INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE STUDIES AND R E P O R T S Series M (Social Insurance) No. 12 THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION AND SOCIAL INSURANCE GENEVA 1936 Published in the United Kingdom For the INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE (LEAGUE OF NATIONS) By P. S. KING & SON, Ltd. Orchard House, 14 Great Smith Street, Westminster, London, S.W.! PRINTED k BY ALBERT KUNDIG, GENEVA CONTENTS Page GENERAL INTRODUCTION vu PART I The Development of Social Insurance INTRODUCTION 1 § 1. Inadequacy of Individual Thrift § 2. Inadequacy of Public Relief § 3. Inadequacy of Voluntary Social Insurance § 4. Development of Compulsory Social Insurance § 5. Gradual Extension of the Functions of Compulsory Social Insurance 1 2 2 4 5 PART II The Work of the International Labour Office INTRODUCTION 6 CHAPTER I: Collection of Information § 1. The Social Insurance Section of the Office § 2. The International Correspondence Committee Insurance CHAPTER I I : Distribution of Information § 1. Periodical Publications § 2. Technical Studies and Reports § 3. Replies to Requests for Information 7 7 PART on Social 8 11 11 12 18 III The Work of the International Labour Conference : The International Regulations of Soeial Insurance INTRODUCTION § 1. § 2. List of International Social Insurance Regulations Procedure for the Adoption of Draft Conventions and Recommendations 20 20 22 CHAPTER I: Workmen's Compensation for Accidents 26 Introduction § 1. The Principle of Occupational Risk § 2. Scope 26 26 28 — IV — Page § 3. § 4. § 5. § 6. § 7. Cash Benefits Form of Cash Benefits Cash Benefits in Cases of Incapacity Cash Benefits for Fatal Accidents Benefits in Kind Medical, Surgical and Pharmaceutical Aid Supply and Renewal of Artificial Limbs and Surgical Appliances Vocational Re-education Guarantees Settlement of Disputes Equality of Treatment for National and Foreign Workers . . 31 31 32 35 38 38 38 39 41 42 43 CHAPTER I I : Sickness Insurance 45 Introduction 45 § § § § 1. Principle of Compulsory Sickness Insurance . . . . . . . . 2. Scope 3. Cash Benefit 4. Benefits in Kind Medical and Pharmaceutical Aid Medical Benefit for the Insured Person's Family Organisation of Medical Services § 5. Insurance Institutions § 6. Financial Resources and Sharing of the Cost § 7. Settlement of Disputes § 8. Special Provision concerning Sparsely Populated Territories . 45 46 48 50 50 52 53 54 56 57 58 CHAPTER I I I : Invalidity, Old-Age and Widows' and Orphans' Insurance and Non-Contributory Pensions 60 Introduction 60 A. — Invalidity, Old-Age and Widows' and Orphans' Insurance . . . . § 1. Principle of Compulsory Insurance § 2. Scope of Compulsory Insurance General Formula Exceptions Safeguarding of Acquired Rights § 3. Risks Covered Old-Age : Pensionable Age Invalidity: Definition of Invalidity Death: Persons Entitled to Pension § 4. Conditions of Award Qualifying Period Maintenance of Rights § 5. Computation of Pensions Factors Entering into the Computation of Pensions Bonus for Family Responsibilities Supplement where Constant Attendance is Needed § 6. Minimum Rate of Pensions § 7. Benefits in Kind § 8. Forfeiture, Suspension and Lapse of Pension Rights . . . . 62 62 62 62 63 66 66 66 68 70 73 73 75 80 80 82 82 82 84 85 — V Page § 9. Financial Resources Insured Persons' Contributions Employers' Contributions Subsidies from the Public Authorities §10. Administrative Organisation § 11. Settlement of Disputes Disputes concerning Benefits Disputes concerning Liability to Insurance and Rates of Contributions § 12. Position of Foreigners B. — Non-Contributory Pensions § 1. 86 86 87 87 88 89 90 90 90 93 Recognition of Non-Contributory Schemes in the International Regulations Risks Covered Conditions of Award Residence Condition Economic Condition : Means Limit Computation of Pensions Right of Appeal . Position of Foreigners Forfeiture or Suspension of Pensions 93 95 96 96 97 98 98 99 100 CHAPTER IV: Maintenance of Migrant Workers' Pension Rights . . . 101 § 2. § 3. § 4. §5. § 6. §7. § 1 . Problem of the Maintenance of Rights § 2. Maintenance of Rights in Course of Acquisition §3. Maintenance of Acquired Rights §4. Mutual Assistance in Administration § 5. Operation of International Scheme CHAPTER V: Some Final Observations 101 102 105 106 107 110 APPENDICES APPENDIX I: Texts of the General Resolution concerning Social Insurance and of the Draft Conventions and Recommendations adopted by the International Labour Conference on Workmen's Compensation, Sickness Insurance, and Invalidity, Old-Age and Survivors' Insurance A. B. C. D. E. — — — — — General Resolution concerning Social Insurance Workmen's Compensation Sickness Insurance Invalidity, Old-Age, and Survivors' Insurance Maintenance of Migrants'Pension Rights 121 121 123 133 143 172 — VI Page APPENDIX I I : Texts of the Guiding Principles, laid down by the International Committee of Experts on Social Insurance, for Curative and Preventive Assistance to be provided by Invalidity, Old-Age, and Widows' and Orphans' Insurance Institutions, and for the Economical Administration of Medical and Pharmaceutical Benefits to be provided by Sickness Insurance Institutions Guiding Principles of Curative and Preventive Action by Invalidity, Old-Age, and Widows' and Orphans' Insurance Institutions . . Economical Administration of Medical and Pharmaceutical Benefits APPENDIX III.: Principal Stages in the Development of Compulsory Social Insurance Legislation 180 180 184 188 ERRATUM PAGE 18 : Lines 6-8 under the heading " Reports in Preparation " should read : " The third will consist of national monographs on the statistical basis, actuarial estimates and financial systems of pension insurance." INTRODUCTION From 1919 to 1935 the International Labour Office has published a large body of material on social insurance problems, and the International Labour Conference has adopted a number of Draft Conventions and Recommendations, which together constitute a whole complex of regulations. It has therefore been considered advisable to prepare a general study giving an account of the work done and the results obtained during the past fifteen years. This is the purpose of the present work, which is composed of three parts. Part I surveys the historical evolution of national social insurance laws throughout the world, in order to illustrate the national developments on which the action of the International Labour Organisation has been based. Part II describes the work of the International Labour Office in the field of social insurance and the methods it has adopted in carrying out its task, which consists primarily in the collection and distribution of information. Part III gives an account of the conditions in which international regulations on social insurance have been drafted and the reasons leading the Conference to adopt the particular solutions embodied in the Draft Conventions and Recommendations concerning workmen's compensation for industrial accidents, sickness insurance, and invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance.1 In addition, there are three appendices. The first reproduces a general resolution on social insurance and the Draft Conventions and Recommendations concerning workmen's compensation for industrial accidents, sickness insurance and invalidity, old-age and 1 This work does not deal with compensation for occupational diseases, maternity insurance and unemployment insurance. — VIII — widows' and orphans' insurance. The second reproduces the guiding principles laid down by the international Committee of Experts on social insurance for curative and preventive assistance to be provided by invalidity, old-age, and widows' and orphans' insurance institutions, and for the economical administration of medical and pharmaceutical benefits to be provided by sickness insurance institutions. The third records, for each country and class of risk, the principal stages in the development of national social insurance legislation, and shows the constant progress made by the principle of compulsory insurance, which may now be said to have won universal acceptance. The present work is addressed to any reader who is interested in labour problems, but is intended more particularly for social insurance experts belonging to national administrative departments or institutions, parliaments, workers' and employers' organisations, universities, etc. It is hoped that it will enable them to realise the growing place occupied by compulsory social insurance in the work being done in every country for the establishment of social security. It is also hoped that it will give them an exact idea of the aim of international regulations, the methods of preparing them, and the fundamental principles of social insurance as laid down by the International Labour Organisation. PART I THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL INSURANCE INTRODUCTION The vast majority of wage earners are dependent for their livelihood solely or mainly on the regular exercise of some trade. When this activity stops temporarily or permanently owing to an industrial accident, sickness, invalidity, old age, premature death or involuntary unemployment, the income of the worker's family is seriously affected or completely disappears. This means that the workers and the members of their families have a constant feeling of insecurity, which is an obstacle to the satisfactory organisation of industry and to social peace. Every political and economic system is bound to search for a sound solution of this abiding problem of the insecurity of the workers, with which public opinion, Parliaments and Governments are unceasingly brought face to face in consequence either of the efforts of the workers' organisations or of the regard for social justice felt by individuals and groups. A brief account is given below of the methods that have been adopted to solve this problem and the increasing tendency of the schemes for protecting the workers against occupational and social risks to take the form of compulsory insurance. § 1. — Inadequacy of Individual Thrift Large numbers of workers strive to accumulate in good time sufficient savings to enable them to face the difficulties which enforced idleness, whatever its cause, may later bring; but it is not certain that wage earners as a body are in fact in a position to save considerable sums. In a general way it may be asked whether wage earners receive a remuneration high enough both to meet the daily wants of themselves and their families, and at-the same time to leave a surplus for saving. — 2 — There can hardly be more than one reply. In general it may be affirmed that wages—apart from those of certain categories of particularly well-paid skilled workers in a few countries—are on the whole low, so low as to make it impossible for the sums needed to meet occupational and social risks to be saved by individual effort. Moreover, certain risks cannot be fully met by individual thrift,, even in the case of highly paid workers. Sickness, invalidity and death may occur at any moment and do in fact sometimes strike down young workers at a time when the savings they have put by, however great and patient the effort involved, cannot but be wholly insufficient. § 2. — Inadequacy of Public Relief A simple way of dealing with those who are without resources and incapable of earning their living by their own labour—the victims of accidents, the sick, invalids, widows, orphans and the aged—consists in supporting them at the expense of the community. Is this solution rational, sufficient, and acceptable to the workers ? Despite the improvements introduced in many poor laws towards the end of the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth centuries, the level of assistance is low, at times absurdly so; nor is relief accorded as a right, but only after a close enquiry into the applicant's means. Notwithstanding the mitigation or repeal of the provisions of the poor laws prescribing loss of civil or political rights, the conditions under which poor relief is granted are clearly incompatible with the dignity of the worker. Another objection to poor relief is that it does not come into action until destitution has occurred. It has no preventive policy and affords no encouragement to thrift. § 3. — Inadequacy of Voluntary Social Insurance Since individual thrift is insufficient and recourse to public relief is open to serious criticism, the only recourse is the pooling of risks and resources, that is to say, insurance. Commercial insurance must be immediately rejected, for in spite of its great development, its high rates make it generally inaccessible to persons of small means, and in particular to the vast mass of wage-earning workers. — 3— Social insurance should create common interests among the workers whom it is to protect. The question is whether it should be voluntary or compulsory. Voluntary social insurance, which already possesses a lengthy history, has developed considerably, particularly during the last fifty years or so, in the form of mutual benefit societies. Favourably regarded by the authorities, often given the status of privileged associations, and in some States more or less liberally subsidised, such societies have achieved much. But admirable though this expression of voluntary solidarity may be, it is difficult to regard it as a thoroughly satisfactory solution of the problem of the insecurity of labour. First of all, the number of persons protected by voluntary social insurance is, though considerable, but small in comparison with the wage-earning population. Except in four or five countries, it cannot be denied that the great majority of workers do not insure voluntarily, and though it may be true that this abstention is in part the result of man's natural improvidence, it is still more due to the low level and the precarious nature of the worker's resources, which are often absorbed to the last penny by the needs of his everyday life. Voluntary insurance institutions are as a rule too numerous, too weak financially, and ill distributed between town and country. The smallness of their membership and its fluctuations—particularly in times of economic depression—involve irregularity of experience and endanger the financial stability of many institutions, especially when it is a case of covering serious risks such as prolonged sickness, invalidity and death. Further, the resources of voluntary social insurance institutions, derived in the main from members' contributions, are usually small and do not permit of the payment of such benefits as would compensate adequately for the losses the insurance is meant to cover. An exception should, however, be made in respect of a small number of institutions in particularly well-organised occupations and in industries which are exceptionally concentrated or have enjoyed a long period of prosperity. In such circumstances, wellmanaged insurance funds may be found, provided with sufficient resources, sometimes due to large contributions from employers, and paying valuable benefits. But such funds are rare, and it may be said that on the whole voluntary social insurance has failed to protect the workers sufficiently against various risks and particularly against premature invalidity and early death. — 4 — § 4. — Development of Compulsory Social Insurance The results of voluntary social insurance not having been sufficient, compulsory insurance has become a necessity. In nearly every country the first legislation on the subject gave rise to no small degree of controversy, but it is now universally agreed that the modern State has the right to make insurance compulsory and ought to do so in the public interest. The individual cannot justly claim the right to a life of improvidence which may mean that in case of sickness, invalidity, old age or death he or his dependants are left on the hands of the community. Compulsory social insurance was first introduced in Germany in 1883 and has gradually conquered the world. At present, legislation based on the principle of compulsion is to be found in nearly every country, principally in Europe, but also outside Europe. In every continent, and under every political, economic or social system, whether liberal or authoritarian, collectivist or capitalist, compulsory social insurance is recognised as an essential factor of any rational social policy. In order to give some idea of the scope and rapidity of the development of compulsory social insurance in the world, a list is given in the Appendix, showing for each country the principal stages in the introduction or extension of legislation on compulsory industrial accident insurance or workmen's compensation, compulsory sickness and maternity insurance, and compulsory invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance. So far as the information available allows, the number of persons insured under each scheme is also given, on the basis of the most recent statistics received by the Office. The list and dates contained in this Appendix prove to the full that compulsory social insurance has steadily developed and improved in every part of the world. Its progress has not been held up by the economic depression. It is true that from 1931 to 1933 a certain hesitancy could be seen in several countries, and sometimes the preparation of important measures was suspended or their adoption was postponed. But this period of uncertainty was brief, and in 1934 and 1935 the movement gained renewed force and made substantial progress. The tendency has been particularly strong outside Europe, especially in countries which had enjoyed lasting prosperity for some ten to forty years, and which until the depression had perhaps ended to underestimate the need for social insurance. In these — 5 — countries the depression has brought public opinion, Governments and Parliaments face to face with the problem of the insecurity of labour, and it is noteworthy that nearly all the measures proposed seek to establish security by way of compulsory social insurance. In the United States, for instance, a system of contributory pensions was approved in August 1935, which will apply to over 25 million workers. The movement is progressing and important schemes for the establishment of compulsory social insurance are in preparation or being discussed by the Parliaments of many countries. Examples in the American Continent are Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Peru, etc. § 5. — Gradual Extension of the Functions of Compulsory Social Insurance At the same time as the territorial scope of compulsory social insurance has tended to become universal, the functions of insurance have widened and multiplied, with a view to securing increasingly complete protection for the workers. At first the principal aim of social insurance was to grant cash benefits as partial compensation for the injury suffered owing to a temporary or permanent loss or reduction of earning capacity. Next, it became a primary aim, whenever this seemed possible, to cure the injured, sick or disabled worker, and to restore his earning capacity as completely as possible, t:o that the part played by curative medical assistance became more and more important. Finally, and more recently, it has been realised that prevention is better than cure, and the aims of insurance have been directed more and more towards the organisation of the prevention of accidents, sickness and invalidity, in order to reduce the cost of cash benefits and improve the material and moral conditions of the community. At the present time, therefore, compulsory social insurance has three functions: compensation, restoration, prevention. The manner in which the Office and the International Labour Conference have collaborated in the universal extension of compulsory social insurance is described below. PART II THE WORK OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE INTRODUCTION The International Labour Office is required by its Constitution to collect and distribute information on social insurance, and in addition to prepare any reports on social insurance questions which come before the International Labour Conference for its consideration. The collection of information is entrusted within the Office to the Social Insurance Section, which may consult an international committee of experts on social insurance. The distribution of information is effected by means of the publications of the Office, and more directly by replies to the questions frequently put to the Office. A brief account is given below of the work of the Social Insurance Section and of the International Correspondence Committee on Social Insurance, together with a survey of the publications on social insurance and a note on the replies to requests for information. _ 7 — CHAPTER I COLLECTION OF INFORMATION § 1. — The Social Insurance Section of the Office When the Office was founded, the Director had from the first provided, in his scheme for its internal organisation, for the creation of a Social Insurance Section. A small Social Insurance Service was, in fact, set up in August 1920, but it was not until October 1923 that this Service, then turned into a Section, was given a larger staff and instructed to prepare the reports that the Governing Body had decided to submit to the 1925 Session of the Conference. At present the Social Insurance Section is composed of the Chief of the Section, ten members of section, including two actuaries and one doctor, and three clerks or secretaries. It is the duty of this Section to collect and keep up to date international material on social insurance. This entails the regular study of laws and regulations on industrial accident insurance and workmen's compensation, sickness insurance, maternity insurance, and invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance; 1 the regular sifting of parliamentary reports and reports on the working of insurance services and institutions, whether administrative, medical or actuarial reports ; and the reading of a considerable number of reviews on social insurance and other social questions. A few significant figures will illustrate how comprehensive this work of centralising information actually is. There are at present over 400 insurance laws in the different countries of the world, which are constantly undergoing amendment, and these amendments have to be followed. In addition, the Office receives yearly over 100 reports on the working ot such laws, and these reports contain numerous statistics. 1 Unemployment insurance is dealt with by another Section of the Office, which also studies the situation on the labour market, questions of placing, migration, etc. Insurance or compensation for occupational diseases is within the competence of the Industrial Medicine Section. — 8 — On the basis of this material the Social Insurance Section contributes to the publications of the Office, prepares reports for the Governing Body and the Conference, draws up technical studies, and replies to requests for information. § 2. — The International Correspondence Committee on Social Insurance In July 1921, reporting to the Governing Body, the Director of the Office stated that the Permanent International Committee on Social Insurance had suspended its work since 1914 and that it would be most desirable for the Office to set up an international advisory committee of experts, who might be consulted by the Social Insurance Section when necessary. This proposal was approved by the Governing Body, and the Committee was formed in 1922. At the outset it was composed of 15 members, but it has been gradually enlarged, and in 1930 it was completely reorganised in accordance with the principles laid down in a report by the Director of the Office which the Governing Body approved at its session of June 1930. The committee is now composed of about 100 members, belonging to 35 countries, and selected from among heads of government departments dealing with the drafting of legislation and its enforcement and directors of insurance institutions. They include 20 experts on social insurance questions in general, 23 on industrial accident insurance, 19 on sickness and maternity insurance, 19 on invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance, 11 social actuaries, and 10 specialists on the medical aspects of social insurance questions. The members are selected by the Director of the Office and appointed for a term of three years after approval by the Governing Body. It is the function of the Committee to give technical advice on the questions submitted to it by the International Labour Office. As a rule such consultation involves three stages. In the first place, when the Office has decided to consult the Committee on a particular question it draws up a preliminary report on the question, together with a questionnaire, and submits these to the experts within whose field of competence the question lies. Next the Office centralises the replies made by the experts and uses them for the preparation of a second report, in which it draws the conclusions suggested by the results of the written consultation. — 9 — Lastly, if this is considered necessary or expedient, the Office may hold a meeting at Geneva of a certain number of experts with a view to discussing the results of the written consultation. At these meetings, which last from two to five days, reports, conclusions or guiding principles have been adopted, hitherto always unanimously, and after examination by the Governing Body they have been transmitted to the Governments or institutions concerned. The experts give their opinions on purely personal grounds, and can in no way bind their Governments or the institutions or associations to which they may happen to belong. Similarly, when the Governing Body of the Office authorises the communication to the g o v e r n m e n t s of the conclusions of the Committee, it does so only by way of information and in no way assumes any responsibility for the methods advocated or principles adopted b y the experts. Since 1921 the Office has consulted the Committee on eight occasions, as briefly indicated below. First meeting; 22-24 September 1921 (5 experts): Consultation on the expediency of setting up an international committee of experts on social insurance and the methods of working of such a committee. Second meeting; 14-15 December 1923 (6 experts): Consultation on the draft questionnaire concerning workmen's compensation for industrial accidents to be submitted to the Governments with a view to the 1925 Session of the Conference. Consultation on the plan of a general report on social insurance to be submitted to the 1925 Session of the Conference. Third meeting; 17-19 March 1925 (7 experts): Consultation on the text of the general report on social insurance to be submitted to the 1925 Session of the Conference. Fourth meeting; 22-24 July 1926 (10 experts): Consultation on the plan of a study of social charges and on the possibility of making an international comparison of social charges. Fifth meeting; 22-24 June 1931 (15 experts): Consultation on the questions that might suitably form the subject of international regulations on invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance and on the possibility of making an international comparison of the rates of invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' pensions. — 10 — Sixth meeting; 14-16 December 1931 (12 actuaries): Consultation on the technical solution of the problem of the maintenance of migrants' pension rights under invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance. Seventh meeting; 12-14 October 1932 (14 experts, including 13 doctors): Preparation of draft guiding principles with regard to curative and preventive action by invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance institutions. Eighth meeting; 9-11 July 1934 (23 experts, including 12 doctors): Preparation of guiding principles on the economical administration of medical and pharmaceutical benefits in sickness insurance. The experience of several years has shown that the consultation of experts can render very valuable services, especially as regards more technical questions which are not yet in a condition to form the subject of Conventions or Recommendations for adoption by the Conference. The Office proposes to develop this form of international collaboration as much as the financial means at its disposal will allow. Unfortunately these financial means have hitherto been somewhat limited, the credit provided for the meetings of social insurance experts having varied between 10,000 and 16,000 francs a year. The Office earnestly hopes that it will be possible to find sufficient funds for t h e organisation of a meeting of experts once a year, lasting not less t h a n a week and drawing on the collaboration of extraEuropean experts, especially now, when social insurance legislation is spreading so rapidly outside Europe. —11 — CHAPTER II DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION Information on social insurance is distributed on the one hand in the form of the publications of the Office (periodicals, technical studies and reports, and reports to the Governing Body or the Conference) and, on the other, of the replies given by the Office to the questions directly addressed to it. § 1. — Periodical Publications 1. Legislative Series. The principal social insurance laws have been published since 1920 in the " Legislative Series " in separate brochures, appearing in English, French and German. In addition, annual volumes are published of the social legislation for each year. 2. Industrial and Labour Information. The Office publishes a weekly entitled " Industrial and Labour Information ". Most of the numbers contain an international section on social insurance, in which new laws and the proposals drawn up by parliamentary or government committees are analysed and the principal events in the field of the application of legislation and the work of social insurance institutions are described. 3. International Labour Review. The " International Labour Review " is the official monthly of the Office, and frequently contains legal or technical articles on important social insurance problems, which are written either by members of the Office staff or by external collaborators. In addition, the Review contains notes on legislation and statistics giving the results of the application of social insurance schemes in a large number of countries. — 12 — 4. The I.L.O. Year-Book. Once a year the Office publishes, in English, French and German, a volume entitled " The I.L.O. Year-Book ", which contains an important chapter on social insurance, giving for each country a general account of legislative action and practical application in the field of social insurance. A reprint of this chapter is transmitted every year to government departments engaged in preparing legislation and supervising its application, central insurance institutions, and the chief periodicals dealing with social insurance questions, and the Office has noted with satisfaction that year by year this brochure is being more -widely reproduced and summarised in a growing number of bulletins and periodicals dealing with social insurance and other social questions. § 2. — Technical Studies and Reports In addition to these periodicals, the Office publishes a series of legal or technical studies on conditions of employment and problems of social legislation. A brief analysis is given below of those which deal with workmen's compensation, sickness insurance, invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance, and social services. General Problems of Social Insurance. (1925; xxvin -f- 136 pp.; published in English, French and German.) This work, after surveying the historical development of social insurance, discusses the more important aspects of some of the essential problems: the scope of social insurance, benefits, financial resources, financial systems, insurance institutions, and the problem of the unification or co-ordination of social insurance. The Office did not design this report to be a purely theoretical and subjective study, putting forward original opinions on each problem and serving as a philosophy of insurance, or a purely juridical study, giving a minute analysis of all social insurance legislation. It advocates no special view, but simply presents in schematic form a synopsis, as clear and objective as possible, of the different conceptions which underlie legislation in the different countries and of the methods by which those conceptions have been realised. The only personal aspects of this work may be said to lie in the effort made to deduce with the utmost caution on each point, not only the essential provisions of existing legislation — 13 — but the tendencies displayed by the more recent laws and the possible trend of future evolution. Compensation for Industrial Accidents. Comparative Analysis of National Laws. (1925; 655 pp.; published in English, French and German.) For some fifty States, this work examines the principal problems that are necessarily raised by national legislation on workmen's compensation or industrial accident insurance: scope (undertakings covered and workers benefiting); risks covered (in particular, the notion of industrial accidents); cash benefits and benefits in kind; systems of guarantee against the insolvency of the insurer or uninsured employers, and insurance institutions ; notification of accidents and settlement of disputes; position of foreigners. In each of these sections the principal factors of the problem are first considered and next the possible solutions. This is followed by a classification of national laws and regulations according to the particular solution they embody. The section concludes with a fairly detailed analysis of the national laws and regulations. A comparative table is attached to each section, bringing out the chief provisions of each national measure, thus making it possible to obtain a rapid idea of its characteristic features. Workmen's Compensation in the United States, by Ralph H. Blanchard, Ph. D., Columbia University. (1926; 103 pp. ; published in English and French.) The preceding volume took no account of workmen's compensation legislation in the United States, since such legislation is within the competence of the various States and the laws and regulations in force form a considerable body of material. The Office therefore considered it preferable to deal with the United States legislation in a separate volume and requested an eminent American specialist, Mr. Ralph H. Blanchard, Professor at Columbia University, to prepare it. Sickness Insurance. (1926; 133 pp.; published in English, French and German.) This little volume contains a comparative analysis of the national laws on compulsory sickness insurance or voluntary sickness insurance in force in 1925 in some twenty States. The various schemes are considered from the point of view of whether insurance — 14' — is compulsory or voluntary, whether it includes only wage earners or also independent workers, how the insured persons are grouped and in what way the insurance institutions are organised, what financial resources they possess, and what benefits in cash and in kind they grant to insured persons and members of their family. The various solutions to these problems embodied in national laws and regulations are given, but not in detail, since the volume confines'itself to describing the typical solutions characteristic of prevailing conceptions in the different countries. The laws and regulations are grouped according to their affinities. Thus, without entering into details as to any particular law, the report enables the reader to gather the guiding principles of legislation in the field of sickness insurance. Compulsory Sickness Insurance. Comparative Analysis of National Laws and Statistics. (1927 ; 796 pp. ; published in English, French and German.) In 1925, at its Seventh Session, the International Labour Conference adopted a resolution requesting the Office to continue its work of collecting information with regard to social insurance and specifiing that the information to be collected and published should relate not only to the progress of legislation but to the statistics of its working. This volume dealing with compulsory sickness insurance was published in pursuance of this comprehensive programme. The volume comprises six parts which systematically discuss from the international standpoint the principal aspects of compulsory sickness insurance: scope; benefits; financial resources and their management; insurance institutions and organisation of supervision; disputes, judicial authorities, offences and penalties; position of foreign workers. In each part, chapter or sub-division the same method is followed: first, the essential elements of the problem are set forth; then, the characteristics of the different types of solution; next, a classification of the laws of the several countries according to the solutions which they embody; and lastly, an analysis of the national laws and the statistics of their working. The object of this method is on the one hand to give a general survey which enables the various systems to be understood in their relation to the movement of ideas and the evolution of social institutions, and, on the other, to present the law in each country — 15 — in a form sufficiently exact for it to convey a correct impression of its character. The work therefore offers neither a complete presentation of social doctrines nor an integral reproduction of the laws and regulations of the several countries in all their details, but instead a methodical summary of the plans which have been realised in legislation and an analysis of the social character of the various national systems. In presenting the statistical evidence of the working of the laws in the different countries, data relating to a series of years are given wherever available. The idea was to give the figures for the period commencing immediately before the war and continuing up to 1925. This was not always possible, however, since for some countries, in spite of requests addressed to Governments and associations of employers or workers, no statistics were obtainable. For others, again, the information relates only to a few years or even to a single year. Moreover, as the official reports of insurance institutions are published one, two, or even three years late, the tables often stop at 1924 or even 1923. The national statistics, the character of which is mainly determined by that of the laws to which they respectively relate, exhibit considerable differences. Though it cannot be claimed that they are comparable, an attempt is nevertheless made to present them in a systematic manner by classifying them and calculating certain ratios with respect to those matters which possess the greatest international interest. Voluntary Sickness Insurance. Collection of National Studies (Laws and Statistics). (1927; xlviii + 470 pp.; published in English, French and German.) As in the case of compulsory sickness insurance, the Office endeavoured to collect the most complete and exact information possible concerning schemes of voluntary insurance and statistics of their working. It was not deemed expedient however to make, as was done for compulsory insurance, a comparative analysis of national schemes of voluntary insurance. The task was, if not altogether impossible, at least extremely difficult, by reason of the great variety of voluntary insurance institutions and the very fragmentary nature of the information it was possible to obtain. in the case of a number of the countries. The Office therefore condensed the results of its studies in national monographs relating to the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Great — 16 — Britain, Northern Ireland, Irish Free State, India, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Palestine, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Union of South Africa and Uruguay. Each of these monographs tries to follow the same plan in the analysis of the laws and the presentation of the statistics: insurance institutions; scope; benefits; financial resources. A general introduction of some length discusses the historical development of voluntary sickness insurance and the main features of the schemes in operation. Benefits of the German Sickness Insurance System from the Point of View of Social Hygiene, by Franz Gold mann and Alfred Grotjahn. (1928; 188 pp.; published in English, French and German.) During the last forty years there have, been profound changes in the functions of sickness insurance. When sickness insurance institutions were first formed, their principal work was that of paying cash benefits, but by degrees they have given more and more place to medical and pharmaceutical benefits, and more recently they have paid serious attention to organising the prevention of disease. The development of medical and pharmaceutical benefits and preventive action has been of special importance in Germany; and the International Labour Office, in agreement with the Health Section of the League of Nations, therefore thought it would be of interest to request two eminent German specialists to assess the influence of sickness insurance benefits on public health, to analyse the work done and results obtained by the insurance funds from the point of view of the protection of the health of the workers, and to describe the attempts made in Germany to co-ordinate the action of the sickness insurance funds1 with that of all other institutions or associations working in the same field. In the resulting volume the specialists describe the general principles of German sickness insurance, the curative and preventive effects of its benefits, and the methods of co-operation established in the field of social hygiene between sickness insurance funds and other insurance, welfare, and assistance institutions. In describing the German experience they are led to study the outlines of a national health programme for the State, and to sketch the general rules for the collaboration that ought to exist between insurance institutions and public health services. — 17 — Compulsory Pension Insurance. Comparative Analysis of National Laws, and Statistics. (1933; xii -f- 782 pp.; published in English, French and German.) This volume contains an analysis of some fifty laws on compulsory invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance, in force at the end of 1932 in about thirty countries, together with t h e statistics of their working. It is composed of six parts: scope; risks covered and cash benefits; benefits in kind ; financial resources; administrative organisation (insurance institutions, supervision, settlement of disputes); transitional schemes. The method of examining the problems is the same as that followed in the 1927 volume on compulsory sickness insurance. The analysis of the national laws is, however, more concentrated, the national monographs being placed in a separate chapter at the end of each part. This makes it easier for a reader who wishes to study the work on national lines, since he has only to seek out five or six passages in order to assemble the essential features of any particular scheme. Non-Contributory Pensions. (1933; viii + 140 pp.; published in English, French and German.) Certain countries possess non-contributory pension schemes (invalidity pensions, old-age pensions, mothers' pensions) which supplement or replace pensions under a compulsory invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance scheme. In order t h a t material should be available on both the principal forms for covering the risks of invalidity and old-age, the Office decided to publish a separate volume containing a comparative analysis of non-contributory pension laws. This volume contains four parts in addition to a general introduction : pensions for the aged, invalid and blind ; mothers' pensions ; financial resources; pension authorities. International Survey of Social Services. (1933; xxiii -f 688 pp.) This work contains national monographs t h e following 24 countries: Australia Germany Belgium Great Britain and Bulgaria Northern Ireland Canada Hungary Czechoslovakia India Denmark Irish Free State Finland Italy Japan France Luxemburg on social services in Netherlands Poland Rumania Spain Sweden Switzerland Union of South Africa Yugoslavia — 18 — The information for each country is given under six heads: statistics of population, showing the distribution of the workers by main economic branches or occupational groups ; social insurance ; housing ; family allowances ; holidays with pay. For each social service a brief analysis is given of the legislation in force, followed by the statistics of working for 1930. The social insurance statistics, for example, relate to the number of insured persons, income, expenditure and the annual balance sheet. The preparation of this volume called for the sifting of a vast quantity of material and the analysis of over 400 laws, and the results of their working have been condensed in nearly 500 statistical tables. The abundance of the information given in this work suggests that it should prove of value to all institutions and persons who wish to obtain a general view of the extension and working of social services in a large number of countries. Reports in Preparation The Office is at present engaged in preparing four publications : The first will be a study of the economical administration of medical and pharmaceutical benefits in sickness insurance. The second will be a report on the principal questions arising out of the organisation of the medical service in sickness insurance. The third will consist of national monographs on a statistical basis concerning financial systems and actuarial estimates in pension insurance. The fourth will be a study of social services in 1933 for some forty countries. § 3. — Replies to Requests for Information The Office receives every year a large number of requests for information on social insurance, and replying to these questions constitutes one of the less well-known although more interesting of its activities. From 1 January 1924 to 31 August 1935 it received 1,200 requests for information on social insurance questions from over fifty countries. Most of these requests are made by Governments, national administrative departments, central insurance institutions, employers' and workers' organisations, members of Parliament, universities, etc. — 19 — As regards subject and scope the questions vary widely. Some merely call for the sending of the text of an Act or regulation. Often, however, they necessitate the collection and examination of a body of international material on legal, administrative, actuarial, or medical questions. In a fair number of cases the Social Insurance Section has had to give its opinion on Bills intended for submission to Parliaments. Owing to the number and complexity of these requests for information, the preparation of the replies absorbs much of the time of the Social Insurance Section, which endeavours to satisfy the requests it receives as fully as possible. The Office considers that this is a form of distributing information which is particularly suitable for the varying and constantly changing needs of the administrative departments, institutions and associations concerned in the development and satisfactory administration of national social insurance laws. PART III THE WORK OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE T H E INTERNATIONAL REGULATION OF SOCIAL INSURANCE INTRODUCTION From 1919 to 1935, the Conference adopted a large number of international regulations concerning social insurance. These include 16 Conventions and 13 Recommendations bearing exclusively, mainly, or in a subsidiary manner on workmen's compensation for industrial accidents and occupational diseases, sickness insurance, maternity insurance, invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance, and unemployment insurance. Before considering the provisions contained in the Conventions and Recommendations concerning workmen's compensation for accidents, sickness insurance, and invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance, it may be useful to enumerate the decisions of the Conference as a whole and to indicate the methods employed in drawing up international labour regulations. § 1. — List of International Social Insurance Regulations Social insurance questions have been on the agenda of eleven Sessions of the Conference. The list in chronological order is as follows : First Session; Washington, October-November 1919: Draft Convention concerning unemployment, which makes provision for equality of treatment for national and foreign workers in unemployment insurance schemes. Recommendation concerning unemployment, which invites States Members to establish an effective scheme of unemployment insurance. — 21 — Draft Convention concerning the employment of women before and after childbirth, which lays down that women employed in industrial or commercial undertakings shall be paid, during six weeks before and six weeks after confinement, cash benefit and medical benefit provided out of public funds or by means of a system of insurance. Second Session; Genoa, June-July 1920: Recommendation concerning unemployment insurance for seamen. Third Session; Geneva, October-November 1921: Draft Convention concerning workmen's compensation in agriculture. Recommendation concerning social insurance in agriculture. Recommendation concerning the protection, before and after childbirth, of women wage earners in agriculture (payment of maternity benefit, provided, for instance, by means of a system of insurance). Sixth Session; Geneva, June-July, 1924: First discussion of the question of equality of treatment for national and foreign workers as regards workmen's compensation for accidents. Seventh Session; Geneva, May-June 1925: Draft Convention and two Recommendations concerning workmen's compensation for accidents. Draft Convention and Recommendation concerning workmen's compensation for occupational diseases. Draft Convention concerning equality of treatment for national and foreign workers as regards workmen's compensation for accidents. General resolution concerning social insurance. Tenth Session; Geneva, May-June 1927: Draft Convention ^concerning compulsory sickness insurance for workers in industry and commerce and domestic servants. Draft Convention concerning sickness insurance for agricultural workers. Recommendation concerning the general principles of sickness insurance. Thirteenth Session; Geneva, October-November 1929: First discussion of the questions of shipowners' liability towards sick or injured seamen and sickness insurance for seamen. Sixteenth Session; Geneva, April 1932: First discussion of the question of invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance. Seventeenth Session; Geneva, June 1933: Three Draft Conventions concerning invalidity insurance, old-age insurance, and widows' and orphans' insurance respectively, for persons employed in industrial or commercial undertakings, in the liberal professions, and for outworkers and domestic servants. — 22 — Three Draft Conventions concerning invalidity insurance, old-age insurance, and widows' and orphans' insurance respectively for persons employed in agricultural undertakings. Recommendation concerning the general principles of invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance. First discussion of' the question of unemployment insurance and various forms of relief for the unemployed. Eighteenth Session; Geneva, June 1934: Draft Convention concerning workmen's compensation for occu-. pational diseases. Draft Convention ensuring benefit or allowances to the involunjtarily unemployed. Recommendation concerning unemployment insurance and various forms of relief for the unemployed. t First discussion of the question of an international scheme for the maintenance of rights under invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance. Nineteenth Session; Geneva, June 1935: Draft Convention concerning an international scheme for the maintenance of rights under invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance. § 2. — Procedure for the Adoption of Draft Conventions and Recommendations The procedure for adopting Draft Conventions and Recommendations is governed by the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation and by the Standing Orders of the Conference. Under the Constitution, items are placed on the agenda of the Conference either by a decision of the Governing Body of the Office or by a two-thirds majority vote of the Conference itself. When a question has been placed on the agenda of a Session of the Conference, the procedure and the preparatory work vary according as it has been decided t h a t there shall be a single or a double discussion. There are three stages in the single-discussion procedure: In the first place, Governments are consulted by means of a questionnaire, drawn up by the Office and containing, together with a brief statement of the issue, a series of questions designed to elicit the opinions of the Governments of States Members in regard to the subject suitable for international regulation. Then, on the basis of the replies received from Governments, the Office draws up a report, known as a blue report, containing the text of these replies, a comparative analysis of them point by point, a statement of conclusions to be drawn from the — 23 — results of the consultation, and a proposed text of a Draft Convention or Recommendation. Finally, the Office's report is discussed at the ensuing session of the Conference. Since 1926, the usual procedure has been that of double discussion, which includes the following stages: In the first place, the Office draws up a report on the matter placed on the agenda. This report is known as a grey report and it contains a description of legislation and practice in the various countries with reference to the subject on the agenda. This report is discussed at the next Session of the Conference, first in committee and then in plenary sitting. If the Conference is of opinion t h a t the