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

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

Article 9(1) of the Convention. Penalties. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that Decree-Law No. 45/2021 has been cancelled and replaced by Decree-Law No. 91 on offences in the performance of own-account work and the work of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and non-agricultural or livestock cooperatives, adopted on 13 July 2024 (Decree-Law No. 91/2024).

The Committee notes that section 13.1 of Decree-Law No. 91/2024 classifies the following offences as very serious: (i) the employment of young persons under 15 years of age in the business or as family help (subparagraph c); and (ii) the hiring of young persons aged 15 or 16 years, or their use as family help, without the exceptional authorization provided for in Act No. 116 (the Labour Code) (subparagraph d). These offences are liable to incur fines of 60 to 100 reference units for own-account workers and 100 to 200 reference units for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and non-agricultural or livestock cooperatives. The Committee notes that the penalties established by the above-mentioned section may also include the confiscation of property, the permanent cancellation of the authorization relating to own-account workers and the compulsory dissolution of entities, without prejudice to criminal prosecution for any applicable offences. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of section 13.1(c) and (d) of Decree-Law No. 91/2024, including the number of violations detected and the penalties imposed, and effectively collected, on own-account workers, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and non-agricultural and livestock cooperatives which have employed young persons under 15 years of age, or young persons aged 15 or 16 years without the authorization provided for in the Labour Code.