, that for workers in the Beirut municipality, jobseekers are required to submit a medical certificate authenticated by the medical commission of the municipality of Beirut attesting that they do not suffer from any disease which would render them incapable of performing the employment entrusted to them. The Committee requests the Government to send an example of the regulations adopted by this municipality in regard to employees and workers and to inform it of the arrangements made by other municipalities.

2.  Article 7(2).  Further to its previous comments in which the Committee noted the Government’s statement that it would examine the question of application of this provision in the context of preparing decrees for the implementation of the Convention and with a view to determining measures to supervise application of the system of medical examination of fitness for employment to children and young persons engaged either on their own account or on their parents’ account in itinerant trading or in any other occupation carried on in the streets or in places to which the public has access, the Committee notes, once again, the Government’s intention to have this matter examined by the competent authorities, namely the relevant ministries. In this regard, the Committee notes that, children and young persons engaged either on their own account or on account of their parents in itinerant trading or any other occupation carried on in the streets or in places to which the public have access are considered as "itinerant categories" and hence fall under the control of the municipalities which are regulated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs while the Department of Prevention and Safety of the Ministry of Labour supervises application of the Labour Code as well as of the international labour Conventions. The Committee reiterates the hope that the Government will adopt, in the very near future, the necessary measures to provide supervision of application of the system of medical examination of fitness of young persons for employment by municipalities. It requests the Government to inform it of any progress made in this respect.

3.  The Committee requests the Government to refer, for Articles 3(2), 4, 5 and 6, to the comments it has made under the corresponding Articles of Convention No. 77.