matter is suitable for the adoption of a Draft Convention or Recommendation, it indicates the points on which Governments should be consulted. On the basis of the Conference's decisions, t h e Office drafts a questionnaire, which must be addressed to Governments not more t h a n a month after the Conference has risen. In the light of the . replies received from Governments, the Office draws up a report known as a blue report, the contents of which have been described with reference to the single-discussion procedure. This report is addressed to Governments and should reach them if possible three months before the following Session of the Conference. The Conference then opens a second discussion, first in committee and subsequently in plenary sitting. A vote is taken on every Draft Convention or Recommendation submitted to the Conference. A two-thirds majority of the delegates present is necessary for the adoption of a Draft Convention or Recommendation at the final vote by the Conference. A copy of the Draft Convention or Recommendation is sent to every Member of the International Labour Organisation. States Members undertake t h a t they will, within a period of one year from the closing of the Session of the Conference (or if, owing to exceptional circumstances this is impossible, then at the earliest practicable moment and in no case later than 18 months from the closing of the Session of the Conference), bring the Recommendation or Draft Convention before the authority or authorities competent to enact legislation or take other action. In the case of Draft Conventions, when the consent of the competent authority or authorities has been obtained, each State — 24 — Member deposits the formal ratification with the Secretary-General of the League of Nations and takes such action as may be necessary to put the provisions of the Convention into effect. The various stages in the preparation of Draft Conventions and Recommendations concerning workmen's compensation for accidents, sickness insurance, invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance, and the maintenance of migrant workers' rights in invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance are given below. Workmen's Compensation for Accidents; single-discussion procedure: January 1924: Governing Body decision to place the question of workmen's compensation for accidents on the agenda of the 1925 Session of the Conference. August 1924: Questionnaire sent to Governments. April 1925: Blue report sent to Governments. June 1925: Draft Convention and two Recommendations adopted by the Conference. Sickness Insurance; single-discussion procedure: January 1926: Governing Body decision to place the question of sickness insurance on the agenda of the 1927 Session of the Conference. July 1926: Questionnaire sent to Governments. March 1927: Blue report sent to Governments. June 1927: Adoption of two Draft Conventions and one Recommendation by the Conference. Invalidity, Old-Age and Widows' and Orphans' Insurance; doublediscussion procedure: January 1931: Governing Body decision to place the question of invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance on the agenda of the 1933 Session of the Conference. November 1931: Grey report sent to Governments. April 1932: First discussion by the Conference. May 1932: Questionnaire sent to Governments. April 1933: Blue report sent to Governments. June 1933: Second discussion and final decision, the adoption of six Draft Conventions and one Recommendation by the Conference. Maintenance of Migrant Workers' Rights under Invalidity, Old-Age and Widows' and Orphans' Insurance; double-discussion procedure. June 1933 : Conference decision to place the question of the maintenance of rights on the agenda of the 1934 Session. March 1934: Grey report sent to Governments. June 1934: First discussion by the Conference. July 1934: Questionnaire sent to Governments. April 1935 : Blue report sent to Governments. June 1935: Second discussion and final decisión, the adoption of a Draft Convention by the Conference. — 25 — This brief sketch of the procedure shows that, particularly in the case of double discussion, the adoption of Conventions and Recommendations is preceded by lengthy preparations, the collection and publication of much international information, and detailed discussions in which the Governments, workers' and employers' delegates take part. The resulting international regulations are thus carefully thought out and worthy of serious consideration on the part of Governments and employers' and workers' organisations. — 26 — CHAPTER I WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION FOR ACCIDENTS INTRODUCTION The international regulations concerning workmen's compensation for accidents consist of three Draft Conventions and three Recommendations : Draft Convention concerning workmen's compensation for accidents (1925); Draft Convention concerning workmen's compensation in agriculture (1921); Draft Convention concerning equality of treatment for national and foreign workers as regards workmen's compensation for accidents (1925); Recommendation concerning the minimum scale of workmen's compensation (1925); Recommendation concerning jurisdiction in disputes on workmen's compensation (1925); Recommendation concerning equality of treatment for national and foreign workers as regards workmen's compensation for accidents (1925). These documents will be analysed as a whole, not in the chronological order of their adoption by the Conference, but according to the problems raised, and the solutions given to each such problem in the Draft Conventions or Recommendations will be noted. § 1. — The Principle of Occupational Risk The whole body of these international regulations is based on the principle of occupational risk, which has gradually replaced throughout the world the principle of employers' liability for industrial accidents as the legal basis for the right to compensation. According to the principles of common law there was no liability except in the case of a personal fault on the part of the employer — 27 — or his representatives, and the injured person could obtain compensation only if he could prove his employer to have been at fault. The employer was not liable for injuries due solely to the worker's fault, or to chance, or to force majeure, or to some risk inherent in the work itself and independent of any defect in the material equipment or management of the undertaking or in the selection of workers. In such cases the worker had no right to compensation. On the other hand, the employer was liable to pay the injured person or his dependants compensation for the full amount of the pecuniary loss suffered if the claimant could prove that the employer was at fault. The application of this system gave rise to serious difficulties and it is now considered to be unfavourable both to the employer and to the worker. In a great number of cases it was difficult and sometimes impossible to prove the employer's responsibility. The procedure gave rise to disputes and litigation, and delayed the assessment of the compensation which the injured person nearly always needed urgently. As a result, relations between employers and workers tended to become strained. Further, when the employer had been shown to be at fault, he had to pay heavy compensation, the amount of which he could not foresee. When the principle of occupational risk is adopted, these difficulties disappear, or are considerably reduced. An employer who carries on various activities and provides work for men and machines sets up an organisation the operation of which may, and does in fact, give rise to injuries, the compensation for which, irrespective of any idea of fault, falls upon the owner. The risks inherent in work are the consequence of the normal development of human activity. As a whole they constitute that occupational risk which comprises all industrial accidents, apart from such as are wilfully caused by the victim or by the employer or his representatives. The pecuniary costs of industrial accidents form one of the liabilities of the undertaking in the same way as the cost of repair and depreciation of equipment, the upkeep of premises, the workers' wages and the salaries of the management. Compensation should therefore be included among the overhead expenses of the undertaking and falls entirely on the employer. This system leads, as regards the amount of compensation, to a compromise. The employer waives the protection which common — 28 — law afforded him in the case of accidents not due to his own fault, and the worker waives a part of the full compensation which he could claim in the event of his proving fault on the part of the employer, and receives in return compensation for injuries due to his own unintentional fault, chance, force majeure, or unknown causes. The principle of occupational risk therefore involves the assessment of fixed compensation. This accounts for the existence in national legislations of fixed scales of compensation, based on the injured person's wages and allowing for the seriousness of the consequences of the accident or, in the event of death, the nature and number of the dependants. At present all national laws and regulations are based on the principle of occupational risk, though some do not draw all the appropriate conclusions from this principle, and contain restrictions dictated more or less directly by the principle of liability under common law. § 2. — Seope The scope of a workmen's compensation scheme is determined with reference to the undertakings covered and the workers entitled to benefits. Undertakings Covered The definition adopted by the Conference is a very broad one. The Draft Convention provides that the laws and regulations as to workmen's compensation for accidents shall apply to any enterprise, undertaking or establishment of whatsoever nature, whether public or private (Article 2, paragraph 1). Quite a number of Governments had asked that exceptions should be made to this rule, which had been proposed by the Office, and such exceptions are to be found in several national laws and regulations. The exceptions which were most frequently claimed related to undertakings employing only a few workers or involving only a slight accident risk. The Conference did not see fit to allow these exceptions, because they are in contradiction with the principle of occupational risk. Whether an undertaking employs a large number of workers or only a few, whether the accident risk is serious or slight, the injured person's right to compensation and the employer's liability to pay such compensation are the same in all cases. Moreover, the limits proposed as regards the number of workers employed were so variable, and the definition and classification of — 29 — the undertakings which might be considered as involving only a slight accident risk were so difficult to determine, that the Conference did not think it possible to insert any provision of this kind in the Draft Convention. Workers Entitled to Benefit Here again the definition adopted by the Conference is very broad. The Draft Convention stipulates that the laws and regulations as to workmen's compensation shall apply to workmen, employees and apprentices (Article 2, paragraph 1). Several Governments had asked that exceptions should be made to this rule, which had likewise been proposed by the Office. The exceptions for which there was most demand referred to casual workers, outworkers, members of the employer's family, nonmanual workers whose earnings exceed a certain limit, and domestic servants. Both in the special Committee appointed to study the question of workmen's compensation for accidents and in the plenary sittings of the Conference, the definition of the workers entitled to benefit gave rise to lengthy debates in which delegates in favour of applying the principle of occupational risk to all workers without exception came into conflict with those in favour of a definition more in agreement with the present state of national laws and regulations, the great majority of which make provision for more or less important and numerous exceptions. However, two exceptions were allowed without much difficulty because they apply only to a small number of workers and are to be found in most national laws. The first refers to persons whose employment is of a casual nature and who are employed otherwise than for the purpose of the employer's trade or business (Convention, Article 2, paragraph 2 (a)). The second refers to members of the employer's family who work exclusively on his behalf and who live in his house (Convention, Article 2, paragraph 2 (c)). The same view was taken of the exception referring to domestic servants. Domestic servants are wage earners; they are under the orders of an employer; they are dependent on their occupation for their livelihood. There would consequently appear to be no doubt that the principle of occupational risk could be applied to them. Nevertheless, in view of the fact that only a few laws entitle them to accident compensation, the Conference adopted a definition excluding them. The right to benefit is allowed only to workmen, — 30 — employees and apprentices employed by an undertaking or establishment. The question of outworkers was certainly more difficult to settle. On the one hand, many of them may be considered as being employed by an undertaking which provides them with the necessary material? for their work and sometimes even with equipment. On the other hand, they are not under the direct supervision of the employer, and it may be difficult, in the event of an accident, to show that there is a causal connection between the work and the accident. Accordingly a number of laws exclude them from the compensation scheme. Having regard to differences of opinion and to the state of national laws and regulations, the Conference allowed an exception in the case of outworkers (Convention, Article 2, paragraph 2 (b). The exclusion of non-manual workers whose remuneration exceeds a certain limit would appear to be in contradiction with the principle of occupational risk. In the event of an accident, the worker's right to and the employer's liability for compensation do not depend on the amount of earnings. Nevertheless, it was argued that in the case of such workers the accident risk is a very slight one, that owing to their comparatively high earnings they are able to bear their own risk, and finally, that this exception is made in a fair number of national laws and regulations. In order to conciliate opposition, the Conference decided to allow an exception in the case of non-manual workers whose remuneration exceeds a limit to be determined by national laws or regulations (Convention, Article 2, paragraph 2 (d)). The importance of this exception will depend upon the limit of earnings fixed by national laws and regulations. Finally, the basic Draft Convention of 1925 does not apply to three other categories of workers: (1) Seamen and fishermen, for whom provision is to be made in a later Convention (Article 3, paragraph 1); (2) Persons covered by some special scheme the terms of which are not less favourable than those of the Convention (Article 3, paragraph 2); (3) Agricultural workers, in regard to whom the Convention. concerning workmen's compensation in agriculture adopted in 1921 at the Third Session of the Conference remains in force (Article 4). But these are not exceptions properly speaking, since they refer to special schemes or classes of workers to whom existing — 31 — international Conventions already apply or for whom provision is to be made subsequently in special Conventions. In the case of seamen and fishermen, the work of international regulation has already begun. The liability of shipowners towards sick or injured seamen was discussed for the first time at the Thirteenth Session of the Conference (October-November 1929), and the Office has prepared a proposed Draft Convention, the discussion of which has been postponed for several years but will probably take place in 1936. § 3. — Cash Benefits FORM OF CASH BENEFITS The victims of occupational accidents or their dependants may receive benefit either in the form of periodical payments (pensions. if permanent, allowances if temporary), or in the form of a lump sum or capital amount paid once and for all. The payment of benefit in the form of a lump sum has been severely criticised. In the first place it frequently happens that the sum is quickly spent by inexperienced beneficiaries who lack the knowledge or intelligence to use it sensibly. In the event of incapacity so serious that the injured person is unable to earn any appreciable wages, or in the event of death, the injured person or his family may find themselves in a very difficult situation if the capital sum paid to them has been unwisely spent. Further, compensation in the form of capital is usually fixed as a lump sum without reference to the injured person's age. The amount varies in different national schemes from a half to ten times the injured person's yearly earnings. In no case is there any rational relation between the extent of the pecuniary loss suffered by the injured person and the amount of the compensation awarded. Clearly the victim's age is an essential factor in determining the loss he has suffered, and it would be unfair to allow the same benefit to a young worker, of 25 years of age for instance, who may hope for a further 25 or 30 years of occupational activity, and to an insured person of say 55 or 60 years of age whose occupational career has come to an end or is very near doing so. If the same lump sum were paid to both workers for the same injury, it would amount to paying them equal compensation for an unequal loss. — 32 — In view of these considerations, the Conference was clearly in favour of paying cash benefit in the form of a pension where permanent incapacity or death results from the injury (Convention, Article 5, paragraph 1). In some cases, however, there is much to he said for paying benefit in the form of a lump sum, since this enables the beneficiary to acquire a business, enter some other occupation, buy a farm, or the like. Hence the Conference decided that compensation might be paid wholly or partially in a lump sum if the competent authority is satisfied that it will be properly utilised (Convention, Article 5, paragraph 2). But whatever the form of the benefit, whether that of a pension or of a lump sum, the amount of the compensation should be the same. In order to stress the necessity for this equivalence, the Conference inserted in the Recommendation concerning the minimum scale of compensation a provision to the effect that where compensation is paid in a lump sum, this should not be less than the capitalised value of the corresponding periodical payment (Recommendation, section I, paragraph 2). CASH BENEFITS IN CASES OF INCAPACITY Date from which Benefit is Payable Benefit may be paid either from the date of the accident, or after a certain period following the accident (waiting period), or from the date of the accident provided that the incapacity has lasted more than a certain number of days. The provisions made hy national schemes in this respect vary considerably, but more than two-thirds of them fix a waiting period of three to ten days. The idea of a waiting period seems to be in contradiction with the principle of occupational risk, which requires that compensation should begin from the moment when the loss occurs, that is, the loss of earnings owing to incapacity. A large number of schemes contain this provision with a view to discouraging malingerers by making them bear the loss of earnings due to slight accidents. The provision is also designed to reduce the burden that employers would otherwise have to bear on account of the many small accidents that do not really cause serious loss. There is room for considerable doubt as to whether the waiting period is really effective in preventing abuses. However, since provision is made for such a period in a great number of schemes, — 33 — the Conference left the States free to decide whether they would introduce or maintain a waiting period, but it limited the length of the period by providing that compensation should be paid not later than as from the fifth day after the accident (Convention, Article 6). Minimum Amount of Benefit The fixing of the amount of cash benefit is an essential factor in any compensation legislation, both for the workers whose rights are thus made clear and for the employers whose liability and expenditure are thereby determined. It is no less important for the International Labour Organisation, which aims, so far as possible, at equalising the financial burden which the application of legislation concerning workmen's compensation for accidents lays on different States. There are, however, considerable difficulties to be met in fixing an international minimum scale of benefit, owing to the diversity of the provisions made in national schemes. These, as has already been pointed out, may stipulate the payment of pensions expressed as percentages of the injured person's earnings or that of lump sums expressed as multiples of such earnings. Both the percentages and the multiples vary considerably. The difficulty is increased by the fact that a large number of national schemes limit the basic wage on which benefit is calculated and specify other limits which the benefit may in no case exceed. Clearly, even in the case of accidents of equal seriousness, the application of the same percentages or the same multiples of earnings would yield very different results according as the limits of earnings or those of benefit were high or low. These limits, which are fixed arbitrarily in each country with reference to the level of wages or the cost of living and the purchasing power of the national currency, are not comparable inter se, and it would be very difficult to find a common scale which would be acceptable internationally. After going into the question carefully, the Office in the first place and subsequently the Conference came to the conclusion t h a t if definite rules were proposed concerning the minimum amount of cash benefit, there would not be the necessary majority (twothirds of the delegates to the Conference) for the adoption of the Convention, and that accordingly any attempt to settle this question internationally should take the form of a Recommendation. The Recommendation urges t h a t the rates of compensation for 3 — 34 — accidents involving incapacity for work payable under national schemes should not be lower than the following: (1) In the case of permanent total incapacity, a periodical payment equivalent to two-thirds of the workman's annual earnings ; (2) In case of permanent partial incapacity, a proportion of the periodical payment due in the event of permanent total incapacity calculated in reference to the reduction of earning power caused by the injury; (3) In case of temporary total incapacity, a daily or weekly payment equivalent to two-thirds of the workman's basic earnings as calculated for purposes of compensation; (4) In case of temporary partial incapacity, a proportion of the daily or weekly payment payable in the case of temporary total incapacity calculated in reference to the reduction of earning power caused by the injury (Recommendation, section I, paragraph 1). Additional Compensation in the Event of Incapacity involving Constant Attendance When the incapacity caused by an accident necessitates the constant attendance of another person, the loss is considerably increased. Not only does the injured person lose all or nearly all his earnings, but his incapacity involves him in considerable additional expenditure for the remuneration of the person whose constant attendance he requires. At present the right to additional compensation is recognised in only about fifteen national laws and regulations. Nevertheless, as the number of cases concerned is small and they are particularly deserving, the Conference held that the practice of granting additional benefit should be extended to all countries, and it inserted in the Draft Convention a general rule to the effect that additional compensation should be provided for persons suffering from incapacity of such a nature that they must have the constant help of another person (Convention, Article 7). Further, in the Recommendation concerning the minimum scale of compensation, the Conference stated that, in the case of an injury involving the constant help of another person, the workman should receive additional compensation, which should not be less — 35 — than half the amount payable in the case of permanent total incapacity (Recommendation, section II). CASH BENEFITS FOR FATAL ACCIDENTS A fatal accident entails an economic loss for the persons who were dependent on the victim, or who might in certain circumstances have claimed pecuniary assistance from him, and even for those who would have inherited any money he might have saved if the accident had not occurred. The amount of benefit may therefore be fixed with reference to two different conceptions: that of the loss suffered by the heirsat-law, and that of the needs of the persons who were economically dependent upon the deceased workman. In the first case, the amount of compensation bears a direct relation to the age and earnings of the victim, and this is true whatever the number, the degree of relationship, or the economic situation of the heirs. In the second case, the amount of compensation is fixed with reference to the extent of the pecuniary assistance which the heirs received or might have received, that is, on the one hand, with reference to the victim's age and earnings and, on the other hand, to the number of persons economically dependent upon him, their age and their needs. The factors which appear in both systems are the victim's age and the rate of his earnings. These determine to a very great extent not only the financial assistance which the dependants might have expected, but also the amount which the victim might have saved had the accident not occurred. In practice, most of the existing schemes apply both the principle of compensating the loss suffered and that of economic dependence. Sometimes, for purposes of determining the classes of dependants entitled to compensation, the total amount of compensation, and its distribution among the dependants, they lay more emphasis on the first principle, and sometimes on the second. The Office and the Conference found that national schemes contained an even greater variety of solutions to the problem of compensation for fatal accidents than to that of compensation for accidents followed by incapacity. They therefore did not think it possible to include in the Convention any definite provision as regards the compensation due to survivors of deceased victims. — 36 — In agreement with the Office, the Conference decided to refer in the Recommendation on the one hand to those categories of dependants whose right to compensation should at least be recognised in national schemes, and on the other hand to the fixing of a minimum aggregate amount of compensation to be divided among the survivors. Definition of Dependants National schemes usually make a distinction between two classes of dependants entitled to compensation. The first class always includes the consort (widow or widower) and the deceased person's children below a certain age, who, in application of the principle that the economic loss suffered must be compensated, are not required to prove their economic dependence. The second class usually includes the grandchildren, brothers and sisters, and ascendants of the deceased person, who are required to show proof of their economic dependence, in application of the principle of need. National schemes apply the principle of need in the case of children by fixing an age limit above which they are no longer entitled to compensation because it is supposed that they are able to work for their living. This age limit varies according to country from 14 to 22 years, but it is usually fixed at 15, 16 or 18 years. The Conference recommended that the consort (widow or widower) and the deceased person's children under 18 years of age should be considered as entitled to compensation without reference to their economic dependence. The age limit of 18 years was selected as being most suitable to the children's requirements in regard to physical, intellectual and vocational development. Further, the Conference recommended that there should be no age limit in the case of children who owing to physical or mental infirmity are incapable of earning (Recommendation, section III, paragraph 1). In nearly all national schemes the conditions on which other classes of dependants are entitled to compensation are based on the principle of economic dependence. The ascendants, grandchildren, and orphan brothers or sisters, must show that they were dependent upon the deceased person, are incapable of earning owing to age or infirmity and, finally, are without means of subsistence. — 37 — In view of present conditions under many national schemes, the Conference recommended that the following should also be recognised as dependants entitled to compensation: 1. The deceased person's ascendants, provided that they are without means of subsistence and were dependent on the deceased or the deceased was under an obligation to contribute towards their maintenance; 2. The deceased person's grandchildren and brothers and sisters, if below 18 years of age, or above that age if, by reason of physical or mental infirmity, they are incapable of earning, and if they are orphans, or if their parents, though still living, are incapable of providing for them (Recommendation, section III, paragraph 1). Minimum Aggregate Amount of Compensation Most national schemes provide that the aggregate amount of compensation to be divided among all the survivors, whatever their number, their relationship, or their degree of economic dependence, may not exceed a certain limit expressed as a fraction of the deceased person's earnings when compensation takes the form of a pension or as a multiple of such earnings when it takes the form of a lump sum. The fraction of the deceased person's earnings which may not be exceeded by the total of the pensions or allowances paid to the different dependants usually varies from one-half to twothirds; it is most often equal to two-thirds. The Conference therefore recommended that, where compensation is paid by means of periodical payments, the maximum total of the yearly sum payable to all tbe dependants should not be less than two-thirds of the deceased person's annual earnings (Recommendation, section III, paragraph 2). Further, the Conference was of opinion that in the case of compensation for a fatal accident, as in that of compensation for an accident followed by incapacity, some relation must be established between compensation in the form of a pension and that in the form of a lump sum. It therefore recommended that where compensation is paid in a lump sum, the maximum sum payable to all the dependants should not be less than the capitalised value of periodical payments equivalent to two-thirds of the deceased person's annual earnings (Recommendation, section III, paragraph 3). — 38 — § 4. — Benefits in Kind MEDICAL, SURGICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL A I D Even when industrial accidents do not cause permanent incapacity for work, they nearly always involve medical treatment the purpose of which is to maintain so far as possible the physical integrity of the injured or sick persons and to cure or reduce such incapacity as might be caused by the injuries. The organisation of medical aid is therefore of primary importance for the injured person, who wishes to be cured and to recover his capacity for work. It is equally important for the employer and the insurer, whose expenses will be less according as the final incapacity is less serious and lasts a shorter time. It is also important for the community, which is interested in maintaining as large a productive labour force as possible and in reducing the social burden due to the existence of unproductive disabled persons. It is therefore not surprising to find t h a t in most countries medical and pharmaceutical aid is considered to be a normal feature in compensation; the injured person has a right to it and the employer or insurer is expected to provide it. Without going into details of organisation, which are closely connected with national conditions, the Conference thought it necessary to state that the victims of industrial accidents should be entitled to medical aid and to such surgical and pharmaceutical aid as is recognised to be necessary in consequence of accidents. The cost of such aid should be defrayed either by the employer, by accident insurance institutions, or by sickness or invalidity insurance institutions (Convention, Article 9). SUPPLY AND RENEWAL OF ARTIFICIAL LIMBS AND SURGICAL APPLIANCES Many victims of accidents are unable owing to their injuries to engage in any productive occupation without the help of artificial limbs or surgical appliances. Like medical, surgical and pharmaceutical aid, the supply and renewal of such limbs and appliances are therefore of great importance to the worker, the employer or insurer, and the community. Nevertheless, as a general rule national schemes do not provide injured persons with artificial limbs and surgical appliances except for curative purposes. — 39 — It must in fact be recognised that the supply, repair, and permanent renewal of such appliances raises considerable dimculties of organisation in States where insurance is not compulsory and in those where insurance, although compulsory, is not administered by powerful institutions covering the whole of the country. In the course of the discussion in Conference, it was suggested that a payment in the form of an annual allowance might be substituted for the supply and renewal of artificial limbs and surgical appliances when compensation takes the form of a pension, or that the capital amount might be proportionately increased when compensation takes the form of a lump sum. But this proposal was severely criticised on the ground that it might lead to abuse and that the amounts, which were likely to be considerable, especially when compensation took the form of a lump sum, might be unwisely spent. The Conference decided on the one hand to affirm the right of the victims of industrial accidents to the supply and normal renewal at the employer's or insurer's expense of such artificial limbs and surgical appliances as are recognised to be necessary. On the other hand it admitted that in exceptional circumstances, when the difficulties of organisation seem too great, the supply and renewal of such limbs and appliances might be replaced by the award to the injured workman of a sum representing the probable cost of the supply and renewal, this sum to be decided at the time when the amount of compensation is settled or revised (Convention, Article 10). VOCATIONAL RE-EDUCATION Many victims of accidents are unable, owing to their injuries, to engage in productive work unless they have undergone a course of vocational re-education. Although the importance of vocational re-education was not disputed, the question had been investigated before the war only in an elementary way, and the experiments made had been on a small scale. Moreover, there had been no attempt to put the disabled in a position to compete on the general labour market, but only to give them an occupation in workshops or curative establishments subsidised by private persons or by the State. The provision of work for disabled persons was considered as of only subsidiary importance and as a higher form of social assistance. The world war suddenly increased the number of disabled — 40 — persons by some ten million men, usually young and for the most part wage earners. In order to save them from the despair which is frequently caused by involuntary idleness and to provide the addition to their resources which was necessary owing to the low rates of pension payable by the States, and, further, in order to maintain for each country the productive activity of so large a labour force, Governments and Parliaments were compelled to consider the problem of the rehabilitation of persons disabled during the war. Everywhere the best methods of restoring the disabled to an active life were investigated. Vocational re-education ceased to be empirical and acquired a science and technique of its own. In every country, hundreds of re-education centres, schools and workshops were opened with the assistance of the State and of the employers' and workers' organisations. This technical and scientific advance was accompanied by legal and legislative progress. Vocational re-education came to be considered as a normal factor in compensation. The State was held liable to provide it, and the persons disabled during the war were considered to be entitled to it. The results of this immense effort have led to much controversy. Yet on the whole the work has been fruitful. Hundreds of thousands of men have been able to learn a new trade. It has now been proved that with rational equipment and systematic re-education, a great many disabled persons are capable of an output which does not differ greatly from that of an able-bodied workman, provided that they have been given proper guidance in the choice of a new occupation. It is therefore quite natural that the idea of extending the benefits of vocational re-education to the victims of industrial accidents should have been entertained; but, while many plans have been made with this end in view, few have been put into effect. Often enough, workmen's compensation legislation makes no reference to vocational re-education. The victims of industrial accidents have no right to such re-education, and employers or insurers are under no obligation to provide it. The question of vocational re-education was raised at the Conference, and delegates were unanimous in recognising its importance. But differences of opinion arose when an attempt was made to include in the Draft Convention a clause stating that disabled persons were entitled to vocational re-education at the expense .of the employer or the insurer. Some delegates pointed out that, if the employer or the insurer had to bear the cost of vocational — 41 — re-education, the purpose of which was to reduce the extent of the injury, he should be entitled to claim that the result of vocational re-education and the increased earning capacity to which it gives rise should be taken into account when the degree of incapacity is determined and the final compensation or pension is fixed. This would involve the rather serious disadvantage of leaving the rights of injured persons in suspense for several years in some cases. Further, it might arouse suspicion among the workers in regard to these new factors in compensation. Injured persons would hesitate to accept re-education, which they would tend to consider as an attempt to reduce the amount of their cash benefit. In order to meet this objection, some delegates proposed making the State bear the cost of vocational re-education, it being clearly stated that the increased earning capacity produced by vocational re-education should in no case serve as an argument for reducing the amount of the cash benefit. Since no agreement could be reached, the Conference did not think it expedient to make any reference to vocational re-education in the Convention. It merely recommended that the vocational re-education of injured workmen should be provided by such means as the national laws or regulations deem most suitable, and that Governments should encourage institutions which undertake such re-education (Recommendation, Section IV) § 5. — Guarantees It is not enough to declare that the victim of an occupational accident and his dependants are entitled to compensation and to fix the amount of that compensation. Measures must also be taken to ensure that the compensation for which provision is made shall be regularly paid, even if the person liable for such payment should become insolvent. Compensation for industrial accidents is in the nature of an allowance for necessaries, and the same reasons which give rise to compensation make it necessary in the public interest that it should be paid. Legislation should therefore provide an effective system of guarantees in favour of beneficiaries. At the Conference, owing to the unequal progress made in this matter by national legislations, and owing also to the diversity of the technical solutions that can be contemplated, the discussion of the problem of guarantees was certainly most arduous. Broadly speaking, the various guarantee systems may be reduced to four: — 42 — 1. The victim's claim or that of his dependants ranks as a prior charge on the assets of the employer or insurer; 2. The employer deposits with the State fund, or a fund supervised by the State, security in the form of mortgages, stocks and shares, cash, etc., sufficient in amount to ensure the payment of the total compensation for which he may be liable in respect to accidents occurring in his undertaking; 3. A guarantee fund administered by the State and constituted by a direct or indirect tax on employers as a whole or on insured employers; 4. Compulsory insurance of employers, either with a national fund administered by the State, or with private insurance companies or mutual associations, supervised by the State. Practically all the delegates to the Conference held that the first guarantee system, that of a prior charge on the employer's assets, was inadequate, since in the event of bankruptcy or the disappearance of the undertaking, the assets might be nil. The second system entails the serious disadvantage, of locking up sums, which may be considerable, as cover for any payments that may have to be made to injured persons or their dependants. Nevertheless, a sufficient majority could not be found for the Office proposal that the Convention should make provision for a ' compulsory guarantee against the employers' or the insurers' insolvency, either in the form of a guarantee fund or in that of compulsory insurance. After lengthy discussion, the Conference adopted a text specifying that the national laws or regulations shall make such provision as, having regard to national circumstances, is deemed most suitable for ensuring, in all circumstances, in the event of the insolvency of the employer or insurer, the payment of compensation to workmen who suffer personal injury due to industrial accidents, or in case of death, to their dependants (Convention, Article 11). § 6. — Settlement of Disputes Disputes concerning workmen's compensation arise not only out of the interpretation of laws and regulations, but also out of occupational questions which call for a thorough knowledge of working conditions, such as the nature of the undertaking, the kind of risks inherent in it, the connection between the worker's — 43 — employment and the accident, the method of computing earnings, the degree of incapacity for work, his possibility of adapting himself to some other occupation, etc. Clearly, employers and workers have a more thorough knowledge of working conditions than anyone else, and when they are members of, or are associated with, the courts which have to decide disputes in regard to workmen's compensation for accidents, more equitable decisions can be reached. The Conference was convinced that this argument was both sound and significant; it was of opinion that in many countries the association of employers and workers with the courts could be secured without departing radically from the existing judicial system, and it therefore adopted a Recommendation concerning jurisdiction in disputes on workmen's compensation. In the first part of the Recommendation, the Conference was careful to lay down the principle that disputes relating to workmen's compensation should preferably be dealt with by a special court or board of arbitration comprising, with or without the addition of regular judges, an equal number of employers' and workmen's representatives (Recommendation, section I). But having regard to the fact that at the present time disputes relating to workmen's compensation are in many countries dealt with by the ordinary courts of law, the Conference recommended that in such cases the courts should be required, on the request of either of the parties concerned, to hear employers' and workmen's representatives as experts in any case where the dispute involves a question of an occupational character, and in particular the question of the degree of incapacity for work (Recommendation, section II). § 7. — Equality of Treatment for National and Foreign Workers If the principle of occupational risk is adopted, the right to compensation for industrial accidents ought not to be affected either by the nationality or by the place of residence of the injured persons and their dependants. Nevertheless, national laws do contain restrictions, though these are becoming fewer, either in the case of foreign workers who leave the country in which the accident occurred or in that of their dependants who are not resident in the country at the time of the accident or do not continue to reside there. 44 — After having considered the question in 1924 and 1925, the Conference adopted a special Draft Convention, the purpose of which is to introduce a system of reciprocity in favour of the nationals of States Members. Each State which ratifies the Convention undertakes to grant to the nationals of any other State which has also ratified the Convention, who suffer personal injury due to industrial accidents happening in its territory, or to their dependants, the same treatment in respect to workmen's compensation as it grants to its own nationals. This equality of treatment should be guaranteed without any condition as to residence. A Recommendation, likewise adopted in 1925, deals with the measures which are calculated to facilitate the application of this principle of equality of treatment. — 45 — CHAPTER II SICKNESS INSURANCE INTRODUCTION The international regulations concerning sickness insurance consist of two Draft Conventions and one Recommendation, all adopted by the Conference at its Tenth Session in 1927, namely: Draft Convention concerning sickness insurance for workers in industry and commerce and domestic servants; Draft Convention concerning sickness insurance for agricultural workers ; Recommendation concerning the general principles of sickness insurance. The terms of the two Draft Conventions are similar. They lay down the minimum requirements which any sickness insurance scheme must fulfil at the outset. The obligations which the Draft Conventions lay upon ratifying States are therefore fairly limited. They indicate the minimum level below which the efficiency of a sickness insurance scheme would not appear to be guaranteed. The Recommendation is more substantial and it gives expression, in the fo:m of general principles, to the results of an international experience already lengthy, and to the tendencies of modern sickness insurance as the principal means of protecting the health of the workers and society. § 1. — The Principle of Compulsory Sickness Insurance The decisions of the Conference constitute an international confirmation of the social value of the principle of compulsory insurance. Looking back on national experiences over half a century, the Conference recognised t h a t compulsory sickness insurance provides the best means of constantly and systematically applying provident measures to obviate or make good any loss of the workers' productive efficiency. Accordingly it placed the — 46 — principle of compulsory insurance at the forefront of both Draft Conventions. Each Member which ratifies the Convention undertakes to set up a system of compulsory sickness insurance based on provisions at least equivalent to those stipulated by the Conference (Conventions, Article 1). § 2. — Scope The scope of compulsory sickness insurance laws and regulations is usually defined in very general terms, mainly with reference to the contract of employment, without any limitations or conditions based on the nature of the occupation or undertaking. They are definitely intended to cover wage earners as a whole, or at least all those of small means. This aim was taken into account by the Conference, which recommended that sickness insurance should include within its scope, without discrimination as to age or sex, every person who performs work by way of his occupation and under a contract of service or apprenticeship (Recommendation, paragraph 1). In adopting this Recommendation, the Conference recognised that all wage earners, whatever the nature of their economic activity or the occupational category to which they belong, need the protection of insurance, and it was only in order to facilitate ratification and application that it drew up two Draft Conventions concerning compulsory insurance, the one applying to manual and non-manual workers, including apprentices, employed by industrial and commercial undertakings, outworkers and domestic servants, and the other applying to manual and non-manual workers, including apprentices, employed by agricultural undertakings (Conventions, Article 2, paragraph 1). As already pointed out, the provisions of the two Conventions are identical. While adopting a special Convention for agricultural workers, the Conference was careful to respect the principle of the equality of the rights of industrial and agricultural workers. Consequently it recognised exactly the same rights in both cases, leaving it to national laws and regulations to decide, within the limits of the decisions taken by the Conference, the conditions under which the Conventions should be applied, and in particular the adjustments necessary in the case of agricultural workers. At the same time, the Conference did not propose, either for industry and commerce or for agriculture, that the general principle of compulsory sickness insurance should be accepted as a universal rule allowing — 47 — of no restrictions or exceptions. Since it was anxious to make constructive proposals, such as could be fully and immediately applied, the Conference made allowance for practical contingencies and left it open to each State Member to make such exceptions in its national laws or regulations as it deemed necessary in respect of certain categories of wage earners, to be specified in a list. Among the possible criteria for narrowing the scope of compulsory insurance accepted by the Conference were the amount of the worker's remuneration, in some cases the method of remuneration, and the worker's age. According to the Draft Conventions, exemption from compulsory insurance may be allowed in respect of workers whose wages or income exceed an amount to be determined by national laws or regulations (Conventions, Article 2, paragraph 2 (b)). If such exemption is considered necessary in national laws and regulations, the Conference recommended that the exceptions should only apply to workers whose earnings or income are such that they may reasonably be expected to make their own provision for sickness (Recommendation, paragraph 2). Under the Draft Conventions, exemption from compulsory insurance may further be granted to workers below or above age-limits to be determined by national laws or regulations (Conventions, Article 2, paragraph 2 (e)). Here again, the Conference made it clear in its Recommendation that such age-limits as might be fixed in national laws and regulations should not apply to young persons who cannot normally be considered as dependent upon their family or to workers who have not reached the pensionable age and cannot do without the protection of sickness msurance. In other words, it is recommended that States Members should not make exceptions with reference to age-limits unless the workers above or below such limits are already protected by law or otherwise (Recommendation, paragraph 2). Other exceptions mentioned in the Draft Conventions refer to outworkers whose conditions of work are not of a like nature to those of ordinary wage earners and members of the employer's family. Exceptions may also be made in favour of persons engaged in special kinds of employment enumerated in the Draft Conventions: temporary employment, casual employment not for the purpose of the employer's trade or business, occasional employment, and subsidiary employment. This list of authorised exceptions may seem long and likely to weaken the general formula of compulsory insurance for wage — 48 — earners. Happily, experience has shown that this is not so. In fact, the groups and occupations which are exempted in countries where the Conventions apply form only a fairly small percentage of the total wage-earning population. Moreover, improvements in the administrative practice of insurance institutions are steadily reducing the gaps in the scope of compulsory insurance. Owing to the division of work between the general and the maritime Sessions of the Conference, seamen and fishermen were not covered by the decisions taken in 1927. Compulsory sickness insurance for seamen was, however, the subject of a first discussion during the Thirteenth Session of the Conference in October 1929, and the Office has prepared a proposed Draft Convention with •which the Conference will probably deal at a Maritime Session in 1936, when shipowners' liability towards sick or injured seamen will also come up for regulation. § 3. — Cash Benefit An insured person who is unable to work owing to sickness loses his wages and the insurance institution must pay him benefit to make up for all or part of the earnings lost. This subsistence allowance is essential to the maintenance of the sick person and his family. The function of compensation must always be one of the main features of sickness insurance. The value of a system of cash benefits depends chiefly on three factors: the conditions on which benefit is granted, the amount of benefit, and the period of benefit. Conditions on which