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The Committee notes the Government's report containing detailed information on the application of various Articles of the Convention and supplemented by ample documentation. It also notes the comments of the General Union of Workers (UGT) on the application of the Convention, transmitted with the Government's report, as well as the Government's response to them.

The UGT refers to the establishment of a new form of employing young persons between 16 and 25 years under a contract of apprenticeship, whose wage is fixed as a percentage of the Interprofessional Minimum Wage (SMI). The UGT considers that the workers concerned, even if they are called apprentices, perform work similar to other workers and that they should be paid the full rate of SMI.

The Government indicates, in its response, that this new system of contract of apprenticeships was established not on the Government's discretion but on account of a wide consensus in Parliament by Act No. 10/1994 of 19 May 1995. It emphasizes that: firstly, under section 3, paragraph 2(e) of the said Act, theoretical training provided to the apprentice should not be less than 15 per cent of the maximum working hours provided by the collective agreement; secondly, this Act itself fixes specific minimum rates of wages for apprentices, which are lower than the rates fixed by the Royal Decree for normal contracts; and finally, the objective of this system is to facilitate the integration of young persons in work, as a part of the global social and employment policy (covered by Convention No. 122), accompanied also by various measures of training for those persons.

The Committee takes due note of the above information, and in particular that the above Act provides for the wage rate for an apprentice at a percentage of the SMI in relation to a minimum percentage of working time to be spent for theoretical training. It notes that, under section 3, paragraph 2(e) of the said Act, enterprises which have failed to comply with its obligations concerning the theoretical training should pay to the worker, as compensation, an amount equal to the difference between the wage received by the worker, taking account of the time for theoretical training agreed upon in the contract, and the minimum wage (SMI or what is fixed by collective agreement), without prejudice to the prescribed sanction. It further notes that the Act includes a provision stipulating that, after the expiry of the maximum period of three years or otherwise fixed by collective agreement, the worker cannot be employed as an apprentice any more whether in the same or a different enterprise.

In the light of the foregoing, the Committee does not consider that such contract of apprenticeship affects the application of Article 10 of the Convention concerning minimum wages. It however requests the Government to continue to include information on the practice of the apprenticeship under this Act with regard to Article 15(1) concerning the progressive development of systems of apprenticeship.