Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Egypt (Ratification: 1999)

Article 3 of the Convention. List of hazardous work. The Committee notes with interest the adoption and issuance of Ministerial Decree No. 215 of 2021, which replaces Ministerial Decree No. 118 of 2003 and thus revises the previously established Hazardous Worklist. The decree sets the general minimum age for employment at 15 years (section 2) and the minimum age for admission to hazardous work at 18 years (section 3), and includes specific professions, industries and work environments, in which children are prohibited to be employed or trained in.

Article 6. Apprenticeship. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes with interest that Ministerial Decree No. 215 of 2021 sets a minimum age for apprenticeship of 14 years, in accordance with the Convention. The Committee also notes that section 28 of the new Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 provides a minimum age for admission to apprenticeship and training of 14 years. Section 28 further provides that a decision will be issued by the competent Minister to regulate the procedures for vocational training with the employer. The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the Ministerial decision regulating apprenticeships, once adopted.