Benefit is Granted According to the Draft Conventions, an insured person who is rendered incapable of work by reason of the abnormal state of his bodily or mental health should be entitled to benefit (Conventions, Article 3, paragraph 1). In the vast majority of cases, and especially among manual workers, this incapacity involves a loss of wages, and it is the object of sickness insurance to remedy the consequences of this loss. There is no urgent need for the payment of benefit so long as the sick person's maintenance is not threatened, either because he receives, in respect of the same illness, compensation from another source to which he is entitled by law, or because he does not by the fact of his incapacity suffer any loss of the normal product — 49 — of his labour, or because he is maintained at the expense of the insurance funds or from public funds. In such cases, the Draft Conventions declare that cash benefit may be withheld in order to avoid duplication or overlapping (Conventions*, Article 3, paragraph 3 (a) and (b)). Further, the payment of benefit may be made conditional upon the insured person having first complied with a qualifying period and, on the expiry of the same, with a waiting period of not more than three days (Conventions, Article 3, paragraph 2). The Conference thus provided for the possibility of introducing a probationary period and recognised the fairness of the demand that insurance funds should be relieved of the obligation to pay benefit for short illnesses, the consequences of which could be met by insured persons out of their own resources. The majority of the Conference was not in favour of making insured persons feel too secure by relieving them of any economic responsibility whatsoever even for very short interruptions in their work. Without imposing a waiting period, the Conference confirmed the utility of such a period, while fixing at not more than three the number of days which might be specified in national laws and regulations. It maintained this maximum period of three days, suggested by the Office, in the face of other proposals, some of which aimed at suppressing any waiting period whatever, while others were designed to extend the period beyond the first three days of incapacity. The Conference was however of the opinion that a three-day waiting period was neither too burdensome for the sick persons nor too short to prevent abuse. Amount of Benefit In regard to the amount of benefit, the Conference was faced with two different conceptions of the function of benefit. According to the first, the benefit is intended to enable a sick person to maintain his usual standard of living, and it must therefore be fixed in relation to his wages. According to the second, the benefit is intended only to secure a strict minimum of subsistence during the period of incapacity, and it should therefore be fixed at a flat rate for all insured persons, irrespective of their earnings. Only the system of benefit varying with wages can secure that the sick person will be relieved in proportion to his resources and standard of living. That is why it has been adopted in most compulsory insurance schemes, and in particular all recently enacted laws. 4 — 50 — When, however, the Conference refrained from inserting in the Draft Conventions any strict rule concerning the amount of benefit, it did so in a spirit of conciliation and in order to facilitate ratification by States which objected to any definite undertaking as to the rate of the benefit to be granted. But while the Draft Conventions do not specify any particular method of fixing the amount of sickness benefit, the Recommendation shows the views held by the great majority of the Conference delegates. It states that if a sick person is to recover his health as early as possible, the cash benefit should be adequate and should ordinarily be a substantial proportion of the insured person's wages, regard being had to family responsibilities. It is only in very special circumstances and when the persons to whom compulsory insurance applies have facilities for taking out an additional insurance and are in the habit of doing so that it may be appropriate, according to the Recommendation, to fix the statutory benefit independently of the insured person's wages (Recommendation, paragraph 3). Period of Benefit As provided in most national schemes, the minimum period for which benefit is payable in respect of any one illness is fixed in the Draft Conventions at twenty-six weeks from the first day for which benefit is payable (Conventions, Article 3, paragraph 1). The twenty-six-week limit is, however, a minimum acceptable only when the prolongation of cover is secured by the existence of an invalidity insurance scheme. The Conference made the necessary connection between sickness insurance and invalidity insurance quite clear in its Recommendation, where it stated that the period for which benefit is payable should be increased from twenty-six weeks to one year in cases of serious and chronic illness and for insured persons who will not receive any invalidity benefit on the expiry of their right to sickness benefit (Recommendation, paragraph 4). § 4. — Benefits in Kind MEDICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL AID When sickness insurance funds were first set up, their main purpose was to pay sick persons who were unable to remain at work a cash benefit, and they paid comparatively little attention to medical treatment. Slowly but steadily their views — 51 — have changed and their work has taken a new turn. The principal object is now to restore health and working capacity, and first place is therefore given to medical, surgical and pharmaceutical benefits. The function of compensation is giving way to that of restoration. In most insurance schemes, the expenditure on benefits in kind is equal to that on cash benefits, and even exceeds it in some countries where special importance is attached to the quality of the medical treatment given to insured persons. The Conference clearly stipulated that all insured persons should have a right to medical and pharmaceutical aid, and that the insurance institutions of States Members ratifying the Draft Conventions should not be entitled to make the grant of such aid conditional upon the observance of a qualifying period or even of a waiting period, however short. Under the Draft Conventions, an insured person is entitled free of charge, as from the commencement of his illness and at least until the period prescribed for the grant of sickness benefit expires, to medical treatment by a fully qualified medical man and to the supply of proper and sufficient medicines and appliances (Conventions, Article 4, paragraph 1). The principle that medical and pharmaceutical aid shall be supplied free of charge does not, however, exclude the possibility that the insured person may be required to pay part of the cost of such benefit. This is explicitly stated in the Draft Conventions (Conventions, Article 4, paragraph 2). The Conference went further than merely drawing up a minimum programme of medical and pharmaceutical aid which any compulsory sickness insurance scheme ought to provide at the outset for all insured persons. In the light of those tendencies which have in practice proved most conducive to an efficient and rational organisation of medical aid, the Conference described in its Recommendation the manner in which the curative activity of sickness insurance institutions should be developed as quickly as possible: in addition to treatment by a fully qualified doctor, there should be available for the insured person facilities for specialist services, as well as dental treatment, and for treatment in hospital, where his family circumstances necessitate it or his illness requires a mode of treatment which can only be given in a hospital (Recommendation, paragraph 8). In other words, without attempting to enforce a strict rule, the Conference laid stress on the importance of affording insured persons the best treatment possible in the present state of medical science and technique. — 52 — A t the same time, the Conference was careful to emphasise the need for developing the work of insurance funds in the field of sickness prevention. In the Recommendation, it drew attention to the far-reaching results which may be obtained by alert and systematic prevention, and, while urging that no effort should be spared in combating social diseases, it pointed to the necessity for co-ordinating the often scattered activities of public health services, sickness insurance funds and social welfare associations (Recommendation, paragraph 12). MEDICAL B E N E F I T FOR THE INSURED PERSON'S FAMILY Sickness insurance is becoming a family matter, and this is one of the most interesting aspects of its evolution. Workers have to meet additional expenses not only when they themselves are sick, but also when their wives or children fall ill and the health of the whole household is in danger. The movement in favour of extending medical benefit to the worker's family was at first confined to a few countries, but it has gradually spread. Yet although most countries with compulsory /ickness insurance grant medical aid to the families of insured persons, it is not always a statutory and compulsory benefit like medical treatment for the insured persons themselves. Since the Conference could not go so far as to insist on it in all circumstances, it merely recalled t h a t such assistance could most easily be organised under sickness insurance schemes, and the Draft Conventions state t h a t the grant of medical benefit to members of an insured person's family may be authorised or even prescribed by national laws and regulations (Conventions, Article 5). In order t o show its interest in having the practice of granting family benefit made general, t h e Conference went one step further. In the Recommendation, it not edthat medical benefit for the insured person's family promotes good conditions for the maintenance in health of t h e insured person and his family, and therefore urged t h a t it should be furnished as and when it may be possible and practicable to do so (Recommendation, paragraph 10). It follows from all these decisions t h a t in the opinion of the Conference sickness insurance should accept responsibility for protecting t h e health of the worker's family and taking all necessary curative and preventive measures. — 53 — ORGANISATION OF MEDICAL SERVICE According to the Draft Conventions insured persons are entitled, at the expense of the sickness insurance institution, to medical treatment by a fully qualified medical man (Conventions, Article 4, paragraph 1). This stipulation makes the institutions responsible for providing any medical treatment the insured persons may require. They have to organise their medical service with reference to the needs of the insured persons, whom they must provide with facilities for consulting duly qualified practitioners. The growing importance of benefits in kind and their gradual extension to the families of insured persons call for a corresponding development of the medical service of sickness insurance schemes. The problems raised by the operation of such medical services must be solved by combining the principles of efficiency and rational economy that are fundamental to insurance. The Conference did not consider it expedient when dealing the first time with the problem of sickness insurance as a whole, at its 1927 Session, to attempt forthwith to draw up a general and comprehensive scheme for the organisation of the medical service in sickness insurance. It decided, however, that the Recommendation should settle certain important points in regard to which a considerable measure of international agreement seemed possible. In the first place, it recommended that insurance institutions should be empowered to avail themselves, on equitable conditions, of the services of such doctors as they need (Recommendation, paragraph 11). This declaration brings out both the special nature and the essential characteristic of the medical service in a sickness insurance scheme which has been instituted for the benefit of persons of small means and which must exercise judgment in the use made of its limited resources. Insurance institutions must in any event secure the co-operation of the medical profession ; they ought to be able to secure it on terms which recognise the fact that they are bodies organised in the public interest and for purposes of social protection. Another feature which the Conference wished to emphasise was the right of the insured person to choose his own doctor. The Conference did not lose sight of the fact that persons covered by a social insurance scheme may, like private clients, prefer to choose the doctor to whom they will turn for medical treatment and advice. While recognising that they ought to be allowed to choose a medical adviser whom they can trust, the Conference was careful — 54 — to point out the conditions limiting this choice of a doctor under a compulsory insurance scheme. It held that the sick person should be able to choose only among the doctors who are at the disposal of the insurance institution on equitable conditions, as prescribed by law or by agreement between the doctors and the insurance institutions. The Conference also considered that the right of choice should be conditional upon the avoidance of any considerable extra expense to the institution. Moreover, on practical grounds, it indicated that there could be no question of giving a right of choice to insured persons outside urban centres and specified geographical limits (Recommendation, paragraph 11). The Conference did not go into the matter of medical fees, but the precautions it took to protect insurance institutions against exaggerated demands show that it was aware of the need for organising the medical service of insurance institutions on rational and economical lines. § 5. — Insurance Institutions The Conference had to consider the rules which should govern the organisation and management of insurance institutions. The consultation of Governments before the 1927 Session had shown that funds organised on the territorial principle were. preferable to any other type of insurance institution. The advantages of territorial grouping were mentioned, such as better balancing of risks, greater stability of membership, a more rational basis for the organisation of the medical service, and simplicity in operation and control. Thus there was a considerable measure of agreement in favour of territorial funds. Nevertheless, owing to the great variety of the conditions prevailing in different countries and the fact that funds of different kinds are still frequently to be found operating side by side in the same country, the Conference refrained from imposing a definite obligation as to the kind of fund to be selected. It clearly did not wish to interfere with existing conditions in the several countries, or to hinder the operation of funds organised on other than territorial lines. On the other hand, it could not omit all reference to the undoubted advantages of territorial funds, particularly as regards the rational organisation of medical aid. It therefore drew attention to the superiority which it attributed to such funds by stating that a good organisation of medical benefit and, in particular, the efficient — 55 — provision and utilisation of medical equipment embodying the results of scientific progress can be most easily secured by concentrating action on a territorial basis (Recommendation, paragraph 14). The institutions responsible for the administration of compulsory insurance perform functions which are of public interest. They should therefore be managed with a view to that public interest alone and not for profit. States which ratify the Draft Conventions give a strict undertaking in this respect (Convention, Article 6, paragraph 1). As regards the way in which insurance institutions should be managed, the system of self-government by the persons concerned, proposed by the Office, received almost unanimous approval, and there was no opposition to the clause stipulating that sickness insurance should be administered by self-governing institutions under the supervision of the public authority (Conventions, Article 6, paragraph 1). The Conference thus made a clear-cut distinction between the management of insurance institutions, which on the principle of self-government should be in the nantis of those directly interested in the operation of insurance institutions, and their supervision, which is entrusted to the public authority. While clearly stating the principle of self-government for insurance institutions, the Conference did not overlook the fact that in certain circumstances it may be difficult to secure full self-government in the initial stages of a compulsory insurance scheme before social and occupational organisation has been fully developed. Accordingly it made provision for a temporary exception to the general principle of self-government by the parties concerned in the clause that the administration may nevertheless be undertaken directly by the State where and as long as administration by self-governing institutions is rendered difficult or impossible or merely inappropriate by reason of the insufficient development of the employers' and workers' organisations (Conventions, Article 6, paragraph 3). As regards the share in the management of insurance institutions which should be allotted to the parties directly interested in the results of operation, in particular the workers' and employers' organisations, the Conference had to consider a series of proposals to amend the original scheme suggested by the Office, under which the insured persons would have at least half the voting power on the administrative bodies of the insurance institutions. This was opposed by some of the workers' delegates, who wished the — 56 — representatives of the insured persons to be in a majority on such bodies, and it was rejected by the Conference, which also defeated an amendment to establish a direct relation between the share in the expenses of insurance and the share in management. The Conference did not see fit to go further than to state in the Draft Conventions that insured persons should participate in the management of insurance institutions (Conventions, Article 6, paragraph 2). It developed this idea further in the Recommendation which provides that the insured persons should, through elected representatives, have an important part in the management of the insurance system (Recommendation, paragraph 13). § 6. — Financial Resources and Sharing of the Cost A compulsory sickness insurance scheme cannot be effective unless it is supplied with sufficient resources to meet its many liabilities with respect to the health and economic protection of the insured persons and their families. The collection of the sums needed for the working of sickness insurance raises two problems, namely, which groups can and should contribute to those resources, and what share each should contribute. The Office had based its proposals on the principle of contributions from employers and workers, which was at once accepted by the Conference with almost complete unanimity. The Draft Conventions accordingly provide that the insured persons and their employers shall share in providing the financial resources of the sickness insurance system (Conventions, Article 7, paragraph 1). Thus the insured persons and their employers are asked to make joint provision for the future. Ought the Conference to have stipulated that a financial contribution to the resources of sickness insurance should also be made by the public authorities ? There was some difference of opinion on this point. The supporters of such a measure argued that insurance institutions spent large sums on the organisation of medical services and on improving sanitary equipment, that they did very useful work in the field of sickness prevention, that they thus had to meet expenditure which was considerably in excess of their original liabilities and therefore thoroughly deserved material assistance from the community. Their opponents pointed out that the maintenance and depreciation of " human capital " should normally be a charge on production and that no financial — 57 — contribution towards such a charge could reasonably be expected from public authorities. By a very large majority the Conference recognised the utility and the expediency of a financial contribution from.the public authorities, but it did not go so far as to impose a strict obligation. States which ratify the Draft Conventions remain free to adopt such provisions as they please concerning the financial participation of public authorities. The Recommendation, however, emphasises the advantages of such participation (Recommendation, paragraph 15). The Conference took no decision on the question how the cost of insurance should be shared between insured persons, employers, and possibly the public authorities. The absence of any definite principles based either on responsibility for the occurrence of sickness or on the advantages resulting from sickness insurance for insured persons, employers, and the public authorities largely accounts for the reticence of the Conference in regard to the sharing of the cost between the three parties. Moreover, a legal formula fixing the share of the contribution to be borne by each party could only determine their initial liability ; the final incidence of the burden would depend upon the interplay of economic forces. § 7. — Settlement of Disputes The operation of sickness insurance schemes affects in various ways the interests of insured persons and their employers, doctors, chemists, dentists and other auxiliaries of the insurance fund. The provisions of laws and regulations and the clauses of contracts and collective agreements may give rise to disputes which should be settled as quickly and as correctly as possible. The commonest disputes are those connected with the right of insured persons to benefit and with the amount and period of benefit. Such disputes must be settled immediately. When an insured person falls ill, there should be no delay in his obtaining the treatment he needs and the cash benefits on which his subsistence and that of his family depend. Any delay in the payment of benefit may lessen the social value of insurance. The Conference had to decide in the first place whether the insured person should have a right of appeal in the event of a dispute concerning benefits, and if so to what tribunal. As regards the first point, it was of opinion that States Members — 58 — should be required to give a definite undertaking to recognise the insured person's right of appeal in the event of disputes concerning benefits. It therefore inserted in the Draft Conventions a clause to the effect that a right of appeal shall be granted to the insured person in case of dispute concerning his right to benefit (Industry Convention, Article 9; Agriculture Convention, Article 8). As regards the judicial bodies competent to settle disputes concerning benefits, the Conference showed a preference for special tribunals, since the ordinary courts cannot, in view of their procedure and their manifold duties, settle with due dispatch the many disputes concerning benefits. Without requiring any definite undertaking in this respect, the Conference recommended that disputes as to benefits between insured persons and insurance institutions should be' referred to special tribunals, the members of which include judges or assessors specially cognisant of the purposes of insurance and the needs of insured persons (Recommendation, paragraph 16). This confirms the superiority of special tribunals, for the inclusion of judges or assessors chosen from among the persons concerned means that decisions can be reached with full knowledge of the social and industrial situation of insured persons. § 8. — Special Provision concerning Sparsely Populated Territories In sparsely populated territories the institution of a compulsory insurance scheme as defined by the Draft Conventions may raise considerable difficulties of organisation. In such districts, where geographical conditions make communications precarious, it is hard to see how insurance funds can be organised that will be able to provide medical and pharmaceutical aid. Progress there must be gradual and the more urgent needs have to be met first by the organisation of a general sanitary service suited to local conditions. The Conference considered this matter and approved of a clause providing that it shall be open to States which comprise large and very thinly populated areas not to apply the Conventions in districts where, by reason of the small density and wide dispersion of the population and the inadequacy of the means of communication, the organisation of sickness insurance is impossible (Industry Convention, Article 10; Agriculture Convention, Article 9). On the other hand, the Conference in no way intended that workers in sparsely populated areas should be left without any — 59 — medical aid. On the contrary, having regard to the various suggestions made as to the most effective means of overcoming the obstacles to the organisation of compulsory sickness insurance in such districts, it recommended that the States in question should establish in the sparsely populated parts of their territory a sanitary service adequate to the local conditions, and should examine periodically whether the progress made there permits of introducing compulsory sickness insurance (Recommendation, paragraph 17). — 60 — CHAPTER III INVALIDITY, OLD-AGE AND WIDOWS' AND ORPHANS' INSURANCE AND NON-CONTRIBUTORY PENSIONS INTRODUCTION The international regulations concerning invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance consist of six Draft Conventions and one Recommendation, as follows: Draft Convention concerning compulsory old-age insurance for persons employed in industrial or commercial undertakings, in the liberal professions, and for outworkers and domestic servants (1933); Draft Convention concerning compulsory old-age insurance for persons employed in agricultural undertakings (1933); Draft Convention concerning compulsory invalidity insurance for persons employed in industrial or commercial undertakings, in the liberal professions, and for outworkers and domestic servants (1933); Draft Convention concerning compulsory invalidity insurance for persons employed in agricultural undertakings (1933); Draft Convention concerning compulsory widows' and orphans' insurance for persons employed in industrial or commercial undertakings, in the liberal professions, and for outworkers and domestic servants (1933); Draft Convention concerning compulsory widows' and orphans' insurance for persons employed in agricultural undertakings (1933); Recommendation concerning the general principles of invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance (1933). Each of the risks of invalidity, old-age, and death is thus the subject of two Draft Conventions, one for persons employed in industry and commerce and the other for persons employed in agriculture. This method may from some points of view seem open to criticism. Invalidity insurance must in principle be linked up with — 61 — either sickness insurance or old-age insurance, and widows' and orphans' insurance must be organised in close connection with old-age insurance. But the adoption of separate Draft Conventions for each of these risks must not in any way be construed as an invitation to national legislatures to provide for distinct enactments and separate institutions for dealing with each risk. The adoption of separate Draft Conventions for old-age insurance and for invalidity or widows' and orphans' insurance was dictated as much by the unequal development and the diversity of national schemes of insurance as by the desire to facilitate the adoption of the international regulations by as large a number of States as possible. For similar reasons arising out of the present development of national legislation, the Conference, in agreement with the proposal made by the Office, adopted separate Draft Conventions in regard to insurance for persons employed in agriculture. No one can deny that insurance of this kind is much less highly developed for agricultural workers than for other occupations. Had texts been drawn up to cover all workers, it would have meant that quite a number of countries which had no insurance scheme for agricultural workers would not have accepted the future regulations. In view of the structure of the texts adopted, there is no reason to fear that the existence of separate texts will lead to the adoption of schemes providing a lower level of protection for agricultural workers. The International Labour Organisation has always held that agricultural workers should enjoy at least the same level of protection as other categories of workers, and the Conference made the Draft Conventions for agricultural workers in substance identical with those for workers in industry and commerce. As the texts contain only general rules, which can be applied in national legislation by methods adapted to the conditions of existence of agricultural workers, it was not considered necessary to propose different regulations for the different categories of workers. The six Draft Conventions lay down a very modest standard of protection, which does not go beyond or even reach the present level of legislation in quite a number of States ; but the Conference, in agreement with the Office, has constantly aimed at arriving at international regulations which can be accepted by all States, even if they are only taking the first steps towards compulsory insurance of the kinds in view. Supplementing these texts, the Conference adopted a Recommendation on the general principles of invalidity, old-age and — 62 — widows' and orphans' insurance, which lays down a much higher standard of protection than the Draft Conventions and is intended to bring out clearly the main aspects of the problem and the advances which should be made in the next few years. In view of the legal nature of the Recommendation, which imposes on the States less strict obligations than those contained in the ratified Conventions and does not meet with the difficulties entailed by ratification, it was possible to establish a single text for all the risks in question and all workers. The decisions of the Conference in regard to invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance and non-contributory pensions are analysed below point by point. A. — INVALIDITY, OLD-AGE AND WIDOWS' AND ORPHANS' INSURANCE § 1. — Principle of Compulsory Insurance Article 1 of each of the Draft Conventions provides that each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies the Convention undertakes to set up and maintain a compulsory insurance scheme. The Conference thus confirmed without discussion or opposition its adherence to the principle of compulsory insurance which it had already accepted in 1927 when preparing the sickness insurance Conventions. Necessary as the compulsory principle is in sickness insurance, it is still more indispensable for the collection of the funds required for the constitution of invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' pensions, which can be provided only if there is continuous saving over the whole of the worker's active life. § 2. — Scope of Compulsory Insurance GENERAL FORMULA The Draft Conventions as a whole establish the principle that insurance should be compulsory for manual and non-manual workers, including apprentices, employed in industrial, commercial, and agricultural undertakings or in the liberal professions, and — 63 — for outworkers and domestic servants (Conventions, Article 2, paragraph 1). This principle was submitted to the Conference by the Office as a basis for discussion. The question arose whether it should be restricted by excluding employed persons in the liberal professions, or extended by applying it at least to persons working on their own account. There was a lengthy discussion on the amendments concerning persons working on their own account. The movers of the amendments emphasised the precarious conditions of many such workers, who have just as much need of protection as employed persons, their resources often being slight. While fully appreciating the position of persons working on their own account, a number of delegates laid stress on the practical difficulties of applying compulsory insurance satisfactorily to them. Their income cannot be known except from returns which it is difficult to check; the income from their occupational activities varies considerably from year to year, so that they might sometimes be included in insurance and sometimes excluded from it; it is much more difficult to collect contributions from them than from employed workers ; invalidity, old age and death do not necessarily involve the same economic consequences for them as for employed persons, and so on. Some delegates indeed doubted whether the International Labour Organisation was competent to regulate the question of insurance for persons working on their own account. When the Draft Recommendation came up for discussion the question was again debated, and the Conference finally affirmed the value of including in compulsory insurance persons of small means working on their own account in industry, commerce and agriculture, where economic, social and administrative conditions permit (Recommendation, paragraph 1 (&)). EXCEPTIONS Most of the laws which apply the principle of compulsory insurance to all persons normally employed for remuneration also admit a variety of exceptions or restrictions. In view of the attitude taken up by numerous Governments, the Office had proposed that exceptions should be authorised in respect of workers whose remuneration exceeds a prescribed amount, workers whose employment is of short duration, persons only engaged in occasional or subsidiary employment, young workers under a prescribed age, _ 64 — workers too old to become insured when they enter employment, and members of the employer's family not employed by him under a contract of employment. There was a long discussion on the Office proposals and the list of exceptions was appreciably lengthened. It is now provided that each State may in its national legislation make such exceptions as it deems necessary in respect of the following: workers whose remuneration exceeds a prescribed amount and, where national laws or regulations do not make this exception general in its application, any non-manual workers engaged in occupations which are ordinarily considered as liberal professions ; workers who are not paid a money wage ; young workers under a prescribed age and workers too old to become insured when they first enter employment; outworkers whose conditions of work are not of a like nature to those of ordinary wage earners ; members of the employer's family; workers whose employment is of such a nature that, its total duration being necessarily short, they cannot qualify for benefit, and persons engaged solely in occasional or subsidiary employment ; invalid workers and workers in receipt of an invalidity or old-age pension; retired public officials employed for remuneration and persons possessing a private income, where the retirement pension or private income is at least equal to the old-age pension provided by national laws or regulations ; workers who during their studies give lessons or work for remuneration in preparation for an occupation corresponding to such studies. The Draft Conventions on invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance for workers in industrial or commercial undertakings also provide for a possible exception in the case of domestic servants employed in the households of agricultural employers (Conventions, Article 2, paragaph 2). This list of possible exceptions is decidedly long, and one of the workers' delegates complained that, although the Convention laid down the principle of compulsory insurance for employed persons in general, so many exceptions were permitted that the general formula had been deprived of much of its effect. The criticism is not to be neglected, for it must be admitted that the Conference arrived at its decision with the definite intention of not putting obstacles to ratification in the way of certain States by refusing some exceptions the necessity for which, on administrative, technical, or social grounds, was questioned. In fact, however, the exceptions which have been permitted are far from depriving the general formula of compulsory insurance for — 65 — employed persons of much of its effect, for the categories of persons to which they apply are very small. Moreover, many of these exceptions had to be accepted in the interests of the workers themselves, for it would be unfair to demand the payment of contributions from workers who probably or certainly would never satisfy the conditions for acquiring the pension because of the nature and duration of the employment in which they are engaged. While the Conference agreed to quite a number of exceptions with a view to facilitating ratification of the Conventions, it emphasised in the Recommendation that invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance for employed persons should include, irrespective of age, sex or nationality, every person who is ordinarily engaged in employment for remuneration (Recommendation, paragraph 1 (a)). The Recommendation itself countenances certain restrictions concerning age or limit of earnings, but it endeavours to restrict their scope. If it is considered advisable to fix a minimum age for entry into insurance, such age should be as close as possible to the age at which compulsory school attendance ceases and at which the choice of an occupation is made. The fixing of a maximum age for entry into insurance is only justified in insurance schemes which make the right to a pension conditional upon the completion of a qualifying period, and then only for workers who, when they take up employment for remuneration as their ordinary occupation, are too old to be able to complete the qualifying period before the normal pensionable age. Where it is considered advisable to fix a maximum remuneration as a criterion of liability to insurance, only such workers should thereby be excluded as, by reason of the fact that their remuneration is considerably in excess of the general level of wages, may be deemed to be capable of making provision by themselves against invalidity, old age and death (Recommendation, paragraphs 1 (b), 2, 3 and 4). A study of the Draft Conventions as a whole, together with the Recommendation, clearly shows that the Conference was in favour of a general scheme of compulsory insurance for all employed persons, and that, apart from the concessions made with a view to facilitating ratification of the Conventions, it expressed the hope that national laws would limit their restrictions to a small number of workers who, by reason of their remuneration, might be considered able to cover the risks themselves, or who could not obtain a full return in the form of benefits for the contributions they would be obliged to pay. 5 — 66 — SAFEGUARDING OF ACQUIRED RIGHTS Most insurance schemes protect the rights of persons who were compulsorily insured and cease to be liable to insurance without receiving benefit because, for example, they have ceased to be employed persons or because their remuneration has come to exceed the specified maximum. The Conference agreed to the Office proposal to lay down the principle t h a t the rights of persons who had been compulsorily insured and were not in receipt of a pension should be preserved, while leaving the national law free to choose between two solutions : voluntary continuation of insurance, or maintenance of rights on periodical payment of a continuation fee unless the rights are automatically maintained (Conventions, Article 3). § 3. — Risks Covered OLD A G E : PENSIONABLE A G E The age at which the old-age pension normally falls due may be fixed b y reference to either of two standards: the age at which a person is presumed to be incapable of work, or the age at which he is entitled to retire from work. Whichever standard is adopted, national laws always fix a normal age for the granting of old-age pensions without requiring the insured person to prove t h a t he is actually unable to earn his living. The age limit often varies with sex and more rarely with occupation. In general schemes the usual age-limits are 60 and 65 years for men and 60 years for women. In the case of certain particularly arduous or unhealthy occupations the limit is often reduced by five or even ten years. Thus in some countries miners can claim pensions at the age of 60 or even 55, provided they have been employed on mining work for 25 or 30 years. There were serious differences of opinion regarding the fixing of an international rule for the pensionable age. The question was whether this should be fixed at 60 years or 65. The Conference considered at length the possibility of reducing the age-limit to 60, either for all insured persons or for certain categories, such as miners. It also considered whether it would not be possible to make the pensionable age vary according as the country in question had or had not an unemployment insurance scheme. Thus — 67 — employed persons might normally be entitled to an old-age pension at the age of 60, but the limit could be raised to 65 in the case of States which had unemployment insurance legislation as wide in scope as the Convention and not excluding workers between the ages of 60 and 65 from compulsory insurance. Although the machinery of this proposal would be in conformity with the object of the International Conventions as regards the establishment of a reasonable balance between the social charges of different countries, the Conference considered that the method would not in practice solve the problem, because a proper balance could not be struck between an unemployment insurance scheme paying benefits for a limited period of from three to six months and an old-age insurance scheme granting annual pensions between the ages of 60 and 65. Finally, the Conference adopted the Office text, which provides that all insured persons should be entitled to an old-age pension at an age to be determined by national laws or regulations but which, in the case of insurance schemes for employed persons, should not exceed 65 (Old-Age Conventions, Article 4). No restrictions are imposed as regards the fixing of the pensionable age in general insurance schemes covering other classes of the population besides employed persons, but the 65-year limit is a maximum in the very great majority of, if not practically all, compulsory insurance schemes, the scope of which is in essence determined by the criterion of employment. The Conference accepted this maximum solely on account of the difficulties that many countries would experience in lowering the limit to 60: the granting of an old-age pension at the age of 60 would place a very heavy additional burden on the insurance schemes as a result of the increase in the number of beneficiaries and also in the average expectation of life during the last half-century. The additional charges could only be met either by increasing the contributions and subsidies paid or else by reducing the rates of benefits. Both these solutions were considered impossible, because on the one hand pension rates are already exceedingly low in most countries, and on the other hand wages have been falling for some years past and the budgets of the public authorities are everywhere sufficiently burdened and in some countries show large deficits. The Conference considered it necessary, however, to affirm in the Recommendation the desirability of lowering the age-limit to 60 whenever possible. A worker who is granted an old-age pension at 60 has normally worked for 40 or 45 years, and after such a time — 68 — any worker should be entitled to receive a pension sufficient to enable him to enjoy a well-earned rest. Persons between the ages of 60 and 65 are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain employment, more especially as a result of the changes in working conditions brought about by the spread of rationalisation and mechanisation in industry. Even when the present depression disappears and production rises to the level it reached in the prosperous years of 1929 and the preceding period, workers over 60 will certainly find it difficult to obtain employment. Finally, it is an economic paradox to retain workers from 60 to 65 years of age in active life when many workers are unemployed and drawing unemployment insurance benefits or relief. The text proposed by the Office, which was to recommend that the age for admission to an old-age pension should be reduced to 60 years, if necessary by stages, as a means oí relieving the labour market and ensuring rest for the aged, was therefore adopted, but only after the inclusion of an amendment to the effect that the lowering of the age-limit to 60 was recommended " in so far as the demographic, economic and financial situation of the country permits " (Recommendation, paragraph 11). The principle of old-age pensions at the age of 60 was therefore laid down by the Conference, but it must be admitted that the principle has been hedged about with important reservations. INVALIDITY: DEFINITION OF INVALIDITY The risk covered by invalidity insurance schemes may be defined from three points of view: that of physical invalidity, that of occupational incapacity, and that of general incapacity for work. Physical invalidity means the loss of a certain degree of bodily soundness, quite apart from the economic or occupational consequences of that loss. Occupational incapacity is estimated in terms of the loss of earning capacity resulting from invalidity in the occupation previously exercised by the worker. General incapacity is defined in terms of the possibility which the disabled person has of finding employment and earning a living on the general labour market. As a general rule, invalidity is defined on the basis of occupational incapacity in the special insurance schemes for certain occupations or certain branches of economic activity (miners or salaried employees) and on the basis of general incapacity in general schemes — 69 — for all persons employed in a variety of occupations or branches of the economic system. The conception of physical invalidity is not adopted in any legislation. In point of fact, the idea of general incapacity contains the idea of occupational incapacity. A worker who is unable to work or to earn his living on the general labour market is naturally incapable to at least an equal extent of carrying on his special occupation. However invalidity may be defined, whether as occupational or general incapacity, the award of an invalidity pension is subject to the existence of a certain minimum degree of incapacity. National laws are quite strict on this point. Some grant an invalidity pension only for total incapacity; a larger number when the loss of capacity reaches two-thirds of the normal capacity, and a few when the loss of capacity is not less than 50 per cent. While the figure of two-thirds is to be found in a large number of laws, there are a certain number of others which restrict the right to a pension to persons yhose actual earnings do not exceed a certain sum which can hard y be said to correspond to any definite degree of incapacity. Moreovei ¿ the application of legal definitions of invalidity raises serious practical difficulties, and it may happen in actual practice that definitions which appear quite different lead to the granting of invalidity pensions under very similar conditions. The Conference decided, on the proposal of the Office, to include in the Draft Convention a very elastic formula, which guarantees an invalidity pension to any person who becomes generally incapacitated for work and thereby unable to earn an appreciable remuneration (Invalidity Conventions, Article 4, paragraph 1). The principle of occupational incapacity takes the place, however, of that of general incapacity for work in the case of special schemes for non-manual workers. In this case, the Conference decided that an insured person who suffers from incapacity which renders him unable to earn an appreciable remuneration in the occupation in which he was ordinarily engaged or a similar occupation shall be entitled to an invalidity pension (Invalidity Conventions, Article 4, paragraph 3). As the definition of invalidity in the Draft Conventions is really very wide and elastic, it was felt desirable to lay down stricter conditions in the Recommendation, particularly with regard to the minimum degree of incapacity. The Conference, having in mind the definitions given in most legislations, decided that a pension should be awarded to an insured person who by reason of sickness or infirmity is unable to earn an appreciable remuneration by — 70 — work suited t o his strength and ability and his training; remuneration which is less than one-third of the ordinary remuneration of a fit worker of similar training and experience should not be deemed to be appreciable. Nevertheless, in special insurance schemes set up on behalf of manual or non-manual workers in certain occupations, the Recommendation prescribes t h a t reduction of capacity for work should be assessed solely with reference to the occupation hitherto followed or to a similar occupation (Recommendation, paragraph 16). DEA/TH: PERSONS ENTITLED TO PENSION The risk covered by the insurance scheme in the event of the death of an insured person or pensioner is really defined by determining the persons to whom benefits, whether in the form of lump sums or of pensions, are to be paid. Lump-sum payments are generally intended either to cover funeral expenses or to provide the members of the family with a small amount of capital which, during the first few weeks or months, will enable t h e m to adapt themselves to the new economic situation arising out of the death of the wage earner or pensioner. Pensions are intended as a substitute, often only partial, for the income which the family enjoyed from the wages or pension of the deceased. The Conference, being of the opinion t h a t benefits to survivors do not satisfactorily fulfil the purpose of social insurance unless they take the form of pensions, adopted the proposal of the Office t h a t the two Draft Conventions on widows' and orphans' insurance should provide for survivors' pensions. In national legislation, the right to a pension is generally restricted to the widow, invalid widower, and orphans; in rare cases it extends to parents or brothers and sisters of the deceased. The Conference therefore decided that widows' and orphans' insurance schemes should as a minimum confer pension rights on widows who have not remarried and the children of a deceased insured or pensioned person (Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 6). Wido cvs' Pensions Most of the general schemes make the granting of a widow's pension subject to certain conditions as regards age, incapacity to earn, or family responsibilities which show that she was actually dependent 4 — 71 — on the insured person and is unable to maintain herself. Further, several laws make it a condition for the award of a pension that the marriage should have lasted for a certain time and have been contracted before the husband acquired the right to a pension. The Conference had first of all to decide between the two principles on which the right to a widow's pension may be based: acquisition of the right irrespective of conditions as to age or invalidity, or reservation of the right to widows who are above a prescribed age or are invalids. In view of the state of existing laws, the Conference adopted the text proposed by the Office, and the Draft Conventions accordingly leave it open to national laws and regulations to make the right to a widow's pension subject to the fulfilment of conditions as to age or invalidity. It accepted an amendment, however, to the effect that in the case of special schemes for non-manual workers, the right to a widow's pension should not be dependent on any condition of age or invalidity (Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 7, paragraphs 1 and 2). This naturally does not apply to general insurance schemes which cover manual and non-manual workers, nor does it imply that States which ratify the Draft Conventions on widows' and orphans' insurance are obliged to set up special insurance schemes for non-manual workers. The Conference also agreed that the right to a widow's pension may be made subject to certain conditions as to the date, duration and continued existence of the marriage. The right may be restricted to cases where the marriage has lasted for a prescribed period and was contracted before the insured or pensioned person had reached a prescribed age or become invalid. In addition, it may be withheld if, at the time of the death of the insured or pensioned person, the marriage had been dissolved or if a separation had been pronounced in proceedings in which the wife was found solely at fault (Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 7, paragraphs 3 and 4). These rules laid down in the Conventions with regard to the right to a widow's pension are obviously somewhat strict, and are less favourable than those contained in a number of national laws. For this reason, the Conference decided to suggest in the Recommendation certain improvements which it considered desirable. If a pensioner or insured person dies after completing the qualifying period and leaves a widow, the widow should be entitled to a pension as long as she does not remarry. If, however, the award of the — 72 — pension is subject to the fulfilment of other conditions, pensions should nevertheless be awarded to widows unable to earn their living by reason of age or invalidity and to widows with a dependent child who is of school age or who, being under the age of 17, is