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

Workmen's Compensation (Accidents) Convention, 1925 (No. 17) - Lebanon (Ratification: 1977)

The Committee notes from the information communicated by the Government in its last report that the occupational accidents and diseases branch provided for under the Social Security Code (Decree No. 13 955 of 1963) has not yet been established, and, therefore, this area is still regulated by Legislative Decree No. 136 of 16 September 1983 on occupational accidents. The Government also indicates that the parliamentary committee responsible for updating labour legislation will examine ways in which this legislation may be brought more fully into conformity with the provisions of the international labour Conventions ratified by Lebanon. Under these circumstances, until the establishment of the occupational accidents and diseases branch of the social security scheme, the Committee trusts that the Government will take all the necessary measures, particularly regarding the updating process of the labour legislation, to bring Legislative Decree No. 136 on occupational accidents into full conformity with the following provisions of the Convention: Article 5 (in case of total or partial permanent incapacity, or in the event of death, compensation shall be paid in the form of periodical payments throughout the contingency); Article 6 (in case of temporary incapacity for work, compensation for the injured person beyond the period of nine months provided under section 5 of Legislative Decree No. 136, if the worker’s incapacity exceeds this period, without becoming permanent); Article 7 (additional compensation for the constant help of another person); Article 8 (measures of supervision and methods of review of compensation); Article 11 (guarantees against the insolvency of the employer or insurer).

Article 2 of the Convention.  The Committee interprets the information communicated by the Government in reply to its earlier comments as meaning that the relation between an apprentice and his employer is equivalent to an employment contract within the meaning of section 624(1) of the Code of Obligations and Contracts. This relation would therefore be placed under the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 136 in cases of occupational accidents. In this regard the Government specifies that a provision relative to benefits guaranteed to apprentices, to be inserted in the above Legislative Decree No. 136, is presently being examined. The Committee requests the Government to supply information on all progress achieved in this connection.

[The Government is asked to report in detail in 2002.]