Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Costa Rica (Ratification: 1976)

The Committee notes the observations of the Costa Rican Federation of Chambers and Associations of Private Enterprise (UCCAEP), which were received on 7 August 2014.

Article 2(1) of the Convention. Minimum age for admission to employment or work. The Committee recalls its previous comments, which noted a contradiction between, on the one hand, section 89 of the Labour Code, which establishes a minimum age of 12 years for admission to employment and, on the other, sections 78 and 92 of the Code of Children and Young Persons, which sets this minimum age at 15 years, in accordance with the minimum age specified when the Convention was ratified. The Government indicated that, in the legal system in Costa Rica, a standard contained in a special law has priority over that set out in a general law and, in addition, the more favourable standard and the most beneficial conditions must be implemented. Accordingly, in the present case, the Code of Children and Young Persons has precedence over the Labour Code. The Committee notes, in this respect, the observations submitted by the UCCAEP which further confirm that, in practice, the provisions of the more recent Code of Children and Young Persons prevail over the provisions of the Labour Code.