continuing his general or vocational education (Recommendation, paragraph 20). A pension should also be awarded to an invalid widower who, by reason of his invalidity, was dependent on an insured woman who died after completing the qualifying period (Recommendation, paragraph 21). Orphans' Pensions Orphans are entitled to a pension and an increase of the widow's pension is granted in respect of them under most national laws only if, owing to their age or to the fact that they are continuing their studies, they are unable to provide for themselves, or if they suffer from some disability which prevents them from earning their living. In the light of the present state of insurance legislation, the normal compulsory school age, and the normal age for admission to employment, the Conference fixed the minimum age up to which orphans should be entitled to a pension at 14 years (Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 8, paragraph 1). In the case of an orphan left by an insured or pensioned mother, the right to a pension may be conditional upon the mother having contributed to the support of the child, or upon her having been a widow at the time of her death (Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 8, paragraph 2). Here, again, the definition of the persons entitled to a pension is rather strict, and the Conference considered it indispensable to insert a wider provision in the Recommendation. It is there stated that the pension of every child of school age who was dependent on a pensioner or insured person who died after completing the qualifying period should continue to be paid until the age of 17 if the child is continuing his general or vocational education and even beyond this age if the child cannot by reason of infirmity earn his living (Recommendation, paragraph 23 (a)). — 73 — § 4. — Conditions of Award QUALIFYING P E R I O D Principle of Qualifying Period As a general rule, the payment of invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' pensions is subject to the completion by the insured person of a qualifying period, the purpose of which may be either to prevent persons from becoming insured by obtaining employment for the sole purpose of receiving a pension at an early date, or to establish some degree of proportion between benefits and contributions. A qualifying period is not essential in schemes in which the amount of the pension depends on the accumulated value of the contributions paid by or on behalf of the insured person, but it is required in schemes where the pension or a fraction of the pension is a fixed amount. Whatever may be the purpose of the qualifying period in any particular case, it means that the insured person must have been insured for a certain minimum period during his working life, or that he must have paid a certain number of contributions during the period immediately preceding the event giving rise to benefit, or, sometimes, that these two conditions must be satisfied simultaneously. As most national laws provide for a qualifying period, the Conference decided to insert in the six Draft Conventions a provision to the effect that the right to an invalidity, old-age or widows' or orphans' pension may be made conditional upon the completion of a qualifying period, which may involve the payment of a minimum number of contributions since entry into insurance and during a prescribed period immediately preceding the happening of the event insured against (Invalidity Conventions, Article 5; Old-Age Conventions, Article 5; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 4). Length of Qualifying Period In old-age insurance, the length of the qualifying period varies very considerably in different countries. It may be 2, 3, or 4 years, or more often 5 years, while in some cases, it is as long as 10, 20, or even 25 years. This diversity made it impossible to include a clause on a maximum qualifying period in the Draft Conventions _ 74 — concerning old-age insurance. The Recommendation states, however, that the qualifying period in old-age insurance should not exceed 120 contribution months, 500 contribution weeks, or 3,000 contribution days (Recommendation, paragraph 6). A qualifying period of 10 years was considered quite ample to prevent persons from entering insurance by the more or less fictitious adoption of an insurable occupation for the sole purpose of acquiring the right to a pension. * As regards ensuring t h a t the benefits are in some measure proportionate to the contributions paid, it was thought desirable to do this by the method of computing the pensions rather than to fix a very long qualifying period, which would exclude from the benefits of compulsory insurance workers who were older than their fellows when they became wage earners or when the compulsory insurance legislation came into force. In invalidity and widows' and orphans' insurance, the qualifying period should normally be shorter than in old-age insurance. Invalidity and death may occur at any age, even when an insured person is young and was perfectly healthy when he became insured ; they may even occur a few months after he first became insured. Compulsory insurance would not be fulfilling its part in protecting the workers if it demanded too long a qualifying period before granting an invalidity or survivors' pension. Most national laws recognise this fact and the qualifying period is generally fixed at from 2 to 5 years. In view of the agreement of so many national schemes on this point and the favourable opinions expressed by a number of Governments, it was felt possible to prescribe in the Draft Conventions on invalidity and widows' and orphans' insurance that the qualifying period should not exceed 60 contribution months, 250 contribution weeks, or 1,500 contribution days (Invalidity Conventions, Article 5, paragraph 2; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 4, paragraph 2). Assimilation of Periods of Temporary Incapacity and Unemployment to Contribution Periods in Reckoning Qualifying Period The completion of a qualifying period, implying as it does the payment of a certain minimum number of contributions, is interrupted if the payment of contributions ceases, as for example when the insured person stops work on account of illness or unemployment; and if the event insured against happens soon — 75 — afterwards, the insured person and his dependants will be unable to claim a pension simply because one essential condition has not been fulfilled. The consequences of an interruption in payment may be particularly serious when the right to a pension is conditional on the payment of a certain number of contributions during the period immediately preceding the event insured against, because in that case an insured person and his dependants may lose all the benefits of long years of compulsory saving. In order to avoid this hardship, many laws provide that periods of incapacity due to accident or sickness and periods of involuntary unemployment shall be assimilated to contribution periods for the purpose of calculating the qualifying period. The present widespread unemployment has served to bring, out the great value of this protective clause, and the Conference therefore, accepting a proposal made by the Office, inserted in the Draft Conventions on invalidity and widows' and orphans' insurance the proviso that where the completion of the qualifying period Involves the payment of a prescribed number of contributions during a prescribed period immediately preceding the happening of the event insured against, periods for which benefit has been paid in respect of temporary incapacity for work or of unemployment should be reckoned as contribution periods to such extent and under such conditions as may be determined by national laws or regulations (Invalidity Conventions, Article 5, paragraph 3; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 4, paragraph 3). A more generous solution is prescribed in the Recommendation, which states that periods during which the insured person is incapable of work by reason of sickness, is not available for work by reason of childbirth, or is involuntarily unemployed should, within limits to be prescribed, count towards the qualifying period, even where no contributions are paid for such periods by sickness or maternity insurance or by an unemployment fund. This clause refers to old-age insurance as well as to invalidity and widows' and orphans' insurance (Recommendation, paragraph 7). MAINTENANCE OF RIGHTS Maintenance of Validity of Contributions during Interruptions in Payment In compulsory insurance schemes, the maintenance of the validity of contributions is dependent on continuity in the payment of these contributions until the event insured against happens, — 76 — except when each payment can be considered as a single premium providing a deferred annuity. This condition is imposed in order to preserve the financial equilibrium of the insurance scheme, since the actuarial estimates presuppose the payment of contributions into the insured person's account during the whole of his active life. Interruptions in the payment of contributions may therefore involve" the invalidation of contributions previously paid, thus depriving the insured person of the benefit of these payments and forcing him, if he again becomes liable to insurance, to complete the whole of the qualifying period afresh before acquiring any rights to benefit. As a matter of fact, continuity in the payment of contributions should result from the strict and effective application of the compulsory principle. The majority of insurance laws, however, accompany the principle of compulsion with a provision that interruptions in the payment of contributions do not invalidate previous payments if a prescribed frequency is maintained. Sometimes the law provides that a person may not claim benefits unless he was actually insured immediately before the event takes place for which he claims a pension. This, as has been seen, is one special form of the qualifying period. It is more usual, however, for the law to state that interruptions in payment for whatsoever cause do not involve the loss of rights acquired by the payment of contributions, provided the interruptions do not exceed a certain duration. Two systems are then possible: the period during which the validity of contributions is maintained may be fixed (at a certain number of months, for example), or it may vary with the length of time during which the insured person has actually paid contributions. The requirement of regularity in the payment of contributions is generally modified by the fact that periods of incapacity or unemployment for which benefit is paid do not count as interruptions. The cost of maintaining the rights of the insured person during such periods of incapacity or unemployment may be borne by the insurance institution itself or met by special payments, usually out of public funds. Even when the condition of regularity in the payment of contributions is mitigated in various ways, the insured person still runs the risk of losing the benefit of his contributions if he does not pay the required number of contributions during one of the specified periods or if the interruption in payment exceeds a certain length of time. Where the amount of the pension depends on the amount — 77 — of the contributions paid, as it does in schemes which require regularity in the payment of contributions, the total loss of the rights acquired would be particularly serious, and in order to avoid this, it is often prescribed that the validity of past contributions can be restored by completion of a fresh qualifying period. No objection was raised against the principle of the maintenance of rights during an interruption in payments, provided that the interruption does not exceed certain limits. The Conference decided that an insured person who ceases to be liable to insurance without being entitled to a benefit representing a return for the contributions credited to his account should retain his rights in respect of these contributions, but that national laws or regulations may terminate rights in respect of contributions on the expiry of a term to be reckoned from the date when the insured person ceases to be liable to insurance. This term may be either variable or fixed. Where the term is variable, it must not be less than one-third (less the periods for which contributions have not been credited) of the total of the periods for which contributions have been credited since entry into insurance. Where the term is fixed, it must in no case be less than 18 months, and rights in respect of contributions may be terminated on the expiry of the term unless, in the course thereof, a minimum number of contributions prescribed by national laws or regulations has been credited to the account of the insured person in virtue of either compulsory or voluntarily continued insurance (Invalidity Conventions, Article 6; Old-age Conventions, Article 6 ; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 5). As the text inserted in the Draft Conventions covers all interruptions in payment, no matter what their cause, and treats them in identical fashion, it follows that an interruption in payment on account of sickness or unemployment has the same consequences under the Conventions as an interruption due to voluntary departure from an insurable occupation. The question arose whether, as an amendment suggested, this principle could be made general by inserting in the Draft Conventions the rule adopted in some countries that interruptions in payments resulting from incapacity or unemployment should not be taken into account in reckoning the period of validity of contributions. This amendment, being in disagreement with most of the present provisions of national laws, placed the Conference before the alternative of accepting it, but with far-reaching restrictions, which would have considerably reduced its scope while not affecting — 78 — serious difficulties of application, or of merely recommending it. The latter solution was adopted. According to the Recommendation, periods of incapacity due to sickness or maternity, periods of involuntary unemployment, and periods of military service should be ignored when reckoning the period of validity of contributions (Recommendation, paragraph 8(a)). Any further retention of rights in respect of contributions may be made conditional either upon resumption of payment of contributions in virtue of compulsory or voluntarily continued insurance or upon the payment of a moderate continuation fee (Recommendation, paragraph 8 (&)). A person formerly insured should be able to recover rights already expired by the payment of a prescribed number of contributions in virtue of compulsory or voluntarily continued insurance; where the pension varies with the number or amount of the contributions credited to the account of the insured person, the number of contributions so prescribed should be less than the number required for the initial qualifying period (Recommendation, paragraph 9). Maintenance and Increase of Rights of Unemployed The assimilation, within prescribed limits, of periods of unemployment and incapacity to contribution periods (both for reckoning the qualifying period and for the maintenance of the validity of contributions) is not in itself adequate to protect the worker against the effects of prolonged unemployment on his rights under invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance. There is really only partial assimilation, for in most insurance schemes the amount of the pension depends on the number or amount of the contributions actually paid. If the contributions are not paid during periods of unemployment, the amount of the pension due to the insured person does not increase normally with the time spent in insurance, and an insured person who has been unemployed for a long period is thus entitled only to very reduced benefits. The contributions of unemployed persons must therefore be paid or deemed to have been paid when benefits are being computed, as otherwise the insurance scheme loses its real value as a protective agency. Now that unprecedented unemployment has been going on for years and is likely to continue for a large section of the working population, the community must make the necessary effort to save the millions who are at present unemployed from being put at a double disadvantage by being deprived first of their wages and then of adequate protection against the risks of invalidity, — 79 — old age and death. But the question arises how the cost is to be met and how it should be distributed over different groups of contributors. There are numerous factors which bring about a decline in the income of insurance institutions. In the first place, the number of contributions falls because the unemployed do not pay contributions, and it is rare for the employment funds to pay in their stead. Secondly, the wages of those who are still in employment are sometimes considerably reduced, and contributions, which in most insurance schemes depend on wages, decline as a result both of the reduction in wage rates and of the decrease in the number of hours actually worked. There is, moreover, greater irregularity in the payment of contributions, and after a long period of depression there is an increase in the number of employers who abstain r om paying contributions, even when threatened with legal proceedings and penalties, which are really difficult to apply in times of bad trade. Financial stringency also leads the public authorities to reduce or withhold altogether their subsidy to the insurance scheme. While their resources are thus cut down, the insurance institutions are faced by increased charges. Privation reduces the resistance of the unemployed to disease, and those who are in employment put off having medical treatment because they are afraid of not getting back their jobs when they are cured. This tendency to put off claiming benefits results in a very considerable increase in the incidence of invalidity. Older workers who have lost their jobs and who on account of their age cannot find further employment on an overcrowded labour market apply for invalidity pensions in excess of the normal estimates. Many of these claims must legitimately be met even under the strict conditions laid down for the granting of invalidity pensions, for it is extremely difficult under new conditions on the labour market to determine whether it is age or some other cause of physical weakness that is responsible for the inability of a worker to follow an occupation. In addition to all these causes of diminished resources and increased expenditure there is another factor which disturbs the financial balance of the insurance scheme, namely, the cost of maintaining the rights of unemployed persons and guaranteeing them adequate benefits. It is very rarely possible to impose this burden on the insurance institution itself, that is to say, on the whole body of contributors. There is hardly any general insurance scheme, no matter how wide — 80 — its scope, that covers a sufficiently large fraction of the working population to permit the consequences of unemployment for the insured workers to be distributed over those who are still in employment. It is also extremely difficult, if not impossible, to increase the rate of contribution on wages which are in any case often inadequate. On the other hand, it is scarcely possible to economise on benefits, for invalidity and other pensions are generally low—in a number of countries very low indeed. In fact, the consequences of unemployment in the field of social insurance and the deficit it creates in the finances of the funds or in the benefits to insured persons can, as a rule, be made good only by a contribution from the public authorities. This is the course suggested in the Recommendation, which states that the sums required to be paid for maintaining the rights in course of acquisition of insured persons who are unemployed for a long time should—in view of the impossibility of putting the expense of such payments solely on the insured persons in employment—be obtained through the financial assistance of the public authorities; and the same principle should apply to payments for the purpose of consolidating and enhancing the rights of such unemployed persons (Recommendation, paragraph 10). § 5. — Computation of Pensions F ACTORS ENTERING INTO THE COMPUTATION OF PENSIONS A pension to cover any of the risks under consideration may be computed according to either of two fundamental principles: at a flat rate for all insured persons, or at a rate varying with wages. In the former case the pension aims at guaranteeing to all insured persons the strict minimum required for subsistence, while in the latter it aims at providing benefits in accordance with the economic and social position of the insured person during his working life. The amount of the benefit, whether fixed in accordance with the minimum for subsistence or in accordance with the previous wage of the insured person, may also vary with the time spent in insurance or the length of the contribution period. The pension then depends on the degree and duration of the effort made by the worker to cover the risk. The introduction of the time factor, that is, of the time spent in insurance, is thus quite justifiable. The application of the system to invalidity and survivors' insurance has, however, the grave defect of not providing sufficient cover for — 81 — events occurring shortly after an insured person has joined the insurance scheme. In these circumstances the pensioner may receive a very low, or even insignificant, rate of benefit. Accordingly, the majority of laws tend to correct the excessive influence of the time factor by including a fixed portion in the pension or by guaranteeing a minimum rate of pension irrespective of the duration of the contribution period. There is always some correlation between the method of computing benefits on the one hand and the method of assessing contributions on the other. When a qualifying period is required, it is always offset by the payment of a fixed sum or of a fixed fraction of the wages on which contributions were paid; this fixed amount is due to the worker as soon as he has completed the qualifying period, irrespective of the total time spent in msurance. When benefits vary with wages, contributions do so also. The majority of national laws make pensions vary with wages and the amount of the contributions paid, and quite a number of Governments expressed a preference for this system as against that guaranteeing only a minimum for subsistence. The Conference felt, however, that it was not desirable to prevent ratification of the Conventions by certain countries in which the amount of the pension bears no relation to the time spent in insurance. It must be recognised that, while in virtue of the method of computation these pensions must necessarily be modest in amount, the conditions under which they are granted are usually very generous, and the laws prescribing them generally take full effect and grant a large number of old-age and survivors' pensions either immediately or after a very short qualifying period. The Draft Conventions prescribe that the pension shall, whether or not dependent on the time spent in insurance, be a fixed sum or a percentage of the remuneration taken into account for insurance purposes or vary with the amount of the contributions paid. Where the pension varies with the time spent in insurance and its award is made conditional upon the completion of a qualifying period, the pension must, unless a minimum rate is guaranteed, include a fixed sum or fixed portion not dependent on the time spent in insurance. Where contributions are graduated according to remuneration, the remuneration taken into account for this purpose must also be taken into account for the purpose of computing the pension, whether or not the pension varies with the time spent in insurance (Invalidity Conventions, Article 7; Old-Age Conventions, Article 7; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 9). 6 — 82 — BONUS FOR FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES Bonuses for family responsibilities are granted in quite a number of insurance schemes, generally in respect of the children of a pensioner u p to the age of 15 or 18 years, and in some cases in. respect of t h e pensioner's wife when she reaches the age of 65. The payment of these bonuses is evidence of the growing desire in social work t o protect the whole family of the worker. But although the tendency is strong, it is not yet sufficiently widespread to enable the Draft Conventions to demand the granting of such bonuses in addition to pensions without compromising their chances of ratification by a number of States. The Conference therefore decided, as the Office suggested, to specify only in the Recommendation t h a t a bonus should be paid t o a pensioner for each dependent child who is of school age or, being under the age of 17, is continuing his general or vocational education, or who cannot by reason of infirmity earn his living. A bonus should also be paid to a pensioner when his wife is aged or infirm and is not herself on this account entitled to a pension (Recommendation, paragraphs 14 and 18). SUPPLEMENT WHERE CONSTANT ATTENDANCE IS N E E D E D An invalidity or old-age pensioner may be unable to move about or accomplish ordinary and necessary actions without help, and may therefore require the constant attendance of another person. In order to provide at least partial compensation for the extra expenditure involved, some laws grant supplementary pensions to aged persons, and more frequently to invalids, in these circumstances. On this point also there were considerable differences of opinion r and the Conference had to content itself with stating in the Recommendation that a pensioner who needs the constant attendance of another person should be awarded a special supplement (Recommendation, paragraph 19). § 6. — Minimum Rate of Pensions There can be no doubt as to the great desirability, and at the same time the difficulty, of fixing a minimum level of pensions by international regulations. There are serious technical difficulties in the way of such regulations. It is not easy to fix a minimum — 83 — level of protection adjusted to the various methods of computing pensions. But these technical difficulties are not altogether insurmountable. The essential problem was whether such regulations were expedient. Account has to be taken of the effects from the social point of view of fixing a low minimum, that is to say, a minimum of protection lower than that established by the more advanced laws, and also of the effects from the point of view of the ratification of the Conventions, that is to say, the practical effects, of fixing a relatively high minimum, exceeding that guaranteed by many laws. Since the inclusion in the Draft Conventions of a guaranteed minimum of protection might either render the effort to bring as many national laws as possible into harmony with the international regulations unavailing if the minimum was too high, or have an unfavourable influence on the progress of national legislation if it was too low, the Conference adopted the suggestion of the Office to reserve the whole question of the minimum rate of pensions for treatment in the Recommendation. The Recommendation lays down the general principle that the pensions paid to aged persons, invalids and survivors (widows, invalid widowers, and orphans) should be sufficient to cover essential needs and that the minimum should accordingly be fixed with due regard to the cost of living (Recommendation, paragraphs 13 (a), 17 (a), 22 (a), 24 (a)). In old-age insurance schemes in which contributions are graduated according to remuneration, insured persons to whose accounts contributions corresponding to the normal duration of their working life have been credited should be awarded a pension commensurate with their economic condition during their working life. To this end, the pension provided for insured persons who have completed 30 years of actual contribution should not be less than half the remuneration taken into account for insurance purposes either since entry into insurance or over a prescribed period immediately preceding the award of the pension (Recommendation, paragraph 13 (&)). In invalidity insurance schemes in which the minimum pension is fixed in terms of the remuneration taken into account for insurance purposes, the minimum should not be less than 40 per cent, of such remuneration. The same result should be aimed at by schemes in which the pension includes a fixed portion which is the same for every pensioner and a portion varying with the number and amount of the contributions credited to his account (Recommendation, paragraph 17 (b)). — 84 — In widows' and orphans' insurance schemes in which contributions are graduated according to the remuneration of the deceased, the widow's (or invalid widower's) pension should not be less than half, or a child's pension less than one-quarter (in the case of orphans, one-half), of the pension to which the deceased was entitled or would have been entitled if, at the date of his death, he had been awarded an invalidity or old-age pension. Nevertheless, where such schemes determine the rights of survivors without regard to the rate of the pension to which the deceased was or would have been entitled, a widow's (or invalid widower's) pension should not be less than 20 per cent., or a child's pension less than 10 per cent, (in the case of orphans, 20 per cent.), of the remuneration of the deceased taken into account for the purposes of his insurance either since entry into insurance or over a prescribed period immediately preceding his death (Recommendation, paragraphs 22 (b), 24 (b)). The Recommendation also contains a clause concerning the maximum amount of survivors' pensions in respect of one deceased person. This maximum should not, where survivors' pensions vary with the pension of the deceased, be less than the pension, including bonuses for family responsibilities, to which the deceased was or would have been entitled, or, where survivors' pensions vary with the remuneration of the deceased taken into account for the purposes of his insurance, be less than half such remuneration (Recommendation, paragraph 25). § 7. — Benefits in Kind The pensions and allowances paid by invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance schemes are however not the sole aim of insurance. In a number of countries the insurance institutions have been making steady efforts, in the true interests of insured persons, both as individuals and collectively, to prevent or mitigate the risks insured against by granting benefits of a preventive or curative nature. Thus insurance plays a part in the campaign for protecting the health of the workers and preventing loss of producing power. Most insurance laws of recent origin permit or even oblige the insurance institutions to contribute to the defence and improvement of the health of the insured population and of their families. The Conference recognised the part to be played by insurance institutions in maintaining the health of the workers and preventing — 85 — premature invalidity so as to save a waste of human potential, and accordingly provided in the Draft Conventions on invalidity and widow' and orphans' insurance that the insurance institutions should be authorised, under conditions to be determined by national laws or regulations, to grant benefits in kind for the purpose of preventing, postponing, alleviating or curing invalidity to persons who are in receipt of or may be entitled to claim a pension on the ground of invalidity (Invalidity Conventions, Article 8; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 10). § 8. — Forfeiture, Suspension and Lapse of Pension Rights Compulsory insurance legislation always provides for the forfeiture, suspension and lapse of rights to benefits in certain cases: fraud at the expense of the insurance institution; intervention of the will of the insured person concerned in bringing about the event insured against (wilful misconduct, self-mutilation, etc.); maintenance of the beneficiary at public expense; prohibition or limitation of the right to receive benefits under other schemes covering the same risk. Some insurance schemes suspend the right to pension if the person in question remains liable to insurance. The Conference decided (Invalidity Conventions, Article 9; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 11) to accept these various reasons for the suspension or forfeiture of the right to a pension, only one of which gave rise to controversy. Doubts were expressed as to the advisability of authorising national laws or regulations to suspend the pension if the pensioner continues to engage in work rendering him liable to insurance. Though the object is to relieve the labour market, is it admissible to prohibit persons from claiming a pension while continuing to work ? At the present time, the pension granted under many laws is still much too low to enable the holder to give up his employment if he has no other sources of livelihood. The Conference considered however that, to set off the advantages it guarantees to insured persons, compulsory insurance legislation may legitimately impose a condition which appears particularly desirable from the social point of view, namely, that they should stop working when they have acquired the right to a pension. Provided that the pension is sufficient for the pensioner to live on, the condition that its payment will depend on his cessation of work rendering him liable to insurance should help to relieve the — 86 — labour market, for it provides an incentive to the insured person to stop work on reaching the pensionable age in order that he may draw the pension to which he is entitled. To some extent, it may also facilitate the covering of the old-age risk by reducing the number of beneficiaries. The Conference therefore, while not wishing to impose a general restriction as to.the conditions for obtaining or maintaining the right to benefit, making old-age insurance cover only the risk of senile invalidity, considered it advisable to authorise the suspension of old-age pensions under national laws or regulations while the person concerned is in employment involving compulsory insurance (Old-Age Conventions, Article 8, paragraph 2 (a)). § 9. — Financial Resources The resources required for an insurance scheme may be obtained from insured persons, their employers, and the public authorities. The principle of contributions by the insured persons—the soundest basis for an insurance scheme, making as it does the right to benefits dependent on the individual contribution to the protection of the whole insured group—is applied in the vast majority of national laws, and all insurance schemes for employed persons also recognise the principle of contributions by the employer. But these contributions from the persons primarily concerned are not sufficient, and the State has also a share in the responsibility for the risks insured against. Hence all general insurance schemes for employed persons require that the public authorities should participate in providing the resources of the insurance fund or in the payment of benefits. A substantial contribution is required from the public authorities for the first generation of pensioners especially and for the preventive health work carried out by insurance schemes in the general interest. INSURED PERSON'S CONTRIBUTIONS The Conference was unanimous in adopting the Office proposals and including in the Draft Conventions the principle that insured persons and their employers should contribute to the financial resources of the insurance scheme (Invalidity Conventions, Article 10, paragraph 1; Old-Age Conventions, Article 9, paragraph 1; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 12, paragraph 1). — 87 — The principle that the insured persons should pay contributions "was thus confirmed, but certain exceptions are allowed. National laws or regulations may exempt from liability to pay contributions certain categories of workers whose economic situation is particularly precarious (Invalidity Conventions, Article 10, paragraph 2; Old-Age Conventions, Article 9, paragraph 2 ; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 12, paragraph 2). EMPLOYERS' CONTRIBUTIONS The Conference also unanimously approved the principle of contributions by the employer as a corollary to contributions by the insured person. The only exception to the principle is that employers' contributions may be dispensed with in schemes of national insurance which are not restricted to employed persons (Invalidity Conventions, Article 10, paragraph 3; Old-Age Conventions, Article 9, paragraph 3; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 12, paragraph 3). The question arose whether the Draft Conventions should also regulate the fixing of the relation between the employer's and the insured person's contributions. A study of existing legislation showed that it was impossible to lay down an absolute international criterion. The rule that the employer's contribution should be equal to the insured person's contribution is not respected in every scheme. Since an imperative rule could not be laid down, the Conference merely gave a general indication in the Recommendation to the effect that as a general rule the contribution of the insured person should not be higher than the contribution of his employer (Recommendation, paragraph 31). The next question dealt with was the special provision to be made for insured persons who are not remunerated in cash or whose wages are very low. The Recommendation states that the employer should be responsible for the whole or the greater part of the joint contribution in respect of workers who are remunerated only in kind, outworkers and apprentices whose remuneration does not exceed a prescribed amount (Recommendation, paragraph 32). SUBSIDIES FROM THE PUBLIC AUTHORITIES All insurance schemes for employed persons in general or for manual workers provide for financial assistance from the State, and the Office had therefore proposed that the Draft Conventions should make provision for the financial participation of the public — 88 — authorities in insurance schemes for the benefit of employed persons in general or of manual workers. The Conference was in agreement with this proposal and in order to bring out the fact that substantial assistance is required from the public authorities, it specified that these authorities should contribute to the financial resources or to the benefits of insurance schemes (Invalidity Conventions, Article 10, paragraph 4; Old-Age Conventions, Article 9, paragraph 4; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 12, paragraph 4). § 10. — Administrative Organisation Social insurance is a matter which concerns the general interest, and the institutions responsible for administering it perform a public duty. They should exercise all the powers that the law has conferred on them, but should not engage in tasks of a nonsocial character. Social insurance should be administered by institutions not conducted with a view to profit. The Office had proposed that the Draft Conventions should lay down the rule that the insurance schemes should be administered by institutions founded by the public authorities and not conducted with a view to profit. In order to make certain that State insurance funds would be covered, the Conference decided to adopt a wider formula, to the effect that the insurance schemes should be administered by institutions founded by the public authorities and not conducted with a view to profit, or by State insurance funds, or by institutions founded on the initiative of the parties concerned or of their organisations and duly approved by the public authorities (Invalidity Conventions, Article 11, paragraphs 1 and 2; Old-Age Conventions, Article 10, paragraphs 1 and 2; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 13, paragraphs 1 and 2). The management of insurance institutions is autonomous within the limits fixed by the law. This autonomy has two aspects, the financial and the administrative. The financial autonomy of insurance institutions entails separation of their funds from the public funds. The insurance funds belong to the recipients, present and future, of insurance benefits. They cannot be merged in the funds of the State or of other public bodies, since they have been assigned once and for all for the exclusive use of insured persons. The Conference unanimously adopted the Office text and prescribed in the Draft Conventions — 89 — that the funds of insurance institutions and State insurance funds should be administered separately from the public funds (Invalidity Conventions, Article 11, paragraph 3; Old-Age Conventions, Article 10, paragraph 3; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 13, paragraph 3). The Conference also agreed without opposition to the principle that insurance institutions should enjoy administrative autonomy. The Office had included in its draft texts an imperative provision concerning the participation of representatives of the insured persons and an optional provision concerning the representation of the employers and the public authorities: representatives of the insured persons must participate in the management of the insurance institutions under conditions to be determined by national laws or regulations, which may likewise decide as to the participation of representatives of employers and of the public authorities. This was accepted unaltered by the Conference, which thus recognised that the participation of representatives of the insured persons is one of the essential characteristics of any compulsory insurance scheme (Invalidity Conventions, Article 11, paragraph 4; Old-Age Conventions, Article 10, paragraph 4; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 13, paragraph 4). In the Recommendation there is a clause stating that insured women should be adequately represented on the administrative bodies of the insurance institutions (Recommendation, paragraph 34). The public authorities are responsible for seeing that social insurance is completely and strictly applied, even when they do not directly administer the scheme. The corollary of self-government is administrative and financial supervision by the public authorities, and the Office proposal to this effect was unanimously accepted by the Conference (Invalidity Conventions, Article 11, paragraph 5; Old-Age Conventions, Article 10, paragraph 5; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 13, paragraph 5). § 11. — Settlement of Disputes The efficacy of any insurance scheme depends on the proper application of the rules that govern it. To protect the insured persons and their survivors, as well as the employers who are bound to contribute to the insurance funds, from arbitrary decisions, most insurance laws grant them the right of appeal in case of — 90 — disputes affecting their rights or interests. The chief grounds of such disputes are the liability to insurance, the rate .of contributions payable, and the right to benefit. DISPUTES CONCERNING BENEFITS The Conference provided in the Draft Conventions on invalidity and old age that the insured person or his legal representatives should have a right of appeal in any dispute concerning benefits. The same right was granted to the survivors of an insured person or pensioner in the Conventions concerning widows' and orphans' insurance. It was further decided that such disputes should be referred to special tribunals including judges, whether professional or not, who are specially cognisant of the purposes of insurance and of the needs of insured persons, or are assisted by assessors chosen from among insured persons and their employers ( Invalidity Conventions, Article 12, paragraphs 1 and 2; Old-Age Conventions, Article 11, paragraphs 1 and 2; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 14, paragraphs 1 and 2). DISPUTES CONCERNING LIABILITY TO INSURANCE AND RATES OF CONTRIBUTIONS In disputes concerning liability to insurance or the rate of contributions, the Draft Conventions provide that the employed persons should have a right of appeal, and that the employer should have the same right in insurance schemes for employed persons which provide for an employer's contribution. The Conventions leave it to national legislation to decide which courts should deal with disputes other than those concerning benefits (Invalidity Conventions, Article 12, paragraph 3; Old-Age Conventions, Article 11, paragraph 3; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 14, paragraph 3). § 12. — Position of Foreigners Existing invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' schemes apply in principle to all workers without distinction of nationality; but in many countries foreign workers have to fulfil certain special conditions before being admitted to insurance or granted benefits. These inequalities, which in some cases have been removed by treaties of reciprocity, but as a rule only in respect of citizens of — 91 — the contracting States, should be done away with by international regulations by their laying down the principle of equality of treatment for national and foreign workers. To this end, the Draft Conventions provide on the one hand that foreign employed persons should be liable to insurance and to the payment of contributions under the same conditions as nationals, and, on the other, that they and their dependants should be entitled under the same conditions as nationals to the benefits derived from the contributions credited to their account (Invalidity Conventions, Article 13, paragraphs 1 and 2; Old-Age Conventions, Article 12, paragraphs 1 and 2; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 15, paragraphs 1 and 2). In regard to such subsidies, supplements to or fractions of pensions as are payable out of public funds, the Draft Conventions cover only sums paid out of public funds under the normal provisions of the scheme and irrespective of the age of the insured person, leaving national laws free to restrict to their own nationals the advantages granted during the transitional period to insured persons who had passed a certain age on the date the compulsory insurance scheme came into force. The necessity for such a distinction is obvious. Although a State when introducing a compulsory insurance scheme may decide to make good, so to speak, the injustice done to its older subjects, for whom the insurance scheme has come too late, by granting them subsidies or supplementary pensions out of public funds, it can hardly be expected to accept the same responsibility with regard to foreign workers who are at the moment working in its territory, but who may have spent the greater part of their working lives in their country of origin or other countries, where they may even have been liable to insurance (Invalidity Conventions, Article 13, paragraphs 3 and 4; Old-Age Conventions, Article 12, paragraphs 3 and 4; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 13, paragraphs 3 and 4). Finally, the principle of equality of treatment is extended to the conditions under which nationals of any State which has ratified the Conventions should be entitled to their pensions in the event of residence abroad. This provision is not directed at the general conditions for the maintenance of pension rights in the case of residence abroad, the whole of that problem having been postponed for consideration in another Draft Convention. Its purpose is merely to guarantee equality in the application of any restrictions which may be laid down in the law of any country regarding residence abroad. Such restrictions should riot apply to nationals — 92 — of any State Member which has ratified the Conventions if those nationals are resident in the territory of another such Member, except in so far as such restrictions would also apply to nationals of the State in which the pension has been acquired, it being understood that such subsidies, supplements to or fractions of pensions as are payable out of public funds may be withheld (Invalidity Conventions, Article 13, paragraph 5; Old-Age Conventions, Article 12, paragraph 5; Widows' and Orphans'' Conventions, Article 15, paragraph 5). Having thus dealt with the position of foreigners as regards liability to insurance, contributions and benefits, the Conventions next consider what law should apply in relations between States. They provide that the insurance of employed persons shall be governed by the law applicable at their place of employment, provided that in the interest of continuity of insurance exceptions may be made to this rule by agreement between the Members concerned. Thus, the principle is laid down that the insurance of employed persons should be governed by the law of their place of employment, but at the same time the countries concerned are left entirely free to make exceptions to this rule so as to prevent frequent interruptions in the insurance of workers employed sometimes in one country and sometimes in another in the service of a single employer (Invalidity Conventions, Article 14; Old-Age Conventions, Article 13; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 16). The Conference did not feel it desirable to lay down definite international rules for frontier workers whose place of employment is in one country and whose place of residence is in another. The provisions governing these workers vary from country to country, and even within the same country in accordance with local requirements. The Conference therefore agreed that States should be left free to prescribe special provisions for frontier workers (Invalidity Conventions, Article 15; Old-Age Conventions, Article 14; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 17). The twofold question of the maintenance of rights in course of acquisition and of rights acquired by migrant workers was reserved, as already stated, for treatment in a separate Draft Convention. This was adopted in 1935 and its essential provisions are analysed later. — 93 — B. — NON-CONTRIBUTORY PENSIONS § 1. — Recognition of Non-Contributory Schemes in the International Regulations In a certain number of countries the risks of invalidity, old age, and the loss of the breadwinner who leaves a widow and family behind him are covered not by compulsory insurance legislation but by non-contributory pension schemes in which no contributions are paid, the resources being supplied out of public funds. Non-contributory pension schemes exist at present in Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Irish Free State, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa and the United States, as well as in France, Great Britain and Uruguay, but in the last three countries they have to a large extent been replaced by compulsory insurance legislation, The question therefore arose whether provisions concerning noncontributory pensions should be included in the international regulations. This question the Conference answered in the affirmative, and consequently the six Draft Conventions include a number of provisions concerning non-contributory pensions, with the object on the one hand of guaranteeing an individual right to a pension and excluding discretionary action by the authorities in' regard to the method of granting or fixing the pensions, and on the other of respecting the basic features of non-contributory pension schemes, which differ considerably in structure from compulsory social insurance schemes. Certain objections were raised to this assimilation, even though conditional, of non-contributory pension schemes to insurance schemes. It was argued that it would scarcely be logical for the Conference to express itself in favour of the principle of compulsory insurance and then to adopt a scheme which had so little in common with such insurance. Further, it was pointed out that the scope of compulsory insurance is as a rule restricted to employed persons, whereas the scope of a non-contributory pension scheme is always vague, the beneficiaries not being known until the risk materialises. In these circumstances how could provisions be drafted which would confer an equivalent minimum degree of protection on the workers and involve relatively equivalent social charges for Governments, considering that in non-contributory pension schemes the limit of income above which a pension is not granted is generally — 94 — much lower than the limit defining liability to compulsory insurance, 1 that the number of beneficiaries is comparatively small, and that in effect these schemes are public assistance and not insurance. These objections were not, however, considered decisive. The Conference held that the idea of non-contributory pension schemes should not be completely set aside in the international regulations, if only in order to make countries having such schemes guarantee a certain minimum degree of protection and to induce the greatest possible number of States to bind themselves by an international agreement. The question of principle having been settled, discussion next turned on the part to be played by non-contributory pension schemes in the Draft Conventions. This discussion brought to light two quite different conceptions of the place occupied by such schemes in the historical development of legislation to meet the risks of invalidity, old age and death. Some of the delegates held that there were three stages in this development : first, public assistance, under which benefits are paid at the discretion of the assistance authorities ; then non-contributory pension legislation, under which beneficiaries are granted the right to a pension if they fulfil certain conditions; finally, compulsory contributory insurance legislation. In their view the international regulations should promote and speed up this development, but should not permit a State which already had compulsory contributory insurance legislation to abandon the system and return to noncontributory pensions, which they considered would be