# CE2004084EN.01031601.xml

| 3.4.2004 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | CE 84/316 |
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3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 84/316

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(2004/C 84 E/0364)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0141/04

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(26 January 2004)

Subject:   Child labour

Subject:

Despite the existence in all the Member States of specific and solicitous laws on the protection of children's rights, the scourge of child labour has not been totally eradicated. Quite the contrary, in many cases criminals have taken a hold on this area, creating a veritable world market which very often uses cheap child workers who are immigrants, and therefore more easily exploitable.

Furthermore, it seems that industries such as the film, audio-visual and fashion industries, which have a certain allure, are using increasingly sophisticated techniques to attract child workers, and so use teenagers of school age who under the legislation in force would not be permitted to work in other sectors. Unfortunately — and this is the most repugnant aspect of this phenomenon — it has been proved that some of the agencies concerned are a cover for operations linked to drugs, prostitution and paedophilia.

Can the Commission therefore indicate:

| 1. | whether an enquiry has been conducted to verify the true scale in Europe of this phenomenon which, even in the best-case scenarios where there is no violence, can clearly be seen to profoundly effect teenagers' development by depriving them of some of their basic rights; |
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1.

whether an enquiry has been conducted to verify the true scale in Europe of this phenomenon which, even in the best-case scenarios where there is no violence, can clearly be seen to profoundly effect teenagers' development by depriving them of some of their basic rights;

| 2. | what initiatives it will take to identify new methods of combating child labour, with particular reference to industries such as the fashion, film and audio-visual industries, which call for regulation of a type that lays down transparency criteria for the granting of licences to agencies and limits children's activities to tasks corresponding to their age. |
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2.

what initiatives it will take to identify new methods of combating child labour, with particular reference to industries such as the fashion, film and audio-visual industries, which call for regulation of a type that lays down transparency criteria for the granting of licences to agencies and limits children's activities to tasks corresponding to their age.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(8 March 2004)

(8 March 2004)

Council Directive 94/33/EC of 22 June 1994 on the protection of young people at work (1) prohibits work by children under 15 years or who are still subject to compulsory schooling. It obliges Member States to ensure that young people under 18 years are protected against economic exploitation and against any work likely to harm their safety, health or physical, mental, moral or social development or to jeopardize their education.

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Member States may authorize employment of children for the purposes of performance in cultural, artistic, sports, or advertising activities on condition that the activities are not likely to be harmful to the safety, health or development of children, and are not such as to be harmful to their attendance at school, their participation in vocational guidance or training programmes or their capacity to benefit from the instruction received.

The Directive has been transposed in all Member States. Even though the legislative measures may be satisfactory, there are indications that the monitoring is not always sufficient. The Commission therefore envisages an exchange of best practices regarding monitoring young workers.

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(1)  OJ L 216, 20.8.1994.

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