Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Romania (Ratification: 1975)

Minimum age for admission to employment or work

1. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the discrepancy between article 45(4) of the Constitution of 1991, under which minors under the age of 15 may not be employed as wage-earners, and section 7 of the Labour Code of 1972 which sets the minimum age for admission to wage-earning employment at 16 years.

The Committee notes the Government only indicates in its report that there are no other legal provisions or special measures concerning child labour. It recalls that the minimum age of 16 years was specified by Romania, in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention, upon its ratification of the Convention. In the absence of reply to the previous observation on this point, the Committee again asks the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that access to employment of those who have attained the age of 15 but not 16 years may be allowed, exceptionally, only for work meeting the criteria set out in Article 7.

2. With regard to unpaid employment or work of children, the Committee notes the Government's indication that there are no legislative measures envisaged at the moment to fix the minimum age for admission to unpaid employment or work. It also notes that, according to the Government, unpaid child labour in rural area occurs especially within the family, although no special study has been made on the issue. Recalling that the Convention covers all employment or work, irrespective of the existence of wage payment or a formal employment contract, the Committee requests the Government to continue to supply information on any development in legislative measures, and also on general measures to eliminate child labour as noted below, where they relate particularly to child labour outside formal employment relationship.

National policy on the abolition of child labour and related measures

Further to its previous observation, the Committee notes the Government's statement in its report that, although there are no specific programmes on child labour, the Government has initiated a broad action to fight poverty by intensifying social protection for the most vulnerable population groups so as to let the children in these difficult situations to continue their compulsory education, for instance, by increasing child allowance and granting supplementary family allowance for the second child. It asks the Government to provide any assessment of the impact of these measures on the elimination of child labour.

The Committee also notes from the Government's report that, by virtue of Urgent Government Order No. 26/1997, a special Department for Child Protection headed by a Secretary of State was set up for the purpose of establishing decentralized public services for child protection. The Committee requests the Government to supply the text of the said Order, which the Government states was attached to the report, but has not been received by the Office, and also to continue to supply information on the activities of the decentralized system of child protection as they relate to the application of the Convention.

The Committee further notes the Government's indication regarding the support of the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), which helped in 1997 the National Institute of Research for Labour and Social Protection to conduct a study on child labour in Romania, and enabled a national seminar to be held in March 1998, where proposals for the national policy and the National Plan of Action against child labour were elaborated. The Committee requests the Government to supply the results of the above study on child labour, and to state whether the national policy and the National Plan of Action have been adopted by the authority, and if so to send copies to the Office.

The Committee hopes that the Government will continue to provide information on its efforts to eliminate child labour and to ensure full application of the Convention in practice, including more detailed information on the activities of the labour inspectorate regarding child labour, such as the number of the inspection visits made, extracts from official reports and details of the number and nature of violations recorded as well as sanctions imposed (point V of the report form).