a retrograde movement. For this reason it was suggested that the Draft Conventions should only take account of non-contributory pension schemes in existence at the time when they were voted by the Conference. Other delegates did not hold the view that non-contributory pension schemes were an intermediate stage which must inevitably lead to compulsory contributory insurance. They held that such schemes, which require no contributions from the workers and provide benefits for large sections of the population, might even be regarded as a better method of covering the risks of invalidity, old age and death than compulsory insurance schemes. They therefore proposed that the international regulations should place no obstacle in the way of the creation of new non-contributory 1 It may be added that this limit is not absolute and that many laws do not fix a maximum wage above which there is no liability to insurance, at least as regards manual workers. — 95 — pension schemes, even after the Conventions were adopted, or of the substitution of such schemes for existing compulsory insurance legislation, either when the Conventions were being ratified by any State or after ratification. The text finally adopted provides that in countries which, at the time when the Conventions first come into force, have no laws or regulations providing for compulsory invalidity, old-age or widows* and orphans' insurance, an existing non-contributory pension scheme which guarantees an individual right to a pension under the conditions defined in the Conventions shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of the Conventions (Invalidity Conventions, Article 16; Old-Age Conventions, Article 15; Widows' and Orphans* Conventions, Article 18). § 2. — Risks Covered Non-contributory pension schemes cover one or more of the following risks: invalidity, old age, and widowhood with family responsibilities. The age for admission to an old-age pension is usually 65 or 70 years. The risk of invalidity is covered only in three countries, Australia, France and Uruguay, where pensions are paid only in the event of permanent total incapacity. The difference between compulsory insurance legislation and non-contributory pension schemes is particularly marked in the case of provision against death. Under compulsory insurance legislation the widow of an insured person is entitled to a pension even if she has no family responsibilities, with the proviso in some cases that she is above a certain age or is an invalid. Under noncontributory pension legislation the right to a pension is granted only to widows or wives who have been deprived of their husbands* support and have young children to maintain. The Draft Conventions specify that an old-age pension should be awarded at an age to be determined by national laws or regulations but not exceeding 65 years, and that an invalidity pension should be payable to any person who becomes generally incapacitated for work and thereby unable to earn an appreciable remuneration (Old-Age Conventions, Article 16; Invalidity Conventions, Article 17). With regard to the risk of death, the Conventions recognise the right to a pension of every widow who has not remarried and who has at least two dependent children, and of every orphan wha — 96 — has lost both parents, leaving it to national laws or regulations to define the age until which a child should be considered dependent upon a widow or entitled to an orphan's pension, provided that this age may in no case be less than 14 (Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 19). § 3. — Conditions oí Award RESIDENCE CONDITION Practically all non-contributory pension schemes require the claimant to have been resident in the territory of the country in which the claim is made for a certain number of years immediately before applying for the pension. Two arguments are usually advanced to justify this requirement of a minimum period of residence in the State which pays the pension. In the first place, it is held that no one should receive benefits from the public funds of a community unless they have participated in the life of the community for a certain period. In the second place, steps must be taken to ensure that there will be no influx of immigrants who are aged or disabled or threatened by invalidity or of widows with family responsibilities who, if there were no condition of residence, might flock from countries where no compulsory insurance schemes or non-contributory pension schemes exist. In view of the provisions adopted concerning the maximum qualifying period under compulsory insurance and the provisions of existing non-contributory pension legislation, the Draft Conventions provide that the right to a pension should be made conditional upon the residence of the claimant in the territory of the State paying the pension during a period immediately preceding the making of the claim, and that this period should not exceed ten years for an old-age pension and five years for an invalidity pension (Old-Age Conventions, Article 17; Invalidity Conventions, Article 18). They also provide that the right to a widow's pension may be1 made conditional upon the residence in the territory of the State in question of the deceased husband during a period immediately preceding his death and of the widow during a period immediately preceding the making of her claim, and similarly that the right to an orphan's pension may be made conditional upon the residence, in the territory of the State during a period immediately preceding — 97 — death, of whichever of the parents died the more recently. These periods should be fixed by national law, but should in no case exceed five years (Widow's and Orphans' Conventions, Article 20). ECONOMIC CONDITION: MEANS LIMIT All non-contributory pension schemes prescribe as one of their essential features a limit of annual income beyond which no pensions are granted. This principle was accepted by the Conference, and the Draft Conventions leave it open to national laws and regulations to make the payment of pensions conditional on an annual means limit (Invalidity Conventions, Article 19, paragraph 1; Old-Age Conventions, Article 18, paragraph 1 ; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 21, paragraph 1). Amount of Means Limit The protective value of non-contributory pension legislation evidently depends to a great extent on the level at which the means limit is fixed. It is impossible to determine from the legislation of different countries what principles have been followed in fixing this limit, and the rate of pensions is generally very low. If pensions are to fulfil their purpose, they should, however, cover the essential needs of beneficiaries who have no other resources. The Draft Conventions accordingly provide that a claimant should be entitled to a pension if his means do not exceed a limit to be fixed by national laws or regulations with due regard to the minimum cost of living (Invalidity Conventions, Article 19, paragraph 1; Old-Age Conventions, Article 18, paragraph 1; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 21, paragraph 1). Income not Reckoned towards Means Limit As pensions are in principle granted to persons whose income is not adequate for their support, their amount is higher when that income is low. In a number of laws this general principle is modified by an important corrective, the legislation specifying that certain resources are not taken into account in reckoning means. The purpose of this exemption, which may be general and cover all income or capital not exceeding a certain limit, or may apply only to certain kinds of resources, is to promote thrift. The Conference agreed that for the purpose of assessing the means of the claimant, means up to a level to be determined by 7 — 98 — national laws or regulations should be exempted (Invalidity Conventions, Article 19, paragraph 2; Old-Age Conventions, Article 18, paragraph 2; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 21, paragraph 2). § 4. — Computation of Pensions In practically all non-contributory pension legislation the amount of the pension depends on the resources of the claimant after deducting such sums as may be exempt. Pensions may thus bear a strict arithmetical relation to means or may be roughly adjusted to them at the discretion of the authorities. With the first method, the legislation defines exactly how the means of the claimant beyond the exemption limit shall be taken into account in determining the amount of the pension. There is then no possibility of an arbitrary decision by the authorities, and any person can reckon in advance the amount of the pension to which he is entitled, and can appeal to the competent authorities if it is not paid. With the second method, the authorities are left free to determine the amount of the pension in view of the circumstances in each particular case. This method has the advantage of being more elastic than the former and of enabling the authorities to adjust the pension more completely to individual conditions. On the other hand, it has the disadvantage that it leaves the door open to every kind of arbitrary decision and weakens the conception of the pension as a right, acquired as soon as certain specified conditions are fulfilled. The Conference adopted an intermediate solution. The rate of pension should be an amount which, together with any means of the claimant in excess of the means exempted, is at least sufficient to cover the essential needs of the pensioner (Invalidity Conventions, Article 20; Old-Age Conventions, Article 19; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 22). § 5. — Right of Appeal The existence of a right of appeal is, or should be, one of the most important features of non-contributory pension schemes. It is, indeed, the recognition of this right which makes such schemes superior to social assistance. If a claimant is refused a pension or is granted a pension at a lower rate than he considers he is entitled to claim, he must have the right of appeal against the decision of — 99 — the original authority, either to a higher administrative authority, or to a special court, or to an ordinary court of law. In point of fact, the right of appeal is far from being generally recognised in legislation on non-contributory pensions. In many States the decisions of the local authorities are beyond appeal. This is exactly contrary to one of the conditions on which non-contributory pension schemes can be treated on the same footing as social insurance schemes, namely that they should guarantee an individual right to a pension, acquired in clearly defined circumstances. The Draft Conventions accordingly lay down two fundamental principles. The claimant should have a right of appeal in any dispute concerning the award of a pension or the rate thereof, and the appeal should lie to an authority other than the authority which gave the decision in the first instance (Invalidity Conventions, Article 21 ; Old-Age Conventions, Article 20; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 23). § 6. — Position of Foreigners Non-contributory old-age or invalidity pensions are awarded either as an expression of the social responsibility of the community towards its members or as a return for services rendered to the community by the claimants in the course of their working lives. If the point of view of social responsibility is chiefly or exclusively adopted, then the right to a pension will be restricted to nationals of the country in question. If, on the other hand, the basic idea is that of economic services rendered to the community, then the right to a pension will be extended to aliens or at least to those who have been resident in the country for a certain period and have therefore been in a position to contribute to the prosperity of the country in which they have worked, paid taxes, spent their earnings, etc. Many old-age and invalidity pension laws do in fact require the claimant to be a national of the State by which the pension is paid. In the case of widows' and orphans' pensions the nationality condition is not so strict. Less importance is attached to the nationahty of the parents and especially that of the father. The condition of nationality is still applied to the mother in a good many national laws. As non-contributory pensions are paid out of public funds, the Conference approved a solution similar to that adopted under compulsory insurance for the payment to foreigners of subsidies, — 100 — Supplements to or fractions of pensions out of public funds. In other words, pensions should be granted under the same conditions to nationals of the country and to nationals of other States which have ratified the Conventions (Invalidity Conventions, Article 22, paragraph 1; Old-Age Conventions, Article 21, paragraph 1; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 24, paragraph 1), Nevertheless, in order to prevent any risk of immigration for the sole purpose of obtaining a pension, and to ensure that the claimants have contributed over a sufficiently long period to the prosperity of the country of their adoption, the Conventions leave it to national laws or regulations to make the award of a pension to foreigners conditional upon the completion of a period of residence in the territory of the State which may not exceed by more than five years the period of residence prescribed for nationals (Invalidity Conventions, Article 22, paragraph 2; Old-Age Conventions, Article 21, paragraph 2; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 24, paragraph 2). § 7. — Forfeiture or Suspension of Pensions National laws generally specify a number of cases in which the pension is forfeited or suspended. A pension may, for example, be withheld, withdrawn, or suspended if the claimant or the pensioner is not of good behaviour, has deserted his family, has been sentenced to imprisonment, is a habitual beggar or drunkard etc. The six Draft Conventions stipulate that the right to a pension may be forfeited or suspended in whole or in part if the person concerned has obtained or attempted to obtain a pension by fraud, and may be suspended in whole or in part while he is being entirely maintained at the public expense. In addition, the Draft Conventions concerning old-age and invalidity contain clauses providing for the forfeiture or suspension of the right to a pension in whole or in part if the person in question has been sentenced to imprisonment for a criminal offence or has persistently refused to earn his living by work compatible with his strength and capacity. Finally, the invalidity Conventions further provide that the right to a pension may be forfeited or suspended in whole or in part if the person concerned has brought about his invalidity by a criminal offence or wilful misconduct (Invalidity Conventions, Article 23; Old-Age Conventions, Article 22; Widows' and Orphans' Conventions, Article 25). — 101 — CHAPTER IV MAINTENANCE OF MIGRANT WORKERS' PENSION RIGHTS During its Nineteenth Session (1935) the Conference adopted a Draft Convention concerning the establishment of an international scheme for the maintenance of rights under invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance. An account of the chief aspects of the problem with which the Conference had to deal and of the solutions adopted is given below. § 1. — Problem of the Maintenance of Rights In long-term insurance the rights of the insured person always depend in one way or another on the time spent in insurance, that is to say on the number and, in most insurance schemes, also on the amount of the contributions paid during that time. Under invalidity and survivors' insurance schemes the right to a pension is always made conditional on the completion of a qualifying period entailing the payment of a specified number of contributions, either from the date of the insured person's entry into insurance (e.g. 250 weekly contributions from the age of 16 years) or during a specified period immediately preceding invalidity or death (e.g. 100 weekly contributions during the last five years). In old-age insurance, too, the time spent in insurance is a determining factor, whether the right to a pension is conditional on the completion of a qualifying period or whether certain advantages, such as a guaranteed minimum pension, are conditional on the payment of a specified number of contributions on the insured person's account. Moreover, apart from any guaranteed minimum pension, the rate of the pension is determined in most countries by the length of insurance. Another important factor in the problem is that quite a number of insurance schemes make the right to a pension conditional not only on the payment of the specified number of contributions, but also on a certain degree of regularity in their payment, the validity of paid-up contributions being maintained only if a minimum number of fresh contributions are paid within a prescribed time limit. — 102 — The Conference recognised at the outset that the conditions of the qualifying period and of the maintenance of the validity of contributions are impossible of fulfilment for workers whose search for employment leads them to transfer to another country and another insurance scheme. If at the time of his departure to another country, the migrant has not completed his qualifying period in the country of emigration, he is obliged to continue his insurance in that country on pain of forfeiting the rights he is in course of acquiring there. The insurance institution of his new country of residence takes no account of the contributions paid on his behalf in the other country, but requires him to complete a new qualifying period and maintain his rights. Thus, if invalidity or death occurs before the migrant has completed the qualifying period prescribed under the insurance scheme of the country of immigration, he and his family are deprived of all their rights. In order to meet this situation, the Conference considered it essential to organise the maintenance of rights in course of acquisition on behalf of migrants. The Conference went a step further, however, and examined the other aspect of the problem of the maintenance of rights, that is, the maintenance of acquired rights, recognising the necessity of laying down as an international rule the principle of the maintenance of rights acquired under invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance. Insurance benefits are provided in return for the contributions paid and represent a strict legal right. Under a number of national schemes, however, this rule is subject to restriction in the case of insured persons resident abroad. The continuation of the pension may be made subject to permission from the administrative authorities ; the pension may be commuted for a lump sum smaller than its capital value; or it may be suspended in whole or in part so long as the claimant is resident abroad. These restrictions are unfair to social insurance pensioners who are obliged to change their country of residence, and the Conference therefore decided that the rights acquired under long-term insurance should be safeguarded under an international scheme. § 2. — Maintenance of Rights in course of Acquisition Among the various methods of maintaining the rights of workers who have been insured successively with the institutions of two or more countries, the Conference adopted that which establishes the — 103 — \ continuity of the migrant's insurance career. The insurance periods spent by the migrant in various countries are regarded as forming a continuous whole, so t h a t all these periods are taken into account in each country and the migrant is no longer in danger of forfeiting the benefit of the contributions paid on his behalf. This method is empirical and only roughly accurate, but has t h e advantage of simplicity. In deciding whether the migrant is entitled to benefit, each institution takes into account not only the insurance periods spent under its own scheme, but also those spent with any other institution participating in the international scheme. In return, each institution is entitled to deduct a specified proportion of the benefits or benefit components which are fixed without regard to the time spent in insurance, the calculation of the other benefits or benefit components being unaffected by the totalisation of insurance periods. • ^ ^ e rule of the totalisation of insurance periods was accepted without -^position both by the Committee set up by the Conference and subsequently at the plenary session. It applies to all persons irrespective of nationality who have been affiliated to insurance * ' v "^tutions in two or more States Members participating in the intei. "\tional scheme established by the Draft Convention (Convention, Artige 2, paragraph 1). A wider a ^ m t i o n of the insurance periods to be totalised is allowed of the maintenance of rights (which merely consolidates previouSi\paid-up contributions) than in calculating the qualifying period ^;hich establishes the right to benefit). Contribution periods are totalised in any case, both for the purpose of maintaining rights and for the completion of the qualifying period. Periods for which no contributions were payable, on t h e other hand, are totalised in calculating the qualifying period only on the twofold condition that they would be taken into account for this purpose both under the legislation governing the scheme under which they were spent and under the legislation governing the institution which is totalising. For the purpose of maintaining rights, it is sufficient that such periods should be recognised by the legislation under which they were spent (Article 2, paragraphs 2 and 3). As stated above, the totalisation of insurance periods goes hand in hand with the reduction of the benefits fixed without regard to the time spent in insurance. The Conference had to lay down the conditions under which this reduction should be applied and to prescribe t h a t no reduction should be made in the benefits or — 104 — benefit components varying with the time spent in insurance and unaffected by the totalisation of insurance periods. It therefore decided that only those benefits which are determined independently of the time spent in insurance may be reduced by each institution, bejng reduced in the ratio of the periods spent with it to the total of the periods of the migrant's insurance with all the institutions to which he has successively belonged (Convention, Article 3, paragraphs 1-3). The scheme for the maintenance of rights ensures that migrants shall obtain a return for the payments made on their behalf in the different countries. This does not prejudice the rights of other insured persons, since the insurance institutions are entitled to reduce some of the benefits due to migrants. Owing to the fact that the insurance institutions may reduce the benefits fixed irrespective of the time spent in insurance, it may happen in individual cases that the total of the benefits calculated by the different institutions is less than that which a single institution would have had to pay on the basis of the insurance periods spent under its scheme alone; in other words, in certain cases the maintenance scheme might operate to the migrant's disadvantage. In order to prevent this eventuality, the Conference approved a clause guaranteeing to claimants receiving benefit in two or more countriep a total sum at least equal to that to which they would have been entitled in respect of the insurance periods spent with any one of those countries (Article 5). This protective clause is of considerable value to migrants and their dependants, because it ensures that in any event they shall receive benefits as high as those of claimants who have been insured in one country only. The Conference confined itself to laying down the rules essential to safeguard the rights of migrants, leaving the States Members participating in the international scheme as much freedom as was compatible with the object of the scheme. The Members concerned may by agreement make provision for the reckoning of benefits by any other method, provided that such method does not injure the rights of migrant workers Article 6 (a)). Members may also agree to discharge their liability to the insured person and his dependants by paying to the insurance institution of the country to which he has emigrated the capital representing the rights in course of acquisition by him at the date of his departure, the latter institution undertaking to apply the capital in the sole interest of the migrant concerned (Article 6 (&))• — 105 — § 3. — Maintenance of Acquired Rights A social insurance pensioner who has to leave the country in which the institution liable for the payment of his pension is established must be able to maintain in his new country of residence the rights acquired under the insurance scheme of the first country. In accordance with the results of the consultation of Governments the Office had suggested to the Conference that a distinction should be made between benefits acquired as a result of contributions paid and benefit components payable out of public funds. The Committee of the Conference maintained this distinction. In the case of benefits acquired in return for contributions paid, it accepted the view that these should be secured to persons who had been insured in a State Member participating in the international scheme, irrespective of their nationality, so long as they continued to reside in the territory of any such Member. The Conference decided that the maintenance of acquired rights should be confined to persons resident in the territory of a Member participating in the scheme, unless they are nationals of such a Member, when they retain their right to benefits acquired in return for contributions paid, irrespective of their place of residence (Convention, Article 10, paragraph 1). As regards benefit components payable out of public funds, the Office had proposed that Members participating in the scheme should have the option of making their payment conditional on the fulfilment of a twofold condition respecting the nationality of the pensioner and his country of residence. Pension components provided out of public funds would in that case be paid abroad only to nationals of a Member participating in the international scheme who reside in the territory of such a Member. On this point an amendment was moved in the Committee set up by the Conference, reserving the settlement of the whole question of the payment abroad of supplements to or fractions of pensions payable out of public funds for supplementary agreements between the Members concerned. This amendment was carefully considered by the Committee. Its author pointed out that benefit components payable out of public funds were of a different nature from insurance benefits and had the character of assistance rather than insurance. It was also probable that those countries of immigration which generally make large grants to social insurance might be unwilling to assume too extensive liabilities in respect of the payment abroad of such — 106 — supplements to or fractions of pensions as are payable out of public funds. Against these arguments it was objected that the source of the funds, whether they are derived from contributions or from subsidies from the public authorities, was not a valid reason for restricting or reducing the rights of the insured persons, and that such supplements to or fractions of pensions as are payable out of public funds also formed an essential element in insurance. Following a lengthy discussion, during which the views both of emigration and of immigration countries were put forward, a compromise was reached thanks to the conciliatory spirit shown by the delegates. In accordance with the Office's suggestions the text finally adopted by the Conference provides that the international scheme shall cover pension components payable out of public funds, but that in the event of the pensioner's residence abroad the payment of these components shall be guaranteed only to the nationals of a Member participating in the scheme. Moreover, during the first five years of the application of the scheme the States Members assume no liability for the payment abroad of pension components payable out of public funds, being bound during this period only by any supplementary agreements they may have concluded among themselves (Convention, Article 10, paragraphs 2 and 3). The Conference also decided that the pensions to be maintained under the international scheme may not be commuted for a lump sum smaller than their capital value, but it allowed the commutation for a lump sum, calculated according to the laws and regulations governing the institution liable, of pensions the monthly value of which is inconsiderable (Convention, Article 11). § 4. — Mutual Assistance in Administration The application of the scheme for the maintenance of pension rights requires regular co-operation between the insurance institutions and administrative and judicial authorities responsible for applying the insurance legislation of the Members participating in the scheme. The organisation of mutual assistance is essential for the efficient operation of the scheme. The Conference therefore laid down a number of rules to govern co-operation between the authorities and insurance institutions of the States Members concerned. The Draft Convention provides that these authorities and institutions shall afford each other — 107 — mutual assistance, that the privilege of exemption from fees allowed under the legislation of any one Member in respect of documents furnished to^ts authorities or insurance institutions shall be extended to the corresponding documents furnished to the authorities and insurance institutions of any other Member, and that the insurance institution of the beneficiary's place of residence may, at the request of the institution liable, undertake the payment of benefits, etc. In so far as the Members concerned do not otherwise agree, the expenses of administrative assistance are repayable by the institution which has asked for assistance (Convention, Articles 14-16). § 5. — Operation of International Scheme The international scheme for the maintenance of pension rights will create close and regular relations between the Members participating in the scheme and their insurance institutions, and the Conference therefore had to lay down the conditions for the operation of the scheme. With this object it first defined the liabilities to be undertaken by the States Members in regard to the nature and scope of long-term insurance. In consideration of the fact that the participation in the scheme of a State Member which had not established any kind of compulsory long-term insurance would be valueless to other Members, the Office text had provided that any Member which had not already introduced a compulsory old-age insurance scheme providing for the payment of pensions at an age not later than 65 years should undertake to set up such a scheme, covering the majority of persons employed in industrial and commercial undertakings, within twelve months after the registration of its ratification. The Committee of the Conference approved this proposal but wished to make it easier for Members to participate in the international scheme. It therefore proposed to the Conference, which adopted the suggestion without opposition, that Members adhering to the international scheme should set up at their own choice, and within twelve months after the registration of their ratification, either a compulsory old-age insurance scheme for the majority of persons employed in industrial and commercial undertakings or a scheme of insurance against the three risks of invalidity, old age and death covering a substantial proportion of the persons employed in industrial and commercial undertakings (Convention, Article 17). — 108 — As the international scheme is intended to protect the rights of migrant workers, in particular of those who are nationals of a Member participating in the scheme, the Draft Convention provides that each Member shall treat the nationals of other Members participating in the scheme on the same footing as its own nationals for the purpose of liability to compulsory insurance and of insurance benefits, including benefit components payable out of public funds (Article 18, paragraph 1). The coming into force of the Draft Convention to establish an international scheme for the maintenance of pension rights is governed by the same rules as apply to most of the other Draft Conventions adopted by the Conference. The scheme will come into force twelve months after the registration of its ratification by two States Members, and subsequently for each Member twelve months after the registration of its ratification (Article 24). It remained for the Conference to specify the effects of the scheme in regard to insurance periods completed and rights acquired before it came into force. It was decided that in applying the scheme account should be taken of insurance periods completed prior to its coming into force, and that claims settled previously should be reviewed under specified conditions, provided that such review does not involve the payment of arrears of, or the refund of, benefits for the period prior to the coming into force of the Convention (Article 21). By the decisions described above the Conference set up a complete and detailed scheme for the maintenance of rights in invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance. In order to facilitate its application, it empowered the Members concerned to enter into mutual agreements regarding the methods of applying the rules governing the maintenance of rights. With this object it provided for the establishment in connection with the International Labour Office of a Commission consisting of one delegate for each Member, together with three persons appointed respectively by the Government, Employers' and Workers' groups of the Governing Body. It will be the duty of this Commission to assist the national authorities concerned by making recommendations as to the manner in which the Convention is to be applied (Article 20). In view of the existence of special treaties concluded between certain States Members to regulate the maintenance of rights in pension insurance, the Conference thought it advisable to give States Members participating in the general scheme the power of derogating from its provisions by special treaty. Members who — 109 — agree to do so will therefore be at liberty to observe in their mutual relations rules other than those sanctioned by the Conference, provided that such rules are at least as favourable on the whole as the general regulations provided by the Convention (Article 19). The Conference thus gave the Convention as much flexibility as is compatible with its essential object, which is to enable persons insured under social insurance schemes who are obliged by the vicissitudes of their existence to change their country of residence to receive as a definite right in return for their provident effort a fair share in insurance benefits. — 110 — CHAPTER V SOME FINAL OBSERVATIONS By adopting, at its 1935 Session, a Draft Convention providing for an international scheme for the maintenance of rights under invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance, the International Labour Conference completed the cycle of general Conventions concerning workmen's compensation for accidents, sickness insurance and invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance. The body of international regulations due to the efforts of the Conference represents a considerable achievement. Although achieved in several stages, the work of the Conference forms an organic whole and lays down an entire programme of action, defining a policy to be followed in the field of social insurance. This achievement, but just completed, must now undergo the test of time and will no doubt have to be revised some day to bring it into line with future economic and social developments. But as it stands to-day it has already proved itself well adapted to the purposes for which it was devised and carried out. This is shown by the fact that by November 1935 a total of 97 ratifications, coming from 35 different States Members, had already been registered for the Draft Conventions concerning workmen's compensation for accidents and sickness insurance alone; those dealing with invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance still await the decision of the competent authorities in the majority of countries. This is an impressive figure; it reflects the results as a whole and bears witness to a will to progress which is common to a great many of the States Members of the Organisation. Behind the.figures is marshalled an unsuspected sum of effort, for in each country every decision in favour of ratification is scrupulously weighed in the course of debates at which all the special interests concerned are brought face to face. But although the total figure for the number of ratifications registered for a group of Conventions may impress the imagination, — ill — it gives a very incomplete notion of the real effects attaching t o the formal act of registration. In order properly to grasp these effects, each ratification should be considered separately, its significance varying according to the Convention concerned and the social and economic structure of the ratifying country. Before assigning its due weight to every ratification, the Conventions also should be considered one by one, and the amendments each ratifying country has been obliged to make in its national legislation to bring it into harmony with the international provisions should be examined. Moreover, in order to ascertain to what extent a Convention has really affected the decisions of the national legislature in each country and the protection guaranteed t o persons covered by its social insurance schemes, it would be necessary to study all the preparatory work which led up t o ratification, a long and tedious process which would go beyond t h e scope of the present purpose. The sole object of the following observations is to give, with the help of a few typical examples, a very general idea of the progress achieved in consequence of t h e ratification of certain social insurance Conventions. 1. The Convention concerning workmen's compensation for accidents gave international sanction to the principle of occupational risk, which it definitively substituted for the principle of the employer's liability in connection with industrial accidents. The 16 ratifications obtained by this Convention to date represent so many international undertakings to ensure that the workers injured as a result of industrial accidents, and their dependants, shall obtain compensation on terms at least equal to those provided by the Convention. The most important of these terms relate t o the scope of the laws and regulations governing compensation or accident insurance and the form to be taken by compensation for accidents resulting in permanent incapacity or death; there are also specific provisions dealing with the injured workers' right to the medical, surgical and pharmaceutical aid necessary in consequence of the accident, and with the measures to be taken to ensure that injured workers and their dependants shall actually receive the benefits due. As regards the scope of the legislation providing for workmen's compensation or accident insurance, the engagement entered into by ratification implies the obligation to apply the relevant laws and regulations, subject to a few exceptions permitted by t h e Convention, to all workmen, employees and apprentices employed by any enterprise, undertaking or establishment of whatsoever — 112 — nature, whether public or private. 1 The general formula thus sanctioned b y the Convention implies the renunciation by the ratifying countries of the power to fix or maintain a limitative list of the undertakings to which the principle of occupational risk applies. This renunciation precludes all possibility of an arbitrary limitation of the accident compensation scheme, and indeed several countries were actually obliged, on ratifying the Convention, to abolish certain restrictions formerly imposed on the scope of their accident compensation or insurance schemes in order to comply with the obligation assumed under the Convention. Moreover, as the Convention applies without distinction to all workers, employees and apprentices, and does not allow the fixing of a wage limit except in the case of non-manual workers, ratification also implies the abolition of a wage limit applicable to every class of worker. This twofold obligation assumed by States Members ratifying the Convention in respect of the undertakings and workers covered by the scheme commits them to the general application of the principle of occupational risk. The Convention provides that the compensation due in the case of accidents resulting in permanent incapacity or death must be paid in the form of a pension, thus abolishing the system of paying compensation in the form of a lump sum fixed without regard to the age of the injured worker. This rule marks a notable advance in t h a t it increases the economic and social security afforded to the injured worker and his dependants. The same is true of the provision conferring on workers injured in accidents the right to medical aid and to such surgical and pharmaceutical aid as is recognised to be necessary in consequence of the accident, and also of that relating to the supply and normal renewal of all necessary artificial limbs and surgical appliances. Practically every country ratifying the Convention has had to amend its national law and practice in order to bring it into conformity with these articles, which set no limit of time to the injured worker's right to these benefits. Without going so far as to lay down definite rules to guarantee the workers against the insolvency of the employer, the Convention nevertheless places States Members which ratify it under the obligation to ensure the payment of compensation to injured workers and their dependants in all circumstances and to safeguard 1 Compensation for occupational accidents in agriculture is, however, governed by a special Convention; cf. infra, p. 113. — 113 — them against the insolvency of the employer or insurance carrier. While remaining free to devise such system of guarantees as they may consider most suitable, the States Members party to the Convention may not evade the obligation to take measures to ensure that the injured workers and their dependants shall actually receive the compensation due. In practice, ratifying countries discharge this obligation either by making it compulsory for employers to insure with institutions approved and supervised by the public authorities, or, where insurance is not compulsory, by setting up a guarantee fund financed by uninsured employers and required to step in should any such employer become insolvent. H ere again, as on many other points regulated by the Convention, a real advance in the direction of wider protection of the rights of workers injured in industrial accidents has been made in many of the countries party to the Convention. 2. The Convention concerning workmen's compensation for accidents in agriculture provides for the extension of the scheme providing compensation for the victims of occupational accidents to cover all agricultural workers. This Convention has received 20 ratifications up to date, giving the agricultural wage earners of the countries concerned the assurance of inclusion in the compensation scheme and an equal title with industrial workers to the protection of national legislation. The States Members recognise by ratifying this Convention that the principle of occupational risk applies also to agriculture, and assume a strict liability to provide against this risk, thus putting an end to all arbitrary discrimination against agricultural workers. Even without the Convention, the principle of occupational risk would doubtless have been extended in due course to agricultural workers also, but the Convention has played an important part in speeding up the movement in favour of equality of rights for agricultural workers by giving this principle the sanction of an international rule. 3. The Convention concerning equality of treatment for national and foreign workers as regards workmen's compensation for accidents has a different purpose: that of abolishing, as between States Members party to the Convention and for the benefit of nationals of such countries, the exceptions to the rules governing accident compensation hitherto prescribed in respect of injured workers of foreign nationality and their dependants. The Convention provides 8 — 114 — that every ratifying country shall grant to the nationals of any other Member which has also ratified the same treatment in respect of workmen's compensation as it grants to its own nationals, this equality of treatment being guaranteed to foreign workers and their dependants without any condition as to residence. The 34 ratifications registered up to November 1935 testify to the full success of the Conference's efforts to free the right to compensation from all restrictions based on nationality or place of residence. A large number of States Members have responded to the Conference's appeal to abolish in their relations with each other all discriminatory treatment based on the political status of workers injured in industrial accidents. This undertaking has a twofold bearing : in the first place, it ensures that in every country party to the Convention the nationals of all other countries which have also ratified it shall enjoy equality of treatment with that country's own nationals, and secondly, it makes this right independent of any condition as to residence. When the Convention was adopted in 1925 there were very few countries whose legislation granted the same rights to aliens as to their own nationals, and the restrictions to which the former were subject were both many and serious, resulting in some cases in the loss of all rights. But under the stimulus of the Convention and thanks to the action taken by Members which have ratified it, the application of the principle of equality of treatment has been very considerably extended during recent years. The scheme introduced by the Convention already covers hundreds of thousands of workers and their dependants, and their numbers are increasing with every new ratification. The recognition of the principle that the right to compensation is inviolable and unaffected by conditions of nationality and residence represents a very considerable advance in the field of social progress. Undoubtedly the prospect of reciprocity provided by the Convention has contributed very largely to its success, but even apart from this principle of reciprocity the Convention has carried out a most effective social campaign on behalf of equality of treatment in respect of workmen's compensation for accidents. 4. The 16 ratifications of the Draft Convention concerning sickness insurance for workers in industry and commerce so far registered commit the countries concerned to a formal undertaking to introduce and maintain a system of compulsory sickness insurance based on provisions at least equal to those contained in the Convention, and to apply this system to manual and non-manual — 115 — workers and apprentices employed by industrial and commercial undertakings, outworkers and domestic servants. Of the 16 countries which have adhered to this Convention 11 have also ratified the Draft Convention concerning sickness insurance for agricultural workers, thus undertaking the obligation to apply compulsory sickness insurance to workers in agriculture and similar occupations. The obligations assumed by ratification do not relate solely to the scope of the insurance scheme to be set up. The Conventions contain other equally definite provisions, which include in particular articles conferring on insured persons who are incapable of work the right to the payment of cash benefit intended to make good the loss of their earnings for a specified period and the right to treatment by a fully qualified medical practioner and to the supply of proper and sufficient medicines and appliances. Provision is also made for the administration of insurance by self-governing institutions, under the administrative and financial supervision of the competent public authority and not carried on with a view to profit, for the participation of the insured persons and their employers in providing the financial resources of the insurance scheme, and for the granting to the insured person of a right of appeal in case of dispute concerning his right to benefit. In order to discharge the obligation concerning the scope of the Convention, certain ratifying countries have found themselves obliged to enlarge their definition of the persons liable to compulsory insurance and to abolish exceptions of which the Convention does not allow. Others have had to extend to 26 weeks the shorter period formerly fixed for the payment of cash benefit in the event of incapacity for work, while some have had to remove the conditions previously attached to the grant of medical aid, since the Conventions allow the fixing of a qualifying period only in respect of cash benefit and not of benefits in kind. In measuring the extent of the progress made, the changes and improvements thus introduced in the benefit schemes of previously established insurance systems deserve to be taken into consideration equally with the introduction of entirely new insurance schemes set up in fulfilment of the obligation undertaken by ratifying the Convention. The Draft Conventions concerning invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance have not yet formally come into force, so that as yet there are no material results to record — 116 — Nevertheless, these regulations, adopted when the economic depression was at its worst and in response to a widespread demand for economic and social security, seem destined in the near future to give an impetus to rapid and far-reaching action leading to fresh practical results. But even before their ratification these Draft Conventions have already begun to exercise a real and definite influence by the mere fact of their adoption by the Conference, for the Conference decisions, based as they are on a comprehensive international comparison of the experiments made and experience gained,. represent general agreement as to the best lines of action for the future. Ratification is, of course, of vital importance in the case of all Conventions, for only when officially ratified do they create a real network of reciprocal obligations, protected by guarantees as to their application and involving international responsibilities. But it is nevertheless true that the decisions adopted by the Conference in the form of Draft Conventions and Recommendations have manifold effects going far beyond the mere measures attaching to ratification and stimulating the development of social insurance. The principles on which the decisions of the Conference are based have indeed proved themselves a stimulus to action on a wide scale, quite apart from any kind of formal undertaking, and the merit for this is due to the prudent yet steady will to progress by which they are inspired. The international scheme for the regulation of social insurance, built up of the elements and methods that have best stood the test of experience, represents an integration of all the tendencies that have characterised the development of insurance. It is at one and the same time a driving force leading to fresh conquests and a check to prevent backsliding, the focus for national movements in their path to progress. The work of the International Labour Conference, as a complete and general plan of social security, is followed with special attention in those countries which, under its influence, are just beginning to build up a social insurance scheme. The measures proposed in the Conventions and Recommendations are confidently adopted and determine the general trend of the new social insurance laws. Even in countries in which social insurance is already an old-established institution, and which have their own traditions in the matter, the Conventions and Recommendations often furnish the occasion for a review of the legislation in force or affect the course of reforms already in progress. A study of the decisions of the Conference does not, of course, invariably lead to the immediate adoption of — 117 — measures which are entirely in harmony with those proposed by the Conference, but it does lead in the majority of cases to an approximation which gives promise of full conformity in the near future. It is not possible within the scope of this study to enquire more closely into the manifold effects of the work of the Conference. Its results are substantial, and in one form or another its influence is constantly present in the development of ideas and of legislation. * * * It is the function of the International Labour Office, as the organ for preparing the Conference decisions and at the same time for centralising and disseminating all information bearing on the international regulation of the workers' status and conditions of employment, to second the activity of the Conference. In addition to the documents serving as the instruments for the work of those Sessions of the Conference which have dealt with questions of social insurance (Grey Reports, questionnaires, Blue Reports *) the Social Insurance Section of the Office has also had to prepare technical studies dealing with the various kinds of insurance on the agenda of the successive Sessions of the Conference and containing an analysis of national legislation and of the results of its application.2 This series of technical reports has rapidly earned high appreciation among those responsible for drafting the relevant Bills and regulations. Government departments and insurance institutions, the committees of experts responsible for the preparatory work, rapporteurs, and even Parliamentary committees, have fallen into the habit of consulting these volumes with a view to obtaining information on the solutions adopted in social insurance problems and taking advantage of the experience gained in other countries. This practice of international research and comparison, originated and encouraged by the publications of the International Labour Office, has helped very largely to give international currency to such ideas and methods as have proved useful and feasible. Although at first mainly confined to European countries, the movement of interest in social insurance questions aroused by the publications of the Office has long since spread to oversea countries, which are now fully committed to a social insurance policy. 1 2 Cf. pp. 22-25. Cf. pp. 12-18. — 118 — Documentary works conceived on general lines obviously cannot exhaust all the problems of a legislative and administrative order arising in connection with social insurance. Those responsible for the preparation of social insurance schemes and for the administration of central insurance institutions are applying more and more often to the Office for international documentation. In some cases indeed—and these are becoming increasingly frequent—the Office is directly associated with the preparation of social insurance measures. Draft legislation is submitted to it for an opinion on the general lines of a proposed insurance scheme or on the amendments to be made in existing legislation in order to meet new possibilities or requirements. The Office is also sometimes invited to send a representative to sit on the national technical or administrative committees charged with the duty of preparing for the introduction of new legislation or the reform of a scheme already in force. These are so many opportunities for the Office to apply the lessons taught by the comparison of the experience of different countries, to deduce from this experience authoritative principles of action, and to guide the action taken by the individual countries into channels consistent with the decisions of the Conference. The Office is now about to supplement its work of information and collaboration to promote the development of social insurance and the application of the principles of the Convention by a series of studies undertaken in response to insistent demands and to be carried out with the help of its International Committee of Experts on Social Insurance. The Social Insurance Section has drawn up a scheme of international studies based on the most pressing of the suggestions received and those of the most obvious current importance, on subjects of vital concern to any rationally organised system of insurance: studies of actuarial technique bearing on the statistical basis, actuarial estimates and financial organisation of invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance ; studies of financial technique describing the methods followed in the administration of the finances of long-term insurance ; medico-social studies to determine the most efficient and economical methods of organising medical and pharmaceutical benefits under sickness insurance, etc. Thus a new phase is now opening in the development of the work of the International Labour Office. The preparation of texts establishing a co-ordinated system of rules for the organisation of complete social insurance schemes has been succeeded by the — 119 — study of the measures introduced by Governments, and in many cases by co-operation with them in applying these principles. With the studies now on its programme, which it intends to carry out with the aid of its tried methods of investigation, the Office hopes to make yet another contribution to the improvement of social insurance by determining in each case the solutions for which the problems studied call and which promise to ensure the most effective and efficient operation of the institutions. APPENDICES APPENDIX I Texts of the General Resolution concerning Social Insurance and of the Draft Conventions and Recommendations adopted by the International Labour Conference on Workmen's Compensation, Sickness Insurance, and Invalidity, Old-Age, and Survivors' Insurance The text of the general resolution concerning social insurance adopted by the International Labour Conference at its 1925 session, together with those of the draft Conventions and Recommendations adopted at its 1925, 1927, 1933, and 1935 sessions, are given below. The texts are grouped according to subject, and are given in the order of their adoption by the Conference at its successive sessions. The order-numbers attached to the various draft Conventions and Recommendations are those appearing in the brochure containing the texts of all the Draft Conventions and Recommendations adopted by the Conference at its eighteen sessions, held 1919-1934,1 published by the International Labour Office. It must be pointed out that Draft Conventions adopted by the Conference become effective when the number of ratifications specified in the text have been registered. To the text of each Convention a note is given, showing the date on which it came into force and the States whose ratification had been received by 1 November 1935. A. — GENERAL RESOLUTION CONCERNING SOCIAL INSURANCE Resolution adopted by the International Labour Conference at its Seventh Session (1925) Whereas the maintenance of a healthy and vigorous labour supply is of capital importance, not only for wage earners themselves, but also for industrial communities desirous of developing their productive capacity; i INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION: Draft Conventions and Recommendations adopted by the International Labour Conference at its eighteen sessions held 1919-1934. International Labour Office, Geneva, 1934. Price: 3 Swiss francs. For Convention No. 48, see INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE: Official Bulletin, Vol. XX, No. 3, 15 August 1935, pp. 74-83. — 122 — And whereas this development is only attainable by constant and systematic endeavour to obviate all avoidable loss or diminution in the efficiency or earning capacity of wage earners; And whereas a system of labour regulations, if true to the principle of social justice, must secure the effective protection of the workers against risks endangering their livelihood, or that of their families ; And whereas this protection can best be attained by means of the establishment of a system of social insurance granting clearly defined rights to the beneficiaries, The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation, having noted that Several States have secured their working-class population against occupational and non-occupational risks by establishing systems of social insurance covering almost all workers and their families, and that these systems (1) Give to insured persons the right, when the risks materialise, to claim benefits by way of payments in kind and in money, enabling them to resume their place in the productive life of the community, or, failing this, assuring them and their families, if not full compensation for the damage sustained, at least a reasonable minimum standard of life as understood in their time and country, or a basis on which to maintain such a standard; (2) Usually derive their income from contributions paid by employers and workers and from grants out of public funds (except in the* case of loss resulting from industrial accidents and occupational diseases, the responsibility for insurance against which as a rule rests entirely upon employers) ; (3) Establish through comprehensive mutual insurance institutions administered by t h e employers and workers directly interested, or by the State in collaboration with them, an organisation designed to encourage thrift and to improve the conditions of life of the insured persons; And desiring not only to remove conditions which may constitute an obstacle to the efforts of Members who desire to expand and improve their system of social insurance, but also to profit by all the valuable experience obtained in various countries, and recalling the decisions taken at previous Sessions, especially those concerning unemployment, employment of women before and after childbirth and workmen's compensation for industrial accidents, (1) Requests the Governing Body of the International Labour Office to place the question of general sickness insurance for workers on the Agenda of an early Session of the Conference, if possible that of 1927, and on the Agenda of the same or succeeding Sessions (due regard being had to the close connection between the various branches of social insurance) the questions of invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance; (2) Decides that the useful work already performed by the International Labour Office in collecting information with regard to social insurance should be continued, and should include the collection and distribution of information concerning : (a) The progress of legislation and regulations regarding all branches of social insurance; (b) The results obtained in the various countries and for the various branches of social insurance, especially with regard to the classes and number of beneficiaries and insured persons, the nature and extent of the benefits granted, the funds required and the manner of distributing financial responsibility amongst the different classes of contributors, the employment of reserves and the expenses incurred by insurance institutions on account of benefits and costs of administration. The information furnished by the International Labour Office should give in detail, as far as possible, for each country and for each risk: (a) The classes and number of workers covered, i.e. whether independent workers, workers for salaries or wages and others, and also the occupations covered (distinguishing between compulsory and voluntary systems) ; — 123 — (6) Similarly the classes and numbers not covered by the systems; (c) The benefits, (i) nature, i.e. in kind or in cash, (ii) amount, (iii) duration, (iv) conditions attached; (d) How the cost is borne, (i) by the State or other public authority, (ii) by the employer, (iii) by the persons covered; (e) The total annual cost under heads (d), (i), (ii), and (iii), with the proportion of the workers' and employers' contributions to the wages paid; (/) Precise methods of administration centrally and locally; (g) The expenditure annually, (i) on benefits, (ii) on administration and the numbers who received each kind of benefit, and the economic effects of the system as a whole in each country; (h) The use of social insurance reserves for the improvement of public health ; (i) The educational methods for the teaching and practice of social insurance. B. — WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION Draft Convention [No. 12] concerning workmen's compensation in agriculture * The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Third Session on 25 October 1921, and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the protection of agricultural workers against accident, which is included in the fourth item of the agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a draft international convention, adopts the following Draft Convention for ratification by the Members of the International Labour Organisation, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace: ARTICLE 1 Each Member of the Internationa] Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to extend to all agricultural wage earners its laws and regulations which provide for the compensation of workers for personal injury by accident arising out of or in the course of their employment. ARTICLE 2 The formal ratifications of this Convention under the conditions set forth in Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace shall be communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. i This Convention came into force on 26 February 1923. It had been ratified on 1 November 1935 by Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Irish Free State, Italy, Latvia, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Nicaragua. Poland, Spain. Sweden and Uruguay. _ 124 — ARTICLE 3 This Convention shall come into force at the date on which the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered by the Secretary-General. It shall then be binding only upon those Members whose ratifications have been registered with the Secretariat. Thereafter, the Convention shall come into force for any Member at the date on which its ratification has been registered with the Secretariat. ARTICLE 4 As soon as the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered with the Secretariat, the Secretary- General of the League of Nations shall so notify all the Members of the International Labour Organisation. He shall likewise notify them of the registration of ratifications which may be communicated subsequently by other Members of the Organisation. ARTICLE 5 Subject to the provisions of Article 3, each Member which ratifies this Convention agrees to bring the provisions of Article 1 into operation not later than 1 January 1924, and to take such action as may be necessary to make these provisions effective. ARTICLE 6 Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention engages to apply it to its colonies, possessions and protectorates in accordance with the provisions of Article 421 of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Articles of the other Treaties of Peace. ARTICLE 7 A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered with the Secretariat. ARTICLE 8 At least once in ten years, the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall consider the desirability of placing on the agenda of the Conference the question of its revision or modification. ARTICLE 9 The French and English texts of this Convention shall both be authentic. Recommendation [No. 17] concerning social insurance in agriculture The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Third Session on 25 October 1921, and — 125 — Having decided upon the adoption of a proposal with regard to the protection of agricultural workers against sickness, invalidity and old age, which is included in the fourth item of the agenda of the Session, and Having decided that this proposal shall take the form of a recommendation, adopts the following Recommendation, to be submitted to the Members of the International Labour Organisation for consideration with a view to effect being given to it by national legislation or otherwise, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace: The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation recommends: That each Member of the International Labour Organisation extend its laws and regulations establishing systems of insurance against sickness, invalidity, old age and other similar social risks to agricultural wage earners on conditions equivalent to those prevailing in the case of workers in industrial and commercial occupations. Draft Convention [No. 17] concerning l workmen's compensation for accidents The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Seventh Session on 19 May 1925, and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to workmen's compensation for accidents, which is included in the first item of the agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a draft international convention, adopts, this tenth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five, the following Draft Convention for ratification by the Members of the International Labour Organisation, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace: ARTICLE 1 Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to ensure that workmen who suffer personal injury due to an industrial accident, or their dependants, shall be compensated on terms at least equal to those provided by this Convention. ARTICLE 2 The laws and regulations as to workmen's compensation shall apply to workmen, employees and apprentices employed by any enterprise, undertaking or establishment of whatsoever nature, whether public or private. It shall nevertheless be open to any Member to make such exceptions in its national legislation as it deems necessary in respect of: i This Convention came into force on 1 April 1927. It had been ratified on 1 November 1935 by Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Hungary, Latvia, Luxemburg, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay and Yugoslavia. — 126 — (a) Persons whose employment is of a casual nature and who are employed otherwise than for the purpose of the employer's trade or business; (b) Out-workers; (c) Members of the employer's family who work exclusively on his behalf and who live in his house; (d) Non-manual workers whose remuneration exceeds a limit to be determined by national laws or regulations. ARTICLE 3 This Convention shall not apply to (1) Seamen and fishermen for whom provision shall be made by a later Convention ; (2) Persons covered by some special scheme, the terms of which are not less favourable than those of this Convention. ARTICLE 4 This Convention shall not apply to agriculture, in respect of which the Convention concerning workmen's compensation in agriculture adopted by the International Labour Conference at its Third Session remains in force. ARTICLE 5 The compensation payable to the injured workman, or his dependants, where permanent incapacity or death results from the injury, shall be paid in the form of periodical payments: provided that it may be wholly or partially paid in a lump sum, if the competent authority is satisfied that it will be properly utilised. ARTICLE 6 In case of incapacity, compensation shall be paid not later than as from the fifth day after the accident, whether it be payable by the employer, the accident insurance institution, or the sickness insurance institution concerned. ARTICLE 7 In cases where the injury results in incapacity of such a nature that the injured workman must have the constant help of another person, additional compensation shall be provided. ARTICLE 8 The national laws or regulations shall prescribe such measures of supervision and methods of review as are deemed necessary. ARTICLE 9 Injured workmen shall be entitled to medical aid and to such surgical and pharmaceutical aid as is recognised to be necessary in consequence of accidents. The cost of such aid shall be defrayed either by the employer, by accident insurance institutions, or by sickness or invalidity insurance institutions. ARTICLE 10 Injured workmen shall be entitled to the supply and normal renewal, by the employer or insurer, of such artificial limbs and surgical appliances as are recognised to be necessary: provided that national laws or regulations may allow in exceptional circumstances the supply and renewal of such artificial limbs and appliances to be replaced by the award to the injured workman of a sum representing the probable cost of the supply and renewal of such appliances, this sum to be decided at the time when the amount of compensation is settled or revised. — 127 — National laws or regulations shall provide for such supervisory measures as are necessary, either to prevent abuses in connection with the renewal of appliances, or to ensure that the additional compensation is utilised for this purpose. ARTICLE 11 The national laws or regulations shall make such provision as, having regard to national circumstances, is deemed most suitable for ensuring in all circumstances, in the event of the insolvency of the employer or insurer, the payment of compensation to workmen who suffer personal injury due to industrial accidents, or in case of death, to their dependants. ARTICLE 12 The formal ratification of this Convention under the conditions set forth in Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and in the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace shall be communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. ARTICLE 13 This Convention shall come into force at the date on which the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered by the Secretary-General. It shall be binding only upon those Members whose ratifications have been registered with the Secretariat. Thereafter, the Convention shall come into force for any Member at the date on which its ratification has been registered with the Secretariat. ARTICLE 14 As soon as the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered with the Secretariat, the Secretary-General of the League of Nations shall so notify all the Members of the International Labour Organisation. He shall likewise notify them of the registration of ratifications which may be communicated subsequently by other Members of the Organisation. ARTICLE 15 ^Subject to the provisions of Article 13, each Member which ratifies this Convention agrees to bring the provisions of Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 into operation not later than 1 January 1927 and to take such action as may be necessary to make these provisions effective. ARTICLE 16 Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention engages to apply it to its colonies, possessions and protectorates, in accordance with the provisions of Article 421 of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Articles of the other Treaties of Peace. ARTICLE 17 A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after theexpiration of five years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered with the Secretariat. ARTICLE 18 At least once in ten years, the Governing Body of the International LabourOffice shall present to the General Conference a report on the working — 128 — this Convention and shall consider the desirability of placing on the agenda of the Conference the question of its revision or modification. ARTICLE 19 The French and English texts of this Convention shall both be authentic. Recommendation [No. 22] concerning the minimum scale of workmen's compensation The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Seventh Session on 19 May 1925, and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the minimum scale of workmen's compensation, which is included in the first item of the agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals should take the form of a recommendation, ado_pts, this tenth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and twe^r^-ftve, the following Recommendation, to be submitted to the Members of the intcajiational Labour Organisation for consideration with a view to effect being given to it by national legislation or otherwise, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace: The General Conference recommends that each Member of the International Labour Organisation should take the following principles and rules into consideration : I Where incapacity for work results from the injury, the national laws or regulations should provide for the payment of compensation at rates not lower than those hereinafter indicated: (1) In the case of permanent total incapacity, a periodical payment equivalent to two-thirds of the workman's annual earnings; (2) In case of permanent partial incapacity, a proportion of the periodical payment due in the event of permanent total incapacity calculated in reference to the reduction of earning power caused by the injury; (3) In case of temporary total incapacity, a daily or weekly payment equivalent to two-thirds of the workman's basic earnings as calculated for purposes of compensation ; (4) In case of temporary partial incapacity, a proportion of the daily or weekly payment payable in the case of temporary total incapacity calculated in reference to the reduction of earning power caused by the injury. Where compensation is paid in a lump sum, the sum should not be less than the capitalised value of the periodical payment which would be payable under the foregoing paragraphs. II Where the injury is such that the workman requires the constant help of another person, additional compensation should be paid to the workman, which should not be less than half the amount payable in the case of permanent total incapacity. — 129 — HI Where death results from the injury, those entitled to be regarded as •dependants for purposes of compensation should include at least the following: (1) Deceased's husband or wife; (2) Deceased's children under eighteen years of age, or above that age if, by reason of physical or mental infirmity, they are incapable of earning; (3) Deceased's ascendants (parents or grandparents), provided that they are without means of subsistence and were dependent on the deceased, or the deceased was under an obligation to contribute towards their maintenance; (4) Deceased's grandchildren and brothers and sisters, if below eighteen years of age, or above that age if, by reason of physical or mental infirmity, they are incapable of earning, and if they are orphans, or if their parents, though still living, are incapable of providing for them. Where compensation is paid by means of periodical payments, the maximum total of the yearly sum payable to all the dependants should not be less than two-thirds of the deceased's annual earnings. Where compensation is paid in a lump sum, the maximum sum payable to all the dependants should not be less than the capitalised value of periodical payments equivalent to two-thirds of the deceased's annual earnings. IV The vocational re-education of injured workmen should be provided by such means as the national laws or regulations deem most suitable. Governments should encourage institutions which undertake such reeducation. Recommendation [No. 23] concerning jurisdiction in disputes on workmen's compensation The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Seventh Session on 19 May 1925, and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to jurisdiction in disputes on workmen's compensation, which is included in the first item of the agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals should take the form of a recommendation, adopts, this tenth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five, the following Recommendation, to be submitted to the Members of the International Labour Organisation for consideration with a view to effect being given to it by national legislation or otherwise, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace : Whereas disputes on workmen's compensation turn not only on the interpretation of laws and regulations, but also on questions of an occupational character requiring a thorough knowledge of working conditions, for example, questions as to the nature of the undertaking, the kind of risk inherent in it, the relation between the workman's employment and the accident, the method of computing earnings, the degree of incapacity for work, the possibility of the workman's adapting himself to some other occupation, 9 — 130 — And whereas workmen and employers have the necessary knowledge and experience on these questions, and disputes on compensation matters might be more equitably settled if they were members of or associated with the courts which have to decide such disputes, And whereas it is possible in many countries to secure the association of employers and workmen with such courts, as members or otherwise, without departing radically from the existing judicial system, The General Conference recommends that each Member of the International Labour Organisation should take the following principles and rules into consideration : I That every dispute relating to workmen's compensation should preferably be dealt with by a special court or board of arbitration comprising, with or without the addition of regular judges, an'equal number of employers' and workmen's representatives appointed to act as adjudicators by their respective organisations or on the nomination of such organisations or comprising employers' and workmen's representatives drawn from other social institutions or elected by separate electoral bodies of employers and workmen. II That, where disputes relating to workmen's compensation are dealt with by the ordinary courts of law, such courts shall be required, on the request of either of the parties concerned, to hear employers' and workmen's representatives as experts in any case where the dispute involves a question of an occupational character, and in particular the question of the degree of incapacity for work. Draft Convention [No. 19] concerning equality of treatment for national1 and foreign workers as regards workmen's compensation for accidents The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Seventh Session on 19 May-1925, and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the equality of treatment for national and foreign workers as regards workmen's compensation for accidents, the second item in the agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a draft international convention, adopts, this fifth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five, the following Draft Convention for ratification by the Members of the International Labour Organisation, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace: ARTICLE 1 Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to grant to the nationals of any other Member which i This Convention came into force on 8 September 1926. It had been ratified on 1 November 1935 by Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Irish Free State, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Mexico, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uruguay and Yugoslavia. — 131 — shall have ratified the Convention, who suffer personal injury due to industrial accidents happening in its territory, or to their dependants, the same treatment in respect of workmen's compensation as it grants to its own nationals. This equality of treatment shall be guaranteed to foreign workers and their dependants without any condition as to residence. With regard to the payments which a Member or its nationals would have to make outside that Member's territory in the application of this principle, the measures to be adopted shall be regulated, if necessary, by special arrangements between the Members concerned. ARTICLE 2 Special agreements may be made between the Members concerned to provide that compensation for industrial accidents happening to workers whilst temporarily or intermittently employed in the territory of one Member on behalf of an undertaking situated in the territory of another Member shall be governed by the laws and regulations of the latter Member. ARTICLE 3 The Members which ratify this Convention and which do not already possess a system, whether by insurance or otherwise, of workmen's compensation for industrial accidents agree to institute such a system within a period of three years from the date of their ratification. ARTICLE 4 The Members which ratify this Convention further undertake to afford each other mutual assistance with a view to facilitating the application of the Convention and the execution of their respective laws and regulations on workmen's compensation and to inform the International Labour Office, which shall inform the other Members concerned, of any modifications in the laws and regulations in force on workmen's compensation. ARTICLE 5 The formal ratifications of this Convention under the conditions set forth in Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and in the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace shall be communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. ARTICLE 6 This Convention shall come into force at the date on which the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered by the Secretary-General. It shall be binding only upon those Members whose ratifications have been registered with the Secretariat. Thereafter, the Convention shall come into force for any Member at the date on which its ratification has been registered with the Secretariat. ARTICLE 7 As soon as the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered with the Secretariat, the Secretary-General of the League of Nations shall so notify all the Members of the International Labour Organisation. He shall likewise notify them of the registration of ratifications which may be communicated subsequently by other Members of the Organisation. ARTICLE 8 Subject to the provisions of Article 6, each Member which ratified this Convention agrees to bring the provisions of Articles 1, 2, 3 and 4 into operation not later than 1 January 1927, and to take such action as may be necessary to make these provisions effective. — 132 — ARTICLE 9 Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention engages to apply it to its colonies, possessions and protectorates, in accordance with the provisions of Article 421 of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Articles of the other Treaties of Peace. ARTICLE 10 A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered with the Secretariat. ARTICLE 11 At least once in ten years, the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall consider the desirability of placing on the agenda of the Conference the question of its revision or modification. ARTICLE 12 The French and English texts of this Convention shall both be authentic. Recommendation [No. 25] concerning equality of treatment for national and foreign workers as regards workmen's compensation for accidents The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Seventh Session on 19 May 1925, and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the equality of treatment for national and foreign workers as regards workmen's compensation for accidents, the second item in the agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a recommendation, adopts, this fifth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five, the following Recommendation, to be submitted to the Members of the International Labour Organisation for consideration with a view to effect being given to it by national legislation or otherwise, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace: I ¡P In order to facilitate the application of the Convention concerning equality of treatment for national and foreign workers as regards workmen's compensation for accidents the Conference recommends that: (a) When a person to whom compensation is due under the laws and regulations of one Member resides in the territory of another Member, the necessary measures be taken to facilitate the payment of such compensation and to ensure the observance of the conditions governing such payment laid down by the said laws and regulations; — 133 — (b) In case of dispute concerning the non-payment, cessation of payment, or reduction of the compensation due to a person residing elsewhere than in the territory of the Member where his claim to compensation originated, facilities be afforded for taking proceedings in the competent courts of law in such territory without requiring the attendance of the person concerned; (c) Any advantage in respect of exemption from duties and taxes, free issue of official documents or other privileges granted by the law of any Member for purposes connected with workmen's compensation, be extended under the same conditions to the nationals of the other Members which shall have ratified the afore-mentioned Convention. II The Conference recommends that, where in any country there exists no system, whether by insurance or otherwise, of workmen's compensation for industrial accidents, the Government shall, pending the institution of such a system, afford facilities to alien workers enabling them to benefit by the laws and regulations on workmen's compensation in their own countries. C. — SICKNESS INSURANCE Draft Convention [No. 24] concerning sickness insurance for workers in industry and commerce and domestic servants1 The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Tenth Session on 25 May 1927, and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to sickness insurance for workers in industry and commerce and domestic servants, which is included in the first item of the Agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a draft international convention, adopts, this fifteenth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven, the following Draft Convention for ratification by the Members of the International Labour Organisation, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace: ARTICLE 1 Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to set up a system of compulsory sickness insurance which shall be based on provisions at least equivalent to those contained in this Convention. ARTICLE 2 The compulsory sickness insurance system shall apply to manual and nonmanual workers, including apprentices, employed by industrial undertakings and commercial undertakings, out-workers and domestic servants. i This Convention came into force on 15 July 1928 It had been ratified on 1 November 1935 by Austria, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Nicaragua, Rumania, Spain, Uruguay and Yugoslavia. — 134 — It shall, nevertheless, be open to any Member to make such exceptions in its national laws or regulations as it deems necessary in respect of : (a) Temporary employment which lasts for less than a period to be determined by national laws or regulations, casual employment not for the purpose of the employer's trade or business, occasional employment and subsidiary employment; (b) Workers whose wages or income exceed an amount to be determined by national laws or regulations; (c) Workers who are not paid a money wage; (d) Out-workers whose conditions of work are not of a like nature to those of ordinary wage-earners; (e) Workers below or above age-limits to be determined by national laws or regulations ; (/) Members of the employer's family. It shall further be open to exempt from the compulsory sickness insurance system persons who in case of sickness are entitled by virtue of any laws or regulations, or of a special scheme, to advantages at least equivalent on the whole to those provided for in this Convention. This Convention shall not apply to seamen and sea fishermen for whose insurance against sickness provision may be made by a decision of a later Session of the Conference. ARTICLE 3 An insured person who is rendered incapable of work by reason of the abnormal state of his bodily or mental health shall be entitled to a cash benefit for at least the first twenty-six weeks of incapacity from and including the first day for which benefit is payable. The payment of this benefit may be made conditional on the insured person having first complied with a qualifying period and, on the expiry of the same, with a waiting period of not more than three days. Cash benefit may be withheld in the following cases: (a) Where in respect of the same illness the insured person receives compensation from another source to which he is entitled by law; benefit shall only be wholly or partially withheld in so far as such compensation is equal to or less than the amount of the benefit provided by the present Article; (6) As long as the insured person does not by the fact of his incapacity suffer any loss of the normal product of his labour, or is maintained at the expense of the insurance funds or from public funds; nevertheless, cash benefits shall only partially be withheld when the insured person, although thus personally maintained, has family responsibilities; (c) As long as the insured person while ill refuses, without valid reason, to comply with the doctor's orders, or the instructions relating to the conduct of insured persons while ill, or voluntarily and without authorisation removes himself from the supervision of the insurance institutions. Cash benefit may be reduced or refused in the case of sickness caused by the insured person's wilful misconduct. ARTICLE 4 The insured person shall be entitled free of charge, as from the commencement of his illness and at least until the period prescribed for the grant of sickness benefit expires, to medical treatment by a fully qualified medical man and to the supply of proper and sufficient medicines and appliances. Nevertheless, the insured person may be required to pay such part of the cost of medical benefit as may be prescribed by national laws or regulations. Medical benefit may be withheld as long as the insured person refuses, without valid reason, to comply with the doctor's orders or the instructions relating to the conduct of insured persons while ill, or neglects to make use of the facilities placed at his disposal by the insurance institution. — 135 — ARTICLE 5 National laws or regulations may authorise or prescribe the grant of medical benefit to members of an insured person's family living in his household and dependent upon him, and shall determine the conditions under which such benefit shall be administered. ARTICLE 6 Sickness insurance shall be administered by self-governing institutions which shall be under the administrative and financial supervision of t h e competent public authority and shall not be carried on with a view of profit. Institutions founded by private initiative must be specially approved by the competent public authority. The insured persons shall participate in the management of the selfgoverning insurance institutions on such conditions as may be prescribed by national laws or regulations. The administration of sickness insurance may, nevertheless, be undertaken directly by the State where and as long as its administration is rendered difficult or impossible or inappropriate by reason of national conditions, and particularly by the insufficient development of the employers' and workers' organisations. ARTICLE 7 The insured persons and their employers shall share in providing the financial resources of the sickness insurance system. It is open to national laws or regulations to decide as to a financial contribution by the competent public authority. ARTICLE 8 This Convention does not in any respect affect the obligations arising out of the Convention concerning the employment of women before and after childbirth, adopted by the International Labour Conference at its First Session. ARTICLE 9 A right of appeal shall be granted to the insured person in case of dispute concerning his right to benefit. ARTICLE 10 It shall be open to States which comprise large and very thinly populated areas not to apply the Convention in districts where, by reason of the small density and wide dispersion of the population and the inadequacy of the means of communication, the organisation of sickness insurance, in accordance with this Convention, is impossible. The States which intend to avail themselves of the exception provided by this Article shall give notice of their intention when communicating their formal ratification to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations. They shall inform the International Labour Office as to what districts they apply the exception and indicate their reasons therefor. In Europe it shall be open only to Finland to avail itself of the exception contained in this Article. ARTICLE 11 The formal ratifications of this Convention under the conditions set forth in Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and in the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace shall be communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. ARTICLE 12 This Convention shall come into force ninety days after the date on which the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered by the Secretary-General. — 136 — I t shall be binding only upon those Members whose ratifications havebeen registered with the Secretariat. Thereafter, the Convention shall come into force for any Member ninety days after the date on which its ratification has been registered with the Secretariat. ARTICLE 13 As soon as the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered with the Secretariat, the Secretary-General of the League of Nations shall so notify all the Members of the International Labour Organisation. He shall likewise notify them of the registration of ratifications which may be communicated subsequently by other Members of the Organisation. ARTICLE 14 Subject to the provisions of Article 12, Convention agrees to bring the provisions 9 and 10 into operation not later than 1 action as may be necessary to make these each Member which ratifies this of Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, January 1929, and to take such provisions effective. ARTICLE 15 Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention engages to apply it to its colonies, possessions and protectorates, in accordance with the provisions of Article 421 of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Articles of the other Treaties of Peace. ARTICLE 16 A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered with the Secretariat. ARTICLE 17 At least once in ten years, the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall consider the desirability of placing on the Agenda of the Conference the question of its revision or modification. ARTICLE 18 The French and English texts of this Convention shall both be authentic. Draft Convention [No. 25] concerning sickness insurance for agricultural workers1 The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Tenth Session on 25 May 1927 and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to sickness insurance for agricultural workers, which is included in the first item of the Agenda of the Session, and i This Convention came into force on 13 July 1928. It had been ratified on 1 November 1935 by Austria, Bulgaria. Chile, Colombia, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Great Britain, Luxemburg, Nicaragua, Spain and Uruguay. — 137 — Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a draft international convention, adopts, this fifteenth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven, the following Draft Convention for ratification by the Members of the International Labour Organisation, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace: ARTICLE 1 Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratines this Convention undertakes to set up a system of compulsory sickness insurance for agricultural workers, which shall be based on provisions at least equivalent to those contained in this Convention. ARTICLE 2 The compulsory sickness insurance system shall apply to manual and non-manual workers, including apprentices, employed by agricultural undertakings. It shall, nevertheless, be open to any Member to make such exceptions in its national laws or regulations as it deems necessary in respect of: (a) Temporary employment which lasts for less than a period to be determined by national laws or regulations, casual employment not for the purpose of the employer's trade or business, occasional employment and subsidiary employment; (b) Workers whose wages or income exceed an amount to be determined by national laws or regulations ; (e) Workers who are not paid a money wage; (d) Out-workers whose conditions of work are not of a like nature to those of ordinary wage earners; (e) Workers below or above age-limits to be determined by national laws or regulations; (/) Members of the employer's family. It shall further be open to exempt from the compulsory sickness insurance system persons who in case of sickness are entitled by virtue of any laws or regulations, or of a special scheme, to advantages at least equivalent on the whole to those provided for in this Convention. ARTICLE 3 An insured person who is rendered incapable of work by reason of the abnormal state of his bodily or mental health shall be entitled to a cash benefit for at least the first twenty-six weeks of incapacity from and including the first day for which benefit is payable. The payment of this benefit may be made conditional on the insured person having first complied with a qualifying period and, on the expiry of the same, with a waiting period of not more than three days. Cash benefit may be withheld in the following cases: (a) Where in respect of the same illness the insured person receives compensation from another source' to which he is entitled by law; benefit shall only be wholly or partially withheld in so far as such compensation is equal to or less than the amount of the benefit provided by the present Article; (b) As long as the insured person does not by the fact of his incapacity suffer any loss of the normal product of his labour, or is maintained at the expense of the insurance funds or from public funds; nevertheless, cash benefit shall only partially be withheld when the insured person, although thus personally maintained, has family responsibilities. — 138 — (c) As long as the insured person while ill refuses, without valid reason, to comply with the doctor's orders, or the instructions relating to the conduct of insured persons while ill, or voluntarily and without authorisation removes himself from the supervision of the insurance institutions. Cash benefit may be reduced or refused in the case of sickness caused by the insured person's wilful misconduct. ARTICLE 4 The insured person shall be entitled free of charge, as from the commencement of his illness and at least until the period prescribed for the grant of sickness benefit expires, to medical treatment by a fully qualified medical man and to the supply of proper and sufficient medicines and appliances. Nevertheless, the insured person may be required to pay such part of the cost of medical benefit as may be prescribed by national laws or regulations. Medical benefit may be withheld as long as the insured person refuses, without valid reason, to comply with the doctor's orders or the instructions relating to the conduct of insured persons while ill, or neglects to make use of the facilities placed at his disposal by the insurance institution. ARTICLE 5 National laws or regulations may authorise or prescribe the grant of medical benefit to members of an insured person's family living in his household and dependent upon him, and shall determine the conditions under which such benefit shall be administered. ARTICLE 6 Sickness insurance shall be administered by self-governing institutions, which shall be under the administrative and financial supervision of the competent public authority and shall not be carried on with a view of profit. Institutions founded by private initiative must be specially approved by the competent public authority. The insured persons shall participate in the management of the selfgoverning insurance institutions on such conditions as may be prescribed by national laws or regulations. The administration of sickness insurance may, nevertheless, be undertaken directly by the State where and as long as its administration is rendered difficult or impossible or inappropriate by reason of national conditions, and particularly by the insufficient development of the employers' and workers organisations. ARTICLE 7 The insured persons and their employers shall share in providing the financial resources of the sickness insurance system. It is open to national laws or regulations to decide as to a financial contribution by the competent public authority. ARTICLE 8 A right of appeal shall be granted to the insured person in case of dispute concerning his right to benefit. ARTICLE 9 It shall be open to States which comprise large and very thinly populated areas not to apply the Convention in districts where, by reason of the small density and wide dispersion of the population and the inadequacy of the means of communication, the organisation of sickness insurance, in accordance with this Convention, is impossible. The States which intend to avail themselves of the exception provided by this Article shall give notice of their intention when communicating their formal ratification to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations. They — 139 — shall inform the International Labour Office as to what districts they apply the exception and indicate their reasons therefor. In Europe it shall be open only to Finland to avail itself of the exception contained in this Article. ARTICLE 10 The formal ratifications of this Convention under the conditions set forth in Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and in the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace shall be communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. ARTICLE 11 This Convention shall come into force ninety days after the date on which the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered by the Secretary-General. It shall be binding only upon those Members whose ratifications have been registered with the Secretariat. Thereafter, the Convention shall come into force for any Member ninety days after the date on which its ratification has been registered with the Secretariat. ARTICLE 12 As soon as the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered with the Secretariat, the Secretary-General of the League of Nations shall so notify all the Members of the International Labour Organisation. He shall likewise notify them of the registration of ratifications which may be communicated subsequently by other Members of the Organisation. ARTICLE 13 Subject to the provisions of Article 11, each Member which ratifies this Convention agrees to bring the provisions of Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 into operation not later than 1 January 1929, and to take such action as may 'be necessary to make these provisions effective. ARTICLE 14 Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention engages to apply it to its colonies, possessions and protectorates in accordance with the provisions of Article 421 of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Articles of the other Treaties of Peace. ARTICLE 15 A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered with the Secretariat. ARTICLE 16 At least once in ten years, the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall consider the desirability of placing on the Agenda of the Conference the question of its revision or modification. ARTICLE 17 The French and English texts of this Convention shall both be authentic. — 140 — Recommendations [No. 29] concerning the general principles of sickness insurance The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of theLeague of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Tenth Session on 25 May 1927, and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the principles of sickness insurance, the first item on the Agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals should take the form of a recommendation, adopts, this fifteenth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven, the following Recommendation, to be submitted to the Members' of the International Labour Organisation for consideration with a view to effect being given to it by national legislation or otherwise, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of-the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace: Whereas the maintenance of à healthy and vigorous labour supply is of capital importance not only for the workers themselves, but also for communities which desire to develop their productive capacity; and Whereas this development is only attainable by constantly and systematically applying provident measures to obviate or make good any loss of the workers' productive efficiency; and Whereas the best provident measure for these purposes is to establish a system of social insurance which confers clearly defined rights on the persons to whom it applies; Therefore the General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,. Having adopted Draft Conventions concerning, of the one part, sickness' insurance for workers in industry and commerce and domestic servants, and, of the other part, sickness insurance for agricultural workers, drafts which lay down minimum conditions which must be complied with from the beginning by every system of sickness insurance, and Considering that, in order to put the experience already gained at the disposal of the Members with a view to assisting them in the institution or completion of their sickness insurance services, it is desirable to indicate a number of the general principles which practice shows to be the best calculated to promote a just, effective and appropriate organisation of sickness insurance, Recommends that each Member should take the following principles and rules into consideration: I. S C O P E OF A P P L I C A T I O N 1. Sickness insurance should include within its scope, without discrimination as to age or sex, every person who performs work by way of his occupation and under a contract of service or apprenticeship. 2. If, however, it is considered desirable to fix age-limits by reason of the fact that workers above or below such limits are already protected by law or otherwise, such limits should not apply to young persons who cannot normally be considered as dependent upon their family or to workers who have not reached the old-age pension age; and if exceptions are made in respect of workers whose earnings or income exceed a specified amount, such exceptions should only apply to workers whose earnings or income are such that they may reasonably be expected to make their own provision for sickness. — 141 — II. BENEFITS A. — Cash Benefits 3. In order to secure that an insured person who is rendered incapable of work by sickness may recover his health as early as possible, the cash benefit representing compensation for lost wages should be adequate. For this purpose the statutory scale of benefit should ordinarily be fixed in relation to the normal wage which is taken into account for the purposes of compulsory insurance, and should be a substantial proportion of such wage, regard being had to family responsibilities; but in countries where the workers have adequate facilities, of which they are accustomed to take advantage to procure for themselves additional benefit by other means, a uniform scale of benefit may be appropriate. 4. The statutory benefit should be paid for at least the first twenty-six weeks of incapacity as from and including the first day for which benefit is payable; nevertheless, the period for which benefit is payable should be increased to one year in cases of serious and chronic illness and for insured persons who will not receive any invalidity benefit on the expiry of their right to sickness benefit. 5. An insurance institution which can show that it is in a sound financial position should be authorised: (a) To increase the statutory scale of benefit up to specified amounts either for all insured persons or for certain groups of the same, in particular insured persons with family responsibilities; (b) To prolong the statutory period during which benefit is payable. 6. In countries where burial expenses are not, customarily or by law, covered by some other insurance, sickness insurance institutions should, on the death of an insured person, pay a benefit in respect of the cost of decent burial; they should also be empowered to pay such a benefit in respect of the burial expenses of the insured person's dependants. B. — Benefits in Kind 7. Treatment by a fully qualified doctor and the supply of proper and sufficient medicines and appliances should be granted to an insured person from the beginning of his illness and for so long as the state of his health requires it; the insured person should be entitled to these benefits free of charge from the beginning of his illness and at least until the expiry of the period prescribed for the grant of sickness benefit. 8. In addition to treatment by a fully qualified doctor and the supply of proper and sufficient medicines and appliances, there should be available for the insured person, as and when local and financial conditions admit, facilities for specialist services, as well as dental treatment, and for treatment in hospital, where his family circumstances necessitate it or his illness requires a mode of treatment which can only be given in hospital. 9. While an insured person is maintained in hospital, the insurance institution should pay to his dependants the whole or a part of the sickness benefit which would have been payable to him had he not been so maintained. 10. With a view to ensuring good conditions for the maintenance in health of the insured person and his family, members of the insured person's family living in his home and dependent upon him should be furnished with medical benefit, as and when it may be possible and practicable to do so. 11. Insurance institutions should be empowered to avail themselves, on equitable conditions, of the services of such doctors as they need. In urban centres, and within specified geographical limits, an insured person should be entitled to choose a doctor from among those at the disposal of the insurance institution, unless this would involve considerable extra expense to the institution. C. Sickness Prevention 12. As most diseases can be prevented, an alert policy of prevention is calculated to avert loss of productive efficiency, to render available for other — 142 — purposes the financial resources which are absorbed by avoidable illness, and to promote the material, intellectual and moral well-being of the community. Sickness insurance should assist in inculcating the practice of the rules of hygiene among the workers. It should give preventive treatment and grant the same to as large a number of individuals as possible as soon as the premonitory symptoms of disease appear. It should be capable of contributing towards the prevention of the spread of disease and the improvement of the national health, in pursuance of a general policy co-ordinating all the various activities towards these ends. III. ORGANISATION OF INSURANCE 13. Insurance institutions should be administered, under the supervision of the competent public authority in accordance with the principles of selfgovernment, and shall not be carried on for profit. The insured persons being those who are the most directly interested in the working of the insurance scheme should, through elected representatives, have an important part in the management of the insurance system. 14. A good organisation of medical benefit and, in particular, the efficient provision and utilisation of medical equipment embodying the results of scientific progress can be most easily secured—except in certain special circumstances—by concentrating action on a territorial basis. IV. FINANCIAL RESOURCES 15. The financial resources for the insurance scheme should be provided by contributions from the insured persons and contributions from employers. The provision thus jointly made can be supplemented to advantage by contributions from public funds, especially for the purpose of improving the health of the people. With a view to securing the stability of the insurance system, reserve funds, appropriate to the peculiar circumstances of the system, should be constituted. V. S E T T L E M E N T OF D I S P U T E S 16. With a view to their being settled rapidly and inexpensively, disputes as to benefits between insured persons and insurance institutions should be referred to special tribunals the members of which include judges or assessors who are specially cognisant of the purposes of insurance and the needs of insured persons. VI. EXCEPTION FOR SPARSELY POPULATED TERRITORIES 17. States which, by reason of the small density of their population or of the inadequacy of the means of communication, cannot organise sickness insurance in certain parts of their territory should: (a) Establish in such parts of their territory a sanitary service adequate to the local conditions; (b) Examine periodically whether the conditions required for the introduction of compulsory sickness insurance in the parts of their territory previously excepted from the compulsory scheme are fulfilled. VII. 18. SEAMEN AND SEA FISHERMEN This Recommendation shall not apply to seamen and sea fishermen. — 143 — D. — INVALIDITY, OLD-AGE, AND SURVIVORS' INSURANCE Draft Convention [No. 35] concerning compulsory old-age insurance for persons employed in industrial or commercial undertakings, in the liberal professions, and for outworkers and domestic servants 1 The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Seventeenth Session on 8 June 1933, and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to compulsory old-age insurance, which is included in the second item on the Agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a draft international convention, adopts, this twenty-ninth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-three, the following Draft Convention for ratification by the Members of the International Labour Organisation, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace: ARTICLE 1 Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to set up or maintain a scheme of compulsory old-age insurance which shall be based on provisions at least equivalent to those contained in this Convention. ARTICLE 2 1. The compulsory old-age insurance scheme shall apply to manual and non-manual workers, including apprentices, employed in industrial or commercial undertakings or in the liberal professions, and to outworkers and domestic servants: 2. Provided that any Member may in its national laws or regulations make such exceptions as it deems necessary in respect of (a) Workers whose remuneration exceeds a prescribed amount and, where national laws or regulations do not make this exception general in its application, any non-manual workers engaged in occupations which are ordinarily considered as liberal professions; (b) Workers who are not paid a money wage; (c) Young workers under a prescribed age and workers too old to become insured when they first enter employment; (d) Outworkers whose conditions of work are not of a like nature to those of ordinary wage earners; (e) Members of the employer's family; (/) Workers whose employment is of such a nature that, its total duration being necessarily short, they cannot qualify for benefit, and persons engaged solely in occasional or subsidiary employment; i This Draft Convention had heen ratiñed on 1 November 1935 by Chile. — 144 — (g) Invalid -workers and workers in receipt of an invalidity or old-age pension; (h) Retired public officials employed for remuneration and persons possessing a private income, where the retirement pension or private income is at least equal to the old-age pension provided by national laws or regulations; (¿) Workers who, during their studies, give lessons or work for remuneration in preparation for an occupation corresponding to such studies; (;') Domestic servants employed in the households of agricultural employers. 3. Provided also that there may be exempted from liability to insurance persons who, by virtue of any law, regulations or special scheme, are or will become entitled to old-age benefits at least equivalent on the whole to those provided for in this Convention. 4. This Convention does not apply to seamen and sea fishermen. ARTICLE 3 National laws or regulations shall, under conditions to be determined by them, either entitle persons formerly compulsorily insured who have not attained the pensionable age to continue their insurance voluntarily or entitle such persons to maintain their rights by the periodical payment of a fee for the purpose, unless the said rights are automatically maintained or, in the case of married women, the husband, if not liable to compulsory insurance, is permitted to insure voluntarily and thereby to qualify his wife for an old-age or widow's pension. ARTICLE 4 An insured person shall be entitled to an old-age pension at an age which shall be determined by national laws or regulations but which, in the case of insurance schemes for employed persons, shall not exceed sixty-five. ARTICLE 5 The right to a pension may be made conditional upon the completion of a qualifying period, which may involve the payment of a minimum number of contributions since entry into insurance and during a prescribed period immediately preceding the happening of the event insured against. ARTICLE 6 1. An insured person who ceases to be liable to insurance without being entitled to a benefit representing a return for the contributions credited to his account shall retain his rights in respect of these contributions: 2. Provided that national laws or regulations may terminate rights in respect of contributions on the expiry of a term which shall be reckoned from the date when the insured person so ceased to be liable to insurance and which shall be either variable or fixed: (a) Where the term is variable, it shall not be less than one-third (less the periods for which contributions have not been credited) of the total of the periods for which contributions have been credited since entry into insurance. (b) Where the term is fixed, it shall in no case be less than eighteen months and rights in respect of contributions may be terminated on the expiry of the term unless, in the course thereof, a minimum number of contributions prescribed by national laws or regulations has been credited to the account of the insured person in virtue of either compulsory or voluntarily continued insurance. — 145 — ARTICLE 7 1. The pension shall, whether or not dependent on the time spent in insurance, be a fixed sum or a percentage of the remuneration taken into account for insurance purposes or vary with the amount of the contributions paid. 2. Where the pension varies with the time spent in insurance and its award is made conditional upon the completion by the insured person of a qualifying period, the pension shall, unless a minimum rate is guaranteed, include a fixed sum or fixed portion not dependent on the time spent in insurance; where the pension is awarded without any condition as to the completion of a qualifying period, provision may be made for a guaranteed minimum rate of pension. 3. Where contributions are graduated according to remuneration, the remuneration taken into account for this purpose shall also be taken into account for the purpose of computing the pension, whether or not the pension varies with the time spent in insurance. ARTICLE 8 1. The right to benefits may be forfeited or suspended in whole or in part if the person concerned has acted fraudulently towards the insurance institution. 2. The pension may be suspended in whole or in part while the person concerned (a) Is in employment involving compulsory insurance; (b) Is entirely maintained at the public expense; or (c) Is in receipt of another periodical cash benefit payable by virtue of any law or regulations concerning compulsory social insurance, pensions or workmen's compensation for accidents or occupational diseases. ARTICLE 9 1. The insured persons and their employers shall contribute to the financial resources of the insurance scheme. 2. National laws or regulations may exempt from liability to pay contributions (a) Apprentices and young workers under a prescribed age; (6) Workers who are not paid a money wage or whose wages are very low. 3. Contrinutions from employers may be dispensed with under laws or regulations concerning schemes of national insurance not restricted in scope to employed persons. 4. The public authorities shall contribute to the financial resources or to the benefits of insurance schemes covering employed persons in general or manual workers. 5. National laws or regulations which, at the time of the adoption of this Convention, do not require contributions from insured persons may continue not to require such contributions. ARTICLE 10 1. The insurance scheme shall be administered by institutions founded by the public authorities and not conducted with a view to profit, or by State insurance funds: 2. Provided that national laws or regulations may also entrust its administration to institutions founded on the initiative of the parties concerned or of their organisations and duly approved by the public authorities. 3. The funds of insurance institutions and State insurance funds shall be administered separately from the public funds. 10 — 146 — 4. Representatives of the insured persons shall participate in the management of insurance institutions under conditions to be determined by national laws or regulations, which may likewise decide as to the participation of representatives of employers and of the public authorities. 5. Self-governing insurance institutions shall be under the administrative and financial supervision of the public authorities. .ARTICLE 11 1. The insured person or his legal representatives shall have a right of appeal in any dispute concerning benefits. 2. Such disputes shall be referred to special tribunals which shall include judges, whether professional or not, who are specially cognisant of the purposes of insurance and the needs of insured persons or are assisted by assessors chosen as representative of insured persons and employers respectively. 3. In any dispute concerning liability to insurance or the rate of contribution, the employed person and, in the case of schemes providing for an employer's contribution, his employer shall have a right of appeal. ARTICLE 12 1. Foreign employed persons shall be liable to insurance and to the payment of contributions under the same conditions as nationals. 2. Foreign insured persons and their dependants shall be entitled under the same conditions as nationals to the benefits derived from the contributions credited to their account. 3. Foreign insured persons and their dependants shall, if nationals of a Member which is bound by this Convention and the laws or regulations of which therefore provide for a State subsidy towards the financial resources or benefits of the insurance scheme in conformity with Article 9, also be entitled to any subsidy or supplement to or fraction of a pension which is payable out of public funds : 4. Provided that national laws or regulations may restrict to nationals the right to any subsidy or supplement to or fraction of a pension which is payable out of public funds and granted solely to insured persons who have exceeded a prescribed age at the date when the laws or regulations providing for compulsory insurance come into force. 5. Any restrictions which may apply in the event of residence abroad shall only apply to pensioners and their dependants who are nationals of any Member bound by this Convention and reside in the territory of any Member bound thereby to the extent to which they apply to nationals of the country in which the pension has been acquired: Provided that any subsidy or supplement to or fraction of a pension which is payable out of public funds may be withheld. ARTICLE 13 1. The insurance of employed persons shall be governed by the law applicable at their place of employment. 2. In the interest of continuity of insurance exceptions may be made to this rule by agreement between the Members concerned. ARTICLE 14 Any Member may prescribe special provisions for frontier workers whose place of employment is in its territory and whose place of residence is abroad. ARTICLE 15 In countries which, at the time when this Convention first comes into force, have no laws or regulations providing for compulsory old-age insurance, an existing non-contributory pension scheme which guarantees an individual right — 147 — to a pension under the conditions defined in Articles 16 to 22 hereinafter shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of this Convention. ARTICLE 16 Pensions shall be awarded at an age which shall be determined by national laws or regulations but which shall not exceed sixty-five. ARTICLE 17 The right to a pension may be made conditional upon the claimant's having been resident in the territory of the Member for a period immediately preceding the making of the claim. This period shall be determined by national laws or regulations but shall not exceed ten years. ARTICLE 18 1. A claimant shall be entitled to a pension if the annual value of his means does not exceed a limit which shall be fixed by national laws or regulations with due regard to the minimum cost of living. 2. Means up to a level which shall be determined by national laws or regulations shall be exempted for the purpose of the assessment of means. ARTICLE 19 The rate of pension shall be an amount which, together with any means of the claimant in excess of the means exempted, is at least sufficient to cover the essential needs of the pensioner. ARTICLE 20 1. A claimant shall have a right of appeal in any dispute concerning the award of a pension or the rate thereof. 2. The appeal shall lie to an authority other than the authority which gave the decision in the first instance. ARTICLE 21 i. Foreigners who are nationals of a Member bound by this Convention shall be entitled to pensions under the same conditions as nationals: 2. Provided that national laws or regulations may make the award of a pension to foreigners conditional upon their having been resident in the territory of the Member for a period which shall not exceed by more than five years the period of residence prescribed for nationals. ARTICLE 22 1. The right to a pension may be forfeited or suspended in whole or in part if the person concerned (a) Has been sentenced to imprisonment for a criminal offence; (b) Has obtained or attempted to obtain a pension by fraud; or (c) Has persistently refused to earn his living by work compatible with his strength and capacity. 2. The pension may be suspended in whole or in part while the person concerned is entirely maintained at the public expense. ARTICLE 23 Subject to the provisions of paragraph 5 of Article 12, this Convention does not reîer to the maintenance of pension rights in the event of residence abroad. — 148 — ARTICLE 24 The formal ratifications of this Convention under the conditions set forth in Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and in the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace shall be communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. ARTICLE 25 This Convention shall be binding only upon those Members whose ratifications have been registered with the Secretariat. It shall come into force twelve months after the date on which the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered with the Secretary-General. Thereafter, this Convention shall come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on which its ratification has been registered. ARTICLE 26 As soon as the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered with the Secretariat, the Secretary-General of the League of Nations shall so notify all the Members of the International Labour Organisation. He shall likewise notify them of the registration of ratifications which may be communicated subsequently by other Members of the Organisation. ARTICLE 27 A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered with the Secretariat. Each Member which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year following the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article, will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article. ARTICLE 28 At the expiration of each period of ten years after the coming into force of this Convention, the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall consider the desirability of placing on the Agenda of the Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part. ARTICLE 29 Should the Conference adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part, then, unless the new Convention otherwise provides, (a) The ratification by a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the. immediate denunciation of this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 27 above, if and when the new revising Convention shall have come into force; (b) As from the date when the new revising Convention comes into force, this Convention shall cease to be open to ratification by the Members. This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention. ARTICLE 30 The French and English texts of this Convention shall both be authentic. — 149 — Draft Convention [No. 36] concerning compulsory old-age insurance for persons employed in agricultural undertakings * The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Seventeenth Session on 8 June 1933, and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to compulsory old-age insurance, which is included in the second item on the Agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a Draft International Convention, adopts, this twenty-ninth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-three, the following Draft Convention for ratification by the Members of the International Labour Organisation, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace : ARTICLE 1 Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to set up or maintain a scheme of compulsory old-age insurance which shall be based on provisions at least equivalent to those contained in this Convention. ARTICLE 2 1. The compulsory old-age insurance scheme shall apply to manual and non-manual workers, including apprentices, employed in agricultural undertakings, and to domestic servants employed in the households of agricultural employers : 2. Provided that any Member may in its national laws or regulations make such exceptions as it deems necessary in respect of (a) Workers whose remuneration exceeds a prescribed amount and, where national laws or regulations do not make this exception general in its application, any non-manual workers engaged in occupations which are ordinarily considered as liberal professions; (b) Workers who are not paid a money wage; (c) Young workers under a prescribed age and workers too old to become insured when they first enter employment; (d) Outworkers whose conditions of work are not of a like nature to those of ordinary wage earners ; (e) Members of the employers's family ; (/) Workers whose employment is of such a nature that, its total duration being necessarily short, they cannot qualify for benefit, and persons engaged solely in occasional or subsidiary employment; (g) Invalid workers and workers in receipt of an invalidity or old-age pension ; (h) Retired public officials employed for remuneration and persons possessing a private income, where the retirement pension or private income is at least equal to the old-age pension provided by national laws or regulations; i This Draft Convention had heen ratified, on 1 November 1935, by Chile. — 150 — (i) Workers who; during their studies, give lessons or work for remuneration in preparation for an occupation corresponding to such studies. 3. Provided also that there may be exempted from liability to insurance persons who, by virtue of any law, regulations or special scheme, are or will become entitled to old-age benefits at least equivalent on the whole to those provided for in this Convention. ARTICLES 3-8 [The text is the same as that of Articles 3-8 of Draft Convention No. 35; cf. pp. 144-145.] ARTICLE 9 1. The insured persons and their employers shall contribute to the financial resources of the insurance scheme. 2. National laws or regulations may exempt from liability to pay contributions (a) Apprentices and young workers under a prescribed age ; (b) Workers who are not paid a money wage or whose wages are very low; (c) Workers in the service of an employer who pays contributions assessed on a basis which is not dependent on the number of workers employed. 3. Contributions from employers may be dispensed with under laws or regulations concerning schemes of national insurance not restricted in scope to employed persons. 4. The public authorities shall contribute to the financial resources or to the benefits of insurance schemes covering employed persons in general or manual workers. 5. National laws or regulations which, at the time of the adoption of this Convention, do not require contributions from insured persons may continue not to require such contributions. ARTICLES 10-30 [The text is the same as that of Articles 10-30 of Draft Convention No. 35; cf. pp. 145-148.] Draft Convention [No. 37] concerning compulsory invalidity insurance for persons employed in industrial or commercial undertakings, in the liberal professions, and for outworkers and domestic servants1 The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Seventeenth Session on 8 June 1933, and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to compulsory invalidity insurance, which is included in the second item on the Agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a Draft International Convention, This Draft Convention had been ratified, on 1 November 1935, by Chile — 151 — adopts, this twenty-ninth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-three, the following Draft Convention for ratification by the Members of the Internationa] Labour Organisation, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace: ARTICLE 1 Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to set up or maintain a scheme of compulsory invalidity insurance which shall be based on provisions at least equivalent to those contained in this Convention. ARTICLE 2 1. The compulsory invalidity insurance scheme shall apply to manual and non-manual workers, including apprentices employed in industrial or commercial undertakings or in the liberal professions, and to outworkers and domestic servants: 2. Provided that any Member may in its national laws or regulations make such exceptions as it deems necessary in respect of {a) Workers whose remuneration exceeds a prescribed amount and, where national laws or regulations do not make this exception general in its application, any non-manual workers engaged in occupations which are ordinarily considered as liberal professions; (¿>) Workers who are not paid a money wage; (c) Young workers under a prescribed age and workers too old to become insured when they first enter employment ; {d) Outworkers whose conditions of work are not of a like nature to those of ordinary wage earners; (e) Members of the employer's family; (/) Workers whose employment is of such a nature that, its total duration being necessarily short, they cannot qualify for benefit, and persons engaged solely in occasional or subsidiary employment; (g) Invalid workers and workers in receipt of an invalidity or old-age pension ; (h) Retired public officials employed for remuneration and persons possessing a private income, where the retirement pension or private income is at least equal to the invalidity pension provided by national laws or regulations; (i) Workers who, during their studies, give lessons or work for remuneration in preparation for an occupation corresponding to such studies; {/) Domestic servants employed in the households of agricultural employers. 3. Provided also that there may be exempted from liability to insurance persons who, by virtue of any law, regulations or special scheme, are or will become entitled to invalidity benefits at least equivalent on the whole to those provided for in this Convention. 4. This Convention does not apply to seamen and sea fishermen. ARTICLE 3 National laws or regulations shall, under conditions to be determined by them, either entitle persons formerly compulsorily insured who are not in receipt of a pension to continue their insurance voluntarily or entitle such person to maintain their rights by the periodical payment of a fee for the purpose, unless the said rights are automatically maintained or, in the case of married women, the husband, if not liable to compulsory insurance, is permitted to insure voluntarily and thereby to qualify his wife for an old-age or widow's pension. — 152 — ARTICLE 4 1. An insured person who becomes generally incapacitated for work and thereby unable to earn an appreciable remuneration shall be entitled to an invalidity pension: 2. Provided that national laws or regulations which secure to insured persons medical treatment and attendance throughout invalidity and, if invalidity terminates in death, secure pensions at the full rate to widows without any conditions as to age or invalidity and to orphans, may make the award of an invalidity pension conditional upon the insured person's being unable to perform remunerative work. 3. In the case of special schemes for non-manual workers, an insured person who suffers from incapacity which renders him unable to earn an appreciable remuneration in the occupation in which he was ordinarily engaged or in a similar occupation shall be entitled to an invalidity pension. ARTICLE 5 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 6, the right to a pension may be made conditional upon the completion of a qualifying period, which may involve the payment of a minimum number of contributions since entry into insurance and during a prescribed period immediately preceding the happening of the event insured against. 2. The duration of the qualifying period shall not exceed 60 contribution months, 250 contribution weeks or 1,500 contribution days. 3. Where the completion of the qualifying period involves the payment of a prescribed number of contributions during a prescribed period immediately preceding the happening of the event insured against, periods for which benefit has been paid in respect of temporary incapacity for work or of unemployment shall be reckoned as contribution periods to such extent and under such conditions as may be determined by national laws or regulations. ARTICLE 6 1. An insured person who ceases to be liable to insurance without being entitled to a benefit representing a return for the contributions credited to his account shall retain his rights in respect of these contributions: 2. Provided that national laws or regulations may terminate rights in respect of contributions on the expiry of a term which shall be reckoned from the date when the insured person so ceased to be liable to insurance and which shall be either variable or fixed: {a) Where the term is variable, it shall not be less than one-third (less the periods for which contributions have not been credited) of the total of the periods for which contributions have been credited since entry into insurance. (¿>) Where the term is fixed, it shall in no case be less than eighteen months and rights in respect of contributions may be terminated on the expiry of the term unless, in the course thereof, a minimum number of contributions prescribed by national laws or regulations has been credited to the account of the insured person in virtue of either compulsory or voluntarily continued insurance. ARTICLE 7 1. The pension shall, whether or not dependent on the time spent in insurance, be a fixed sum or a percentage of the remuneration taken into account for insurance purposes or vary with the amount of the contributions paid. 2. Where the pension varies with the time spent in insurance and its award is made conditional upon the completion by the insured person of a — 153 — qualifying period, the pension shall, unless a minimum rate is guaranteed, include a fixed sum or fixed portion not dependent on the time spent in insurance. 3. Where contributions are graduated according to remuneration, the remuneration taken into account for this purpose shall also be taken into account for the purpose of computing the pension, whether or not the pension varies with the time spent in insurance. ARTICLE 8 Insurance institutions shall be authorised, under conditions which shall be determined by national laws or regulations, to grant benefits in kind for the purpose of preventing, postponing, alleviating or curing invalidity to persons who are in receipt of or may be entitled to claim a pension on the ground of invalidity. ARTICLE 9 1. The right to benefits may be forfeited or suspended in whole or in part if the person concerned (a) Has brought about his invalidity by a criminal offence or wilful misconduct; or (b) Has acted fraudulently towards the insurance institution. 2. The pension may be suspended in whole or in part while the person concerned (a) Is entirely maintained at the public expense or by a social insurance institution ; (b) Refuses without valid reason to comply with the doctor's orders or the instructions relating to the conduct of invalids or voluntarily and without authorisation removes himself from the supervision of the insurance institution; (c) Is in receipt of another periodical cash benefit payable by virtue of any law or regulations concerning compulsory social insurance, pensions or workmen's compensation for accidents or occupational diseases; or (d) Is in employment involving compulsory insurance or, in the case of special schemes for non-manual workers, is in receipt of remuneration exceeding a prescribed rate. ARTICLE 10 1. The insured persons and their employers shall contribute to the financial resources of the insurance scheme. 2. National laws or regulations may exempt from liability to pay contributions (a) Apprentices and young workers under a prescribed age ; (b) Workers who are not paid a money wage or whose wages are very low. 3. Contributions from employers may be dispensed with under laws or regulations concerning schemes of national insurance not restricted in scope to employed persons. 4. The public authorities shall contribute to the financial resources or to the benefits of insurance schemes covering employed persons in general or manual workers. 5. National laws or regulations which, at the time of the adoption of this Convention, do not require contributions from insured persons may continue not to require such contributions. — 154 — ARTICLE 11 1. The insurance scheme shall be administered by institutions founded by the public authorities and not conducted with a view to profit or by State insurance funds: 2. Provided that national laws or regulations may also entrust its administration to institutions founded on the initiative of the parties concerned or of their organisations and duly approved by the public authorities. 3. The funds of insurance institutions and State insurance funds shall be administered separately from the public funds: 4. Representatives of the insured persons shall participate in the management of insurance institutions under conditions to be determined by national laws or regulations, which may likewise decide as to the participation of representatives of employers and of the public authorities. 5. Self-governing insurance institutions shall be under the administrative and financial supervision of the public authorities. ARTICLE 12 1. The insured person or his legal representatives shall have a right of appeal in any dispute concerning benefits. 2. Such disputes shall be referred to special tribunals which shall include judges, whether professional or not,.who are specially cognisant of the purposes of insurance and the needs of insured persons or are assisted by assessors chosen as representative of insured persons and employers respectively. 3. In any dispute concerning liability to insurance or the rate of contribution, the employed person and, in the case of schemes providing for an employer's contribution, his employer shall have a right of appeal. ARTICLE 13 1. Foreign employed persons shall be liable to insurance and to the payment of contributions under the same conditions as nationals. 2. Foreign insured persons and their dependants shall be entitled under the same conditions as nationals to the benefits derived from the contributions credited to their account. 3. Foreign insured persons and their dependants shall, if nationals of a Member which is bound by this Convention and the laws or regulations of which therefore provide for a State subsidy towards the financial resources or benefits of the insurance scheme in conformity with Article 10, also be entitled to any subsidy or supplement to or fraction of a pension which is payable out of public funds : 4. Provided that national laws or regulations may restrict to nationals the right to any subsidy or supplement to or fraction of a pension which is payable out of public funds and granted solely to insured persons who have exceeded a prescribed age at the date when the laws or regulations providing for compulsory insurance come into force. 5. Any restrictions which may apply in the event of residence abroad shall only apply to pensioners and their dependants who are nationals of any Member bound by this Convention and reside in the territory of any Member bound thereby to the extent to which they apply to nationals of the country in which the pension has been acquired: Provided that any subsidy or supplement to or fraction of a pension which is payable out of public funds may be withheld. ARTICLE 14 1. The insurance of employed persons shali be governed by the law applicable at their place of employment. 2. In the interest of continuity of insurance, exceptions may be made to this rule by agreement between the Members concerned. — 155 — ARTICLE 15 Any Member may prescribe special provisions for frontier workers whose place of employment is in its territory and whose place of residence is abroad. ARTICLE 16 In countries which, at the time when this Convention first comes into force, have no laws or regulations providing for compulsory invalidity insurance, an existing non-contributory pension scheme which guarantees an individual right to a pension under the conditions defined in Articles 17 to 23 hereinafter shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of this Convention. ARTICLE 17 A person who becomes generally incapacitated for work and thereby unable to earn an appreciable remuneration shall be entitled to a pension. ARTICLE 18 The right to a pension may be made conditional upon the claimant's having been resident in the territory of the Member for a period immediately preceding the making of the claim. This period shall be determined by national laws or regulations but shall not exceed five years. ARTICLE 19 1. A claimant shall be entitled to a pension if the annual value of his means does not exceed a limit which shall be fixed by national laws or regulations with due regard to the minimum cost of living. 2. Means up to a level which shall be determined by national laws or regulations shall be exempted for the purpose of the assessment of means. ARTICLE 20 The rate of pension shall be an amount which, together with any means of the claimant in excess of the means exempted, is at least sufficient to cover the essential needs of the pensioner. ARTICLE 21 1. A claimant shall have a right of appeal in any dispute concerning the award of a pension or the rate thereof. 2. The appeal shall lie to an authority other than the authority which gave the decision in the first instance. ARTICLE 22 1. Foreigners who are nationals of a Member bound by this Convention shall be entitled to pensions under the same conditions as nationals: 2. Provided that national laws or regulations may make the award of a pension to foreigners conditional upon their having been resident in the territory of the Member for a period which shall not exceed by more than five years the period of residence prescribed for nationals. ARTICLE 23 1. The right to a pension may be forfeited or suspended in whole or in part if the person concerned (a) Has brought about his invalidity by a criminal offence or wilful misconduct; (b) Has obtained or attempted to obtain a pension by fraud; — 156 — (c) Has been sentenced to imprisonment for a criminal offence; or (d) Has persistently refused to earn his living by work compatible with his strength and capacity. 2. The pension may be suspended in whole or in part while the person concerned is entirely maintained at the public expense. ARTICLE 24 Subject to the provisions of paragraph 5 of Article 13, this Convention does not refer to the maintenance of pension rights in the event of residence abroad. ARTICLE 25 The formal ratifications of this Convention under the conditions set forth in Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and in the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace shall be communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. ARTICLE 26 This Convention shall be binding only upon those Members whose ratifications have been registered with the Secretariat. It shall come into force twelve months after the date on which the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered with the Secretary-General. Thereafter, this Convention shall come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on which its ratification has been registered. ARTICLE 27 As soon as the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered with the Secretariat, the Secretary-General of the League of Nations shall so notify all the Members of the International Labour Organisation. He shall likewise notify them of the registration of ratifications which may be communicated subsequently by other Members of the Organisation. ARTICLE 28 A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered with the Secretariat. Each Member which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year following the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article, will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article. ARTICLE 29 At the expiration of each period of ten years after the coming into force of this Convention, the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall consider the desirability of placing on the Agenda of the Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part. ARTICLE 30 Should the Conference adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part, then, unless the new Convention otherwise provides, — 157 — (a) The ratification by a Member of the new revising ipso jure involve the immediate denunciation of notwithstanding the provisions of Article 28 above, new revising Convention shall have come into force ; (i) As from the date when the new revising Convention this Convention shall cease to be open to ratification Convention shall this Convention, if and when the comes into force, by the Members. This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention. ARTICLE 31 The French and English texts of this Convention shall both be authentic. Draft Convention [No. 38] concerning compulsory invalidity1 insurance for persons employed in agricultural undertakings The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Seventeenth Session on 8 June 1933, and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to compulsory invalidity insurance, which is included in the second item on the Agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a Draft International Convention, adopts, this twenty-ninth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-three, the following Draft Convention for ratification by the Members of the International Labour Organisation, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace: ARTICLE 1 Bach Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to set up or maintain a scheme of compulsory invalidity insurance which shall be based on provisions at least equivalent to those contained in this Convention. ARTICLE 2 1. The compulsory invalidity insurance scheme shall apply and non-manual workers, including apprentices, employed in undertakings, and domestic servants employed in the households of employers : 2. Provided that any Member may in its national laws or make such exceptions as it deems necessary in respect of to manual agricultural agricultural regulations (a) Workers whose remuneration exceeds a prescribed amount and, where national laws or regulations do not make this exception general in its application, any non-manual workers engaged in occupations which are ordinarily considered as liberal professions; {b) Workers who are not paid a money wage; i This Draft Convention had been ratified, on 1 November 1935, by Chile. — 158 — (c) Young workers under a prescribed age and workers too old to become insured when they first enter employment; (d) Outworkers whose conditions of work are not of a like nature to those of ordinary wage earners; (e) Members of the employer's family; (f) Workers whose employment is of such a nature that, its total duration being necessarily short, they cannot qualify for benefit, and persons engaged solely in occasional or subsidiary employment; (g) Invalid workers and workers in receipt of an invalidity or old-age pension ; (h) Retired public officials employed for remuneration and persons possessing a private income, where the retirement pension or private income is at least equal to the invalidity pension provided by national laws or regulations; (¿) Workers who, during their studies, give lessons or work for remuneration in preparation for an occupation corresponding to such studies. 3. Provided also that there may be exempted from liability to insurance persons who, by virtue of any law, regulations or special scheme, are or will become entitled to invalidity benefits at least equivalent on the whole to those provided for in this Convention. ARTICLES 3-9 [The text is the same as that of Articles 3-9 of Draft Convention No. 37 ; cf. pp. 151-153.] ARTICLE 10 1. The insured persons and their employers shall contribute to the financial resources of the insurance scheme. 2. National laws or regulations may exempt from liability to pay contributions (a) Apprentices and young workers under a prescribed age; (b) Workers who are not paid a money wage or whose wages are very low; (c) Workers in the service of an employer who pays contributions assessed on a basis which is not dependent on the number of workers employed. 3. Contributions from employers may be dispensed with under laws or regulations concerning schemes of national insurance not restricted in scope to employed persons. 4. The public authorities shall contribute to the financial resources or to the benefits of insurance schemes covering employed persons in general or manual workers. 5. National laws or regulations which, at the time of the adoption of this Convention, do not require contributions from insured persons may continue not to require such contributions. ARTICLES 11-31 [The text is the same as that of Articles 11-31 of Draft Convention No. 37; cf. pp. 154-157.] — 159 — Draft Convention [No. 39] concerning compulsory widows' and orphans' insurance for persons employed in industrial or commercial undertakings, in the liberal professions, and for outworkers and domestic servants The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Seventeenth Session on 8 June 1933, and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to compulsory widows' and orphans' insurance, which is included in the second item on the Agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a Draft International Convention, adopts, this twenty-ninth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-three, the following Draft Convention for ratification by the Members of the International Labour Organisation, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace : ARTICLE 1 Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to set up or maintain a scheme of compulsory widows' and orphans' insurance which shall be based on provisions at least equivalent to those contained in this Convention. ARTICLE 2 1. The compulsory widows' and orphans' insurance scheme shall apply to manual and non-manual workers, including apprentices, employed in industrial or commercial undertakings or in the liberal professions, and to outworkers and domestic servants: 2. Provided that any Member may in its national laws or regulations make such exceptions as it deems necessary in respect of (a) Workers whose remuneration exceeds a prescribed amount and, where national laws or regulations do not make this exception general in its application, any non-manual workers engaged in occupations which are ordinarily considered as liberal professions; (b) Workers who are not paid a money wage; (c) Young workers under a prescribed age and workers too old to become insured when they first enter employment; (d) Outworkers whose conditions of work are not of a like nature to those of ordinary wage earners; (e) Members of the employer's family; (/) Workers whose employment is of such a nature that, its total duration being necessarily short, they cannot qualify for benefit and persons engaged solely in occasional or subsidiary employment; (g) Invalid workers and workers in receipt of an invalidity or old-age pension ; [h) Retired public officials employed for remuneration and persons possessing a private income, where the retirement pension or private income is at least equal to the invalidity pension provided by national lawsor regulations; — 160 — (i) (/) Workers who, during their studies, give lessons or work for remuneration in preparation for an occupation corresponding to such studies; Domestic servants employed in the households of agricultural employers. 3. Provided also that there may be exempted from liability to insurance persons whose survivors will, by virtue of any law, regulations or special scheme, become entitled to benefits at least equivalent on the whole to those provided for in this Convention. 4. This Convention does not apply to seamen and. sea fishermen. ARTICLE 3 National laws or regulations shall, under conditions to be determined by them, either entitle persons formerly compulsorily insured who are not in receipt of a pension to continue their insurance voluntarily or entitle such persons to maintain their rights by the periodical payment of a fee for the purpose, unless the said rights are automatically maintained or, in the case of married women, the husband, if not liable to compulsory insurance, is permitted to insure voluntarily and thereby to qualify his wife for an old-age or widow's pension. ARTICLE 4 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 5, the right to a pension may be made conditional upon the completion of a qualifying period, which may involve the payment of a minimum number of contributions since entry into insurance and during a prescribed period immediately preceding the happening of the event insured against. 2. The duration of the qualifying period shall not exceed 60 contribution months, 250 contribution weeks or 1,500 contribution days. 3. Where the completion of the qualifying period involves the payment of a prescribed number of contributions during a prescribed period immediately preceding the happening of the event insured against, periods for which benefit has been paid in respect of temporary incapacity for work or of unemployment shall be reckoned as contribution periods to such extent and under such conditions as may be determined by national laws or regulations. ARTICLE 5 1. An insured person who ceases to be liable to insurance without being entitled to a benefit representing a return for the contributions credited to his account shall retain his rights in respect of these contributions: 2. Provided that national laws or regulations may terminate rights in respect of contributions on the expiry of a term which shall be reckoned from the date when the insured person so ceased to be liable to insurance and which shall be either variable or fixed: (a) Where the term is variable, it shall not be less than one-third (less the periods for which contributions have not been credited) of the total of the periods for which contributions have been credited since entry into insurance. (b) Where the term is fixed, it shall in no case be less than eighteen months and rights in respect of contributions may be determined on the expiry of the term unless, in the course thereof, a minimum number of contributions prescribed by national laws or regulations has been credited to the account of the insured person in virtue of either compulsory or voluntarily continued insurance. ARTICLE 6 The widows' and orphans' insurance scheme shall as a minimum confer pension rights on widows who have not remarried and the children of a deceased insured or pensioned person. — 161 — ARTICLE 7 1. The right to a widows' pension may be reserved to widows who are above a prescribed age or are invalid. 2. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall not apply in the case of special schemes for non-manual workers. 3. The right to a widows' pension may be restricted to cases where the marriage has lasted for a prescribed period and was contracted before the insured or pensioned person had reached a prescribed age or become invalid. 4. The right to a widow's pension may be withheld if, at the time of the death of the insured or pensioned person, the marriage had been dissolved or if a separation had been pronounced in proceedings in which the wife was found solely at fault. 5. Where there are several claimants to a widow's pension, the amount payable may be limited to that of one pension. ARTICLE 8 1. Any child who has not reached a prescribed age which shall not be less than fourteen shall be entitled to a pension in respect of the death of either parent: 2. Provided that the right to a pension in respect of the death of an insured or pensioned mother may either be made conditional upon the mother's having contributed to the support of the child or be made conditional upon her having been a widow at the time of her death. 3. National laws or regulations shall determine the cases in which a child other than a legitimate child shall be entitled to a pension. ARTICLE 9 1. The pension shall, whether or not dependent on the time spent in insurance, be a fixed sum or a percentage of the remuneration taken into account for insurance purposes or vary with the amount of the contributions paid. 2. Where the pension varies with the time spent in insurance and its award is made conditional upon the completion by the insured person of a qualifying period, the pension shall, unless a minimum rate is guaranteed, include a fixed sum or fixed portion not dependent on the time spent in insurance; where the pension is awarded without any condition as to the completion of a qualifying period, provision may be made for a guaranteed minimum rate of pension. 3. Where contributions are graduated according to remuneration, the remuneration taken into account for this purpose shall also be taken into account for the purpose of computing the pension, whether or not the pension varies with the time spent in insurance. ARTICLE 10 Insurance institutions shall be authorised, under conditions which shall be determined by national laws or regulations, to grant benefits in kind for the purpose of preventing, postponing, alleviating or curing invalidity to persons who are in receipt of or may be entitled to claim a pension on the ground of invalidity. ARTICLE 1. 11 The right to benefits may be forfeited or suspended in whole or in part (a) If death has been caused by a criminal offence committed by or the wilful misconduct of the insured person or any person who may become entitled to a survivor's pension; or (¿) If the insured person or any person who may become entitled to a survivor's pension has acted fraudulently towards the insurance institution. 11 — 162 — 2. The pension may be suspended in whole or in part while the person concerned (a) Is entirely maintained at the public expense or by a social insurance institution ; (b) Refuses without valid reason to comply with the doctor's orders or the instructions relating to the conduct of invalids or voluntarily and without authorisation removes herself from the supervision of the insurance institution; (c) Is in receipt of another periodical cash benefit payable by virtue of any law or regulations concerning compulsory social insurance, pensions or workmen's compensation for accidents or occupational diseases; (d) Having been awarded a widow's pension without any condition as to age or invalidity, is living with a man as his wife; or (e) In the case of special schemes for non-manual workers, is in receipt of remuneration exceeding a prescribed rate. ARTICLE 12 1. The insured persons and their employers shall contribute to the financial resources of the insurance scheme. 2. National laws or regulations may exempt from liability to pay contributions (a) Apprentices and young workers under a prescribed age; (b) Workers who are not paid a money wage or whose wages are very low. 3. Contributions from employers may be dispensed with under laws or regulations concerning schemes of national insurance not restricted in scope to employed persons. 4. The public authorities shall contribute to the financial resources or to the benefits of insurance schemes covering employed persons in general or manual workers. 5. National laws or regulations which, at the time of the adoption of this Convention, do not require contributions from insured persons may continue not to require such contributions. ' ARTICLE 13 1. The insurance scheme shall be administered by institutions founded by the public authorities and not conducted with a view to profit, or by State insurance funds: 2. Provided that national laws or regulations may also entrust its administration to institutions founded on the initiative of the parties concerned or of their organisations and duly approved by the public authorities. 3. The funds of insurance institutions and State insurance funds shall be administered separately from the public funds. 4. Representatives of the insured persons shall participate in the management of the insurance institutions under conditions to be determined by national laws or regulations, which may likewise decide as to the participation of representatives of employers and of the public authorities. 5. Self-governing insurance institutions shall be under the administrative and financial supervision of the public authorities. ARTICLE 14 1. The survivors of a deceased insured or pensioned person shall have a right of appeal in any dispute concerning benefits. 2. Such disputes shall be referred to special tribunals which shall include judges, whether professional or not, who are specially cognisant of the purposes — 163 — of insurance or are assisted by assessors chosen as representative of insured persons and employers respectively. 3. In any dispute concerning liability to insurance or the rate of contribution, the employed person and, in the case of schemes providing for an employer's contribution, his employer shall have a right of appeal. ARTICLE 15 1. Foreign employed persons shall be liable to insurance and to the payment of contributions under the same conditions as nationals. 2. The survivors of foreign insured or pensioned persons shall be entitled under the same conditions as nationals to the benefits derived from the contributions credited to their account. 3. The survivors of foreign insured or pensioned persons shall, if nationals of a Member which is bound by this Convention and the laws or regulations of which therefore provide for a State subsidy towards the financial resources or benefits of the insurance scheme in conformity with Article 12, also be entitled to any subsidy or supplement to or fraction of a pension which is payable out of public funds: 4. Provided that national laws or regulations may restrict to nationals the right to any subsidy or supplement to or fraction of a pension which is payable out of public funds and granted solely to the survivors of insured persons who have exceeded a prescribed age at the date when the laws or regulations providing for compulsory insurance come into force. 5. Any restrictions which may apply in the event of residence abroad shall only apply to pensioners who are nationals of any Member bound by this Convention and reside in the territory of any Member bound thereby to the extent to which they apply to nationals of the country in which the pension has been acquired: Provided that any subsidy or supplement to or fraction of a pension which is payable out of public funds may be withheld. ARTICLE 16 X. The insurance of employed persons shall be governed by the law applicable at their place of employment. 2. In the interest of continuity of insurance exceptions may be made to this rule by agreement between the Members concerned. ARTICLE 17 Any Member may prescribe special provisions for frontier workers whose place of employment is in its territory and whose place of residence is abroad. ARTICLE 18 In countries which, at the time when this Convention first comes into force, have no laws or regulations providing for compulsory widows' and orphans' insurance, an existing non-contributory pension scheme which guarantees an individual right to a pension under the conditions defined in Articles 19 to 25 hereinafter shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of this Convention. ARTICLE 1. 19 The following shall be entitled to a pension: (a) Every widow who has not remarried and who has at least two dependent children ; (b) Every orphan, that is to say, every child who has lost both parents. 2. National laws or regulations shall define — 164 — (a) The cases in which a child other than a legitimate child shall be deemed to be the child of a widow for the purpose of entitling her to a pension ; (b) The age until which a child shall be considered dependent upon a widow or shall be entitled to an orphan's pension: Provided that this age shall in no case be less than fourteen. ARTICLE 20 1. The right to a widow's pension may be made conditional upon the residence in the territory of the Member (a) Of the deceased husband during a period immediately preceding his death; and (6) Of the widow during a period immediately preceding the making of her claim for a pension. 2. The right to an orphan's pension may be made conditional upon the residence, in the territory of the Member during a period immediately preceding death, of whichever of the parents died the more recently. 3. The period of residence in the territory of the Member to have been completed by a widow or a deceased parent shall be prescribed by national laws or regulations but shall not exceed five years. ARTICLE 21 1. A claimant shall be entitled to a widow's or orphan's pension if the annual value of the claimant's means, including any means of dependent children or orphans, does not exceed a limit which shall be fixed by national laws or regulations with due regard to the minimum cost of living. 2. Means up to a level which shall be determined by national laws or regulations shall be exempted for the purpose of the assessment of means. ARTICLE 22 The rate of pension shall be an amount which, together with any means of the claimant in excess of the means exempted, is at least sufficient to cover the essential needs of the pensioner. ARTICLE 23 1. A claimant shall have a right of appeal in any dispute concerning the award of a pension or the rate thereof. 2. The appeal shall lie to an authority other than the authority which gave the decision in the first instance. ARTICLE 24 1. Foreign widows and orphans shall, if nationals of a Member bound by this Convention, be entitled to pensions under the same conditions as nationals: 2. Provided that national laws or regulations may make the award of a pension to foreigners conditional upon the completion of a period of residence in the territory of the Member which shall not exceed by more than five years the period of residence provided for in Article 20. ARTICLE 25 1. The right to a pension may be forfeited or suspended in whole or in part if the widow or the person who has undertaken responsibility for the care of the orphan has obtained or attempted to obtain a pension by fraud. 2. The pension may be suspended in whole or in part while the person concerned is entirely maintained at the public expense. — 165 — ARTICLE 26 Subject to the provisions of paragraph 5 of Article 15, this Convention does not refer to the maintenance of pension rights in the event of residence abroad. ARTICLE 27 The formal ratification of this Convention under the conditions set forth in Part XIII of the Treaty of "Versailles and in the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace shall be communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. ARTICLE 28 This Convention shall be binding only upon those Members whose ratifications have been registered with the Secretariat. It shall come into force twelve months after the date on which the ratification of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered with the Secretary-General. Thereafter, this Convention shall come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on which its ratification has been registered. ARTICLE 29 As soon as the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered with the Secretariat, the Secretary-General of the League of Nations shall so notify all the Members of the International Labour Organisation. He shall likewise notify them of the registration of ratifications which may be communicated subsequently by other Members of the Organisation. ARTICLE 30 A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered with the Secretariat. Bach Member which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year following the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article, will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article. ARTICLE 31 At the expiration of each period of ten years after the coming into force of this Convention, the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall consider the desirability of placing on the Agenda of the Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part. ARTICLE 32 Should the Conference adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part, then, unless the new Convention otherwise provides, (a) The ratification by a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the immediate denunciation of this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 30 above, if and when the new revising Convention shall have come into force; (è) As from the date when the new revising Convention comes into force, this Convention shall cease to be open to ratification by the Members. 166 — This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention. ARTICLE 33 The French and English texts of this Convention shall both be authentic. Draft Convention [No. 40] concerning compulsory widows' and orphans' insurance for persons employed in agricultural undertakings The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Seventeenth Session on 8 June 1933, and Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to compulsory widows' and orphans' insurance which is included in the second item on the Agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a Draft International Convention, adopts, this twenty-ninth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-three, the following Draft Convention for ratification by the Members of the International Labour Organisation, in accordance with the provisions of Part X I I I of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace: ARTICLE 1 Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to set up or maintain a scheme of compulsory widows' and orphans' insurance whicli shall be based on provisions at least equivalent to those contained in this Convention. ARTICLE 2 1. The compulsory widows' and orphans' insurance scheme shall apply to manual and non-manual workers, including apprentices, employed in agricultural undertakings, and to domestic servants employed in the households of agricultural employers: 2. Provided that any Member may in its national laws or regulations make such exceptions as it deems necessary in respect of (a) Workers whose remuneration exceeds a prescribed amount and, where national laws or regulations do not make this exception general in its application, any non-manual workers engaged in occupations which are ordinarily considered as liberal professions; (b) Workers who are not paid a money wage; (c) Young workers under a prescribed age and workers too old to become insured when they first enter employment; (d) Outworkers whose conditions of work are not of a like nature to those of ordinary wage earners; (e) Members of the employer's family; — 167 — (/) Workers whose employment is of such a nature that, its total duration being necessarily short, they cannot qualify for benefit, and persons engaged solely in occasional or subsidiary employment; (g) Invalid workers and workers in receipt of an invalidity or old-age pension ; (fe) Retired public officials employed for remuneration and persons possessing a private income, where the retirement pension or private income is at least equal to the invalidity pension provided by national laws or regulations; (i) Workers who, during their studies, give lessons or work for remuneration in preparation for an occupation corresponding to such studies. 3. Provided also that there may be exempted from liability to insurance persons whose survivors will, by virtue of any law, regulations or special scheme, become entitled to benefits at least equivalent on the whole to those provided for in this Convention. ARTICLES 3-11 [The text is the same as that of Articles 3-11 of Draft Convention No. 39; cf. pp. 160-162.] ARTICLE 12 1. The insured persons and their employers shall contribute to the financial resources of the insurance scheme. 2. National laws or regulations may exempt from liability to pay contributions : (a) Apprentices and young workers under a prescribed age; (b) Workers who are not paid a money wage or whose wages are very low; (c) Workers in the service of an employer who pays contributions assessed on a basis which is not dependent on the number of workers employed. 3. Contributions from employers may be dispensed with under laws or regulations concerning schemes of national insurance not restricted in scope to employed persons. 4. The public authorities shall contribute to the financial resources or to the benefits of insurance schemes covering employed persons in general or manual workers. 5. National laws or regulations which, at the time of the adoption of this Convention, do not require contributions from insured persons may continue not to require such contributions. ARTICLES 13-33 [The text is the same as that of Articles 13-33 of Draft Convention No. 39; cf. pp. 162-166.] Recommendation [No. 43] concerning the general principles of invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation of the League of Nations, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Seventeenth Session on 8 June 1933, and — 168 - , Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance, which is included in the second item on the Agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals should take the form of a recommendation, adopts, this twenty-ninth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-three, the following Recommendation to be submitted to the Members of the International Labour Organisation for consideration with a view to effect being given to it by national legislation or otherwise, in accordance with the provisions of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and of the corresponding Parts of the other Treaties of Peace: The Conference, Having adopted Draft Conventions concerning compulsory invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance for persons employed in industrial or commercial undertakings, in the liberal professions, and for outworkers and domestic servants and concerning compulsory invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance for persons employed in agricultural undertakings, and Considering that these Draft Conventions lay down the minimum conditions to be complied with from the beginning by every scheme of compulsory invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance, and Considering that it is desirable to indicate a number of general principles which practice shows to be best calculated to promote a just, effective and appropriate organisation of invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance ; Recommends that each Member should take the following principles and rules into consideration: I SCOPE 1. (a) Compulsory invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance for employed persons should include, irrespective of age, sex or nationality, every person who is ordinarily engaged in employment for remuneration, (b) Where economic, social and administrative conditions permit, national laws or regulations should provide that invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance should also include persons of small means working on their own account in industry, commerce and agriculture. 2. If, however, it is considered advisable to fix a minimum age for entry into insurance, such age should be as close as possible to the age at which compulsory school attendance ceases and at which the choice of an occupation is made. 3. The fixing of a maximum age for entry into insurance is only justified in insurance schemes which make the right to a pension conditional upon the completion of a qualifying period and then only for workers who, when they take up employment for remuneration as their ordinary occupation, are too old to be able to complete the qualifying period before the normal pensionable age. 4. Where it is considered advisable to fix (apart from the limitation, inherent in social insurance, of the remuneration taken into account for insurance purposes) a maximum remuneration as a criterion of liability to insurance, only such workers should thereby be excluded as, by reason of the fact that their remuneration is considerably in excess of the general level of wages, may be deemed to be capable of making provision by themselves against invalidity, old-age and death. — 169 — II PENSIONS A. — Qualifying Period and Insurance Periods 5. The qualifying period prescribed by insurance schemes which provide for awarding all pensioners a pension at a fixed rate or varying with the remuneration taken into account for insurance purposes should be restricted to a contribution period which shall not be longer than is strictly necessary to preclude persons from entering insurance with intent to take undue advantage of it and to ensure some consideration for the benefits afforded. 6. The qualifying period for the purpose of an invalidity or survivor's pension should in no case exceed 60 contribution months, 250 contribution weeks or 1,500 contribution days and the qualifying period for the purpose of an old-age pension should not exceed twice this maximum. 7. Periods during which the insured person is incapable of work by reason of sickness, is not available for work by reason of childbirth or is involuntarily unemployed should, within limits to be prescribed, count towards the qualifying period, even where no contributions are paid for such periods by sickness or maternity insurance or by an unemployment fund. 8. (o) Insurance schemes which place limitations on the retention of rights in respect of contributions which have been paid should guarantee retention of such rights for a term of at least eighteen months reckoned from the last contribution payment, this term being prolonged, in schemes in which contributions are graduated according to remuneration, up to at least one-third (less the periods for which contributions have not been credited) of the total of the periods for which contributions have been credited since entry into insurance. In reckoning this term, periods during which the insured person was incapable of work by reason of sickness, was not available for work by reason of childbirth or was involuntarily unemployed or engaged in military service, should not be considered as periods for which contributions have not been credited. (b) Any further retention of rights in respect of contributions may be made conditional either upon resumption of payment of contributions in virtue of compulsory or voluntarily continued insurance or upon the payment of a moderate fee for this purpose ; in insurance schemes in which contributions are graduated according to remuneration and which provide for pensions varying with the time spent in insurance, resumption of payment of contributions should operate to increase the value of the rights in course of acquisition. 9. A person formerly insured should be able to recover rights already expired, by the payment of a prescribed number of contributions in virtue of compulsory or voluntarily continued insurance; where the pension varies with the number or amount of the contributions credited to the account of the insured person, the number of contributions so prescribed should be less than the number required for the initial qualifying period. 10. Sums required to be paid for maintaining the rights in course of acquisition of insured persons who are unemployed for a long time should —in virtue of the impossibility of putting the expense of such payments solely on the insured persons in employment—be obtained through the financial assistance of the public authorities; and the same principle should apply to payments for the purpose of consolidating and enhancing the rights of such unemployed persons. B. — Old-Age Pensions 11. For insurance schemes which fix the pensionable age above sixty it is recommended, as a means of relieving the labour market and of ensuring rest for the aged, that the pensionable age should be reduced to sixty, in so — 172 — in respect of the cost of decent burial should be paid by widows' and orphans' insurance on the death of an insured person. E. — Provisions for the Suspension or Reduction of Pensions 28. Where provision is made for the suspension or reduction of invalidity, old-age or survivors' pensions in cases where a concurrent title exists to a pension acquired under another scheme of social insurance or a scheme of pensions or workmen's compensation for accidents or occupational diseases, the provisions concerning suspension or reduction should be such as to enable the pensioner to receive in its entirety whichever of the pensions is the higher and in any case he should be paid that part of the invalidity, old-age or survivor's pension which corresponds to the insured person's own contributions. 29. Where.an invalidity or old-age pension is suspended for reason other than the existence of a concurrent title to another pension, the dependent family of the person whose pension is suspended should be awarded a maintenance allowance equal to the whole or to a part of the pension. Ill FINANCIAL RESOURCES 30. (a) The financial resources of the insurance scheme should be provided by contributions from the insured persons and contributions from their employers. (b) The public authorities should contribute to the insurance scheme. 31. As a general rule the contribution of the insured person should not be higher than the contribution of his employer. 32. The employer should be responsible for the whole or the greater part of the joint contribution in respect of workers who are remunerated only in kind, outworkers and apprentices whose remuneration does not exceed a prescribed amount. 33. The State should be responsible for the contributions in respect of periods of compulsory military service performed by persons who were insured before beginning their military service. IV ADMINISTRATION 34. National laws or regulations should provide that insured women are adequately represented on the administrative bodies of invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance. E. — MAINTENANCE OF MIGRANTS' PENSION RIGHTS Draft Convention [No. 48] concerning the establishment of an international scheme for the maintenance of rights under invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation, Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Nineteenth Session on 4 June 1935, and — 173 — Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the maintenance of rights in course of acquisition and acquired rights under invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance on behalf of workers who tranfer their residence from one country to another, which is the first item on the Agenda of the Session, and Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a Draft International Convention, adopts, this twenty-second day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-five, the following Draft Convention which may be cited as the Maintenance of Migrants' Pension Rights Convention, 1935: PART I. — ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERNATIONAL SCHEME Article 1 1. There is hereby established between Members of the International Labour Organisation a scheme for the maintenance of rights in course of acquisition with and of rights acquired with compulsory invalidity, old-age and widows'.and orphans' insurance institutions (hereinafter called insurance institutions). 2. References to Members in Parts II, III, IV and V of this Convention shall be construed as including only Members of the International Labour Organisation bound by this Convention. PART II. — MAINTENANCE OF RIGHTS IN COURSE OF ACQUISITION Article 2 1. The insurance periods spent by persons who have been affiliated to insurance institutions of two or more Members shall, irrespective of the nationality of such persons, be totalised by each such institution in accordance with the "following rules. 2. For the maintenance of rights in course of acquisition the periods to be totalised shall be: (a) Contribution periods; (¿>) Periods in respect of which contributions were not payable but during which rights are maintained under the laws or regulations under which they were spent; (c) Periods during which a cash benefit has been paid under an invalidity or old-age insurance scheme of another Member; and (d) Periods during which a cash benefit has been paid under some other social insurance scheme of another Member, in so far as a corresponding benefit would, under the laws or regulations governing the institution which is totalising, maintain rights in course of acquisition. 3. For the purposes of: (i) Determining whether any conditions as to the qualifying period (minimum duration of liability to insurance) or the number of contributions prescribed for entitlement to special advantages (guaranteed minima) have been fulfilled; (n) The recovery of rights; (in) The right to enter voluntary insurance; and (iv) The right to medical treatment and attendance; — 174 — the periods to be totalised shall be: (a) Contribution periods; and (b) Periods in respect of which contributions were not payable but which are counted for the purpose of the qualifying period both under the laws or regulations under which they were spent and under the laws or regulations governing the institution which is totalising. 4. Provided that, where under the laws or regulations of a Member periods spent in an occupation covered by a special scheme are alone to be taken into account for the purpose of determining whether a claimant is entitled to certain advantages, the periods to be totalised for the purpose set forth in paragraphs 2 and 3 shall be restricted to periods spent under the corresponding special insurance schemes of other Members or, in respect of a Member with no special insurance scheme for the occupation concerned, to periods spent in that occupation under the insurance scheme applicable thereto. • 5. Contribution periods and assimilated periods spent simultaneously with institutions of two or more Members shall be reckoned once for the purpose of totalisation. Article 3 1. Each insurance institution from which on the basis of the totalised insurance periods the claimant is entitled to benefit shall calculate the amount of such benefit according to the laws and regulations governing the said institution. 2. Benefits or benefit components which vary with the time spent in insurance and are determined with sole regard to the periods spent under the laws and regulations governing the institution liable shall be payable without reduction. 3. Benefits or benefit components which are determined independently of the time spent in insurance and consist of a fixed sum, a percentage of the remuneration taken into account for insurance purpose, or a multiple of the average contribution, may be reduced in the ratio of the periods counted for the purpose of reckoning benefits according to the laws and regulations governing the institution liable to the total of the periods counted for the purpose of reckoning benefits according to the laws and regulations governing all the institutions concerned. 4. The provisions of paragraphs 2 and 3 shall apply to any subsidy or supplement to or fraction of a pension which is payable out of public funds. 5. The apportionment of the cost of medical treatment and attendance is not regulated by this Convention. Article 4 In cases in which the total of the insurance periods spent with the insurance institutions of a Member does not amount to twenty-six contribution weeks, the institution or institutions with which they were spent may decline to recognise any liability for benefit. Periods in respect of which liability for benefit has been so declined shall not be taken into account by any of the other institutions concerned when making the reduction permitted by Article 3, paragraph 3. Article 5 1. If a person who is entitled to benefit from the insurance institutions of at least two Members would but for this Convention be entitled to receive from any such institution in respect of periods spent with it a benefit greater than the total of the benefits to which he is entitled under Article 3, he shall be entitled to receive from that institution a complementary benefit equal to the difference. 2. Where such complementary benefits are due from more than one institution, the total amount due to the beneficiary shall be the highest such — 175 — benefit due from any one of them and the liability for this amount shall be apportioned among them in proportion to the complementary benefit which would have been due from each individually. Article 6 Provision may be made by agreement between the Members concerned for: (a) The reckoning of benefits by a method which diners from that prescribed in Article 3 but gives a result which is at least equivalent on the whole to that given by applying the said Article, subject to the total of the benefits payable never being less than the highest benefit payable by any one insurance institution in respect of periods spent with it; (b) Enabling an insurance institution of one Member to discharge its liability to the insured person and his dependants by paying to the insurance institution of another Member to which he has become affiliated the capital representing the rights in course of acquisition by him at the date at which he ceased to be affiliated to the institution, subject to the latter institution consenting thereto and undertaking to apply the capital for the purpose of crediting rights; (c) Limiting the total of the benefits granted by the insurance institutions of the Members to the amount due on the basis of the totalised insurance periods from the institution governed by the most favourable laws and regulations. Article 7 A claimant shall not be required to submit his claim for benefit to more than one of the insurance institutions to which he has been affiliated. This institution shall then inform the other institutions mentioned in the claim. Article 8 For the purpose of converting sums expressed in the currency of another Member, insurance institutions shall, when dealing with claims for benefit, adopt the relation between the two currencies which, on the first day of the quarter during which the claim was submitted, obtained on the principal foreign exchange market of the Member in the currency of which the sum is expressed: Provided that provision may be made for another method of conversion by agreement between the Members concerned. Article 9 Any Member may decline to apply the provisions of this Part of this Convention in its relations with a Member the laws and regulations of which do not cover the risk in respect of which a benefit is claimed. PART III. — MAINTENANCE OF ACQUIRED RIGHTS Article 10 1. Persons who have been affiliated to an insurance institution of a Member and their dependants shall be entitled to the entirety of the benefits the right to which has been acquired in virtue of their insurance: (a) If they are resident in the territory of a Member, irrespective of their nationality ; (b) If they are nationals of a Member, irrespective of their place of residence. 2. Provided that any subsidy or supplement to or fraction of a pension which is payable out of public funds may be withheld from persons who are not nationals of a Member. — 176 — 3. Provided also that, for a period of five years from the first coming into force of this Convention, a Member may reserve the payment of any subsidy or supplement to or fraction of a pension which is payable out of public funds to the nationals of Members with which it had concluded supplementary agreements to that effect. Article 11 1. Pensions the right to which is maintained under Article 10 shall not be commuted for lump sums smaller than their capital value. 2. Provided that the insurance institution liable for benefit may commute pensions the monthly value of which is inconsiderable for lump sums calculated according to the laws and regulations governing the said institution, subject to the said sums not being reduced on the ground of residence abroad. Article 12 1. The provisions of the laws or regulations of a Member permitting the reduction or suspension of benefit if the person concerned has concurrent rights to other social insurance benefits or is in employment involving compulsory insurance may be applied to beneficiaries under this Convention in respect of benefits payable under an insurance scheme of another Member or in respect of employment in the territory of another Member. 2. Provided that provisions permitting reduction or suspension in the case of concurrent benefits in respect of the same risk shall not apply to benefits the right to which is acquired under Part II of this Convention. Article 13 An insurance institution liable for benefit in virtue of this Convention may discharge in the currency of its own country its liability to all persons entitled to such benefit. PART IV. — MUTUAL ASSISTANCE IN ADMINISTRATION Article 14 1. The authorities and insurance institutions of each Member shall afford assistance to those of other Members to the same extent as if they were applying their own laws and regulations relating to social insurance, and more particularly shall, at the request of an institution of any Member, carry out the investigations and medical examinations necessary to determine whether the persons in receipt of benefits for which the latter institution is liable satisfy the conditions for entitlement to such benefits. 2. In so far as the Members concerned do not otherwise agree, the expenses to be repaid for assistance so afforded shall be an amount determined according to the scale of charges of the institution or authority which has afforded assistance or, in the absence of such a scale, the expenditure incurred. Article .15 Any exception from fees granted by the laws or regulations of a Member in respect of documents furnished to its authorities or insurance institutions shall be extended to the corresponding documents furnished in connection with the application of this Convention to the authorities and insurance institutions of any other Member. Article 16 With the consent of the competent central authorities of the Members concerned, an insurance institution liable for benefit to a beneficiary resident in the territory of another Member may, on terms agreed between the two institutions, entrust the insurance institution of the place of residence of the beneficiary with the payment of such benefit on its behalf. — 177 — PAKT V. — OPERATION OF INTERNATIONAL SCHEME Article 17 Every Member which at the date of its ratification of this Convention has not established such a scheme undertakes to establish within twelve months from that date either: (a) A compulsory insurance scheme under which pensions are payable at an age not later than sixty-five to the majority of persons employed in industrial and commercial undertakings; or (b) A compulsory invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance scheme covering a substantial proportion of the persons employed in industrial and commercial undertakings. Article 18 1. Each Member shall treat the nationals of other Members on the same footing as its own nationals for the purpose of liability to compulsory insurance and for the purpose of insurance benefits, including any subsidy or supplement to or fraction of a pension which is payable out of public funds. 2. Provided that any Member may restrict to its own nationals the right to any subsidy or supplement to or fraction of a pension which is payable out of public funds and granted solely to insured persons who have exceeded a prescribed age at the date when the laws or regulations providing for compulsory insurance come into force. Article 19 The provisions of this Convention may be derogated from by treaties between Members which do not affect the rights and duties of Members not parties to the treaty and which make definite provision for the maintenance of rights in course of acquisition and of acquired rights under conditions at least as favourable on the whole as those provided for in this Convention. Article 20 1. For the purpose of assisting Members in applying this Convention there is hereby established in connection with the International Labour Office a Commission consisting of one delegate for each Member together with three persons appointed respectively by the government, employers' and workers' representatives upon the Governing Body of the Office. The Commission shall regulate its own procedure. 2. At the request of one or more Members concerned, the Commission, which shall be guided by the principles and purposes of this Convention, shall make recommendations as to the manner in which it shall be applied. Article 21 1. Where, prior to the coming into force of this Convention, a pension has not been awarded or the payment of a pension has been suspended on account of the residence abroad of the person concerned, the pension shall be awarded or the payment of the pension resumed in pursuance of the Convention as from the date of the coming into force thereof for the Member concerned. 2. In applying this Convention account shall be taken of insurance periods prior to its coming into force if account would have been taken of such periods if this Convention had been in force during these periods. 3. At the request of the person concerned claims settled before the coming into force of this Convention shall, unless they have been settled by the 12 — 178 — payment of a lump sum, be reviewed. Review shall not involve the payment of arrears of, or the refund of, benefits for the period prior to the coming into force of the Convention for the Member concerned. Article 22 ; 1. The denunciation of this Convention by a Member shall not affect the liabilities of its insurance institutions in respect of claims which matured before the denunciation took effect. 2. Rights in course of acquisition which are maintained in pursuance of this Convention shall not lapse by reason of the denunciation thereof: their further maintenance during the period subsequent to the date on which the Convention ceases to be in force shall be regulated by the laws and regulations governing the institution concerned. PART VI. — FINAL PROVISIONS Article 23 The formal ratification of this Convention shall be communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. Article 24 1. This Convention shall be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour Organisation whose ratifications have been registered with the Secretary-General. 2. It shall come into force twelve months after the date on which the ratifications of two Members have been registered with the Secretary-General. 3. Thereafter, this Convention shall come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on which its ratification has been registered. Article 25 As soon as the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered, the Secretary-General of the League of Nations shall notify all the Members of the International Labour Organisation. He shall likewise notify them of the registration of ratifications which may be communicated subsequently by other Members of the Organisation. Article 26 1. A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of five years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act communicated to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations for registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered. 2. Each Member which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year following the expiration of the period of five years mentioned in the preceding paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article, will be bound for another period of five years and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each period of five years under the terms provided for in this Article. Article 27 At the expiration of each period of five years after the coming into force of this Convention, the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall consider the desirability of placing on the Agenda of the Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part. — 179 — Article 28 1. Should the Conference adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part, then, unless the new Convention otherwise provides, (a) The ratification by a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the immediate denunciation of this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 26 above, if and when the new revising Convention shall have come into force; (b) As from the date when the new revising Convention comes into force this Convention shall cease to be open to ratification by the Members. 2. This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention. Article 29 The French and English texts of this Convention shall both be authentic. APPENDIX II Texts of the Guiding Principles, laid down by the International Committee of Experts on Social Insurance, for Curative and Preventive Assistance to be provided by Invalidity, Old-Age, and Widows' and Orphans' Insurance Institutions, and for the Economical Administration of Medical and Pharmaceutical Benefits to be provided by Sickness Insurance Institutions. The Conventions and Recommendations adopted by the Conference do not constitute the whole effort of the International Labour Organisation in the sphere of social insurance. Since 1921 the International Labour Office has consulted its Committee of Experts on Social Insurance on certain essential problems which arise in regard to covering the risks of loss of earning capacity and death. Most of the opinions given were used partly to form .the basis of the proposed Draft Conventions and Recommendations submitted later to the International Labour Conference. As the Conventions and Recommendations which were adopted are dealt with in Appendix I, it was not thought necessary to reproduce here the original opinions on which the texts were based. It has seemed useful,' however, to reproduce in their entirety the guiding principles laid down by the Committee of Experts for curative and preventive assistance to be provided by invalidity, old-age, and widows' and orphans' insurance institutions, and for the economical administration of medical and pharmaceutical benefits to be provided by sickness insurance institutions. These problems are of a highly technical nature which it has not yet seemed practicable to deal with in a proposed Draft Convention or Recommendation to be submitted to the Conference, but they are in the forefront of the questions which are at present occupying the attention of the social insurance institutions. GUIDING P R I N C I P L E S OF CURATIVE AND PREVENTIVE ACTION BY INVALIDITY, O L D - A G E , AND W I D O W S ' AND ORPHANS' INSURANCE INSTITUTIONS At its Sixteenth Session the International Labour Conference held a first discussion on the question of insurance against invalidity, old-age andjwidows' and orphans' insurance. The Conference accepted the proposals of the International Labour Office, and asked the Office to consult the Governments on the part to be played by invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance in the protection of the health of insured persons, with special reference to curative and preventive — 181 — measures in the form of insurance benefits, and the share of insurance schemes in the campaign against social diseases and the development of the health services of the country. I n t h e course of the discussion, it was suggested t h a t it might be well t o convene a meeting of specialists in t h e medical questions raised b y insurance against invalidity, old age and death, for the purpose of comparing the experience of different nations and outlining t h e guiding principles of curative and preventive action b y insurance institutions. The International Labour Office, with the authority of its Governing Body, invited experts to the meeting. The conclusions reached b y this meeting, which was held at t h e Office from 12 to 14 October 1932, are given below. . CURATIVE AND PREVENTIVE ASSISTANCE IN INDIVIDUAL CASES I. Purpose of Assistance. (1) Clinical and Social Restoration. Invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance should take measures to provide the sick persons for whom it is responsible with appropriate medical assistance with a view to the recovery of health, the diminution of suffering and the prevention of aggravation. It is especially important, in connection with invalidity insurance, for it to take action whenever there is a possibility of removing or diminishing invalidity which results from sickness or of preventing or postponing invalidity which is impending. II. Beneficiaries of Assistance. (2) Insured Persons and Pensioners. All insured persons and pensioners should be eligible for assistance as soon as and in so far as they are not entitled to it by law at the hands of another branch of insurance or of a public medical service available to these classes. (3) Members of the Family of Insured Persons and Pensioners. The benefits of assistance ought to be extended to the wife or husband and young children of insured persons and insurance pensioners. III. Elements and Methods of Assistance. (4) Assistance Benefits. An efficacious system of assistance requires a medical service so organised as to place at the disposal of its beneficiaries every means of detecting and treating diseases in their earliest stages. (5) Examination and Diagnosis. The system of assistance should provide beneficiaries and the doctors attending them with every facility for establishing an early diagnosis which is complete and takes account in particular of the social and economic circumstances of the individual (wages, family, housing, etc.). (6) Treatment and Attendance. Assistance should comprise in particular the following elements: (1) Treatment in the consulting room or in the patient's home by a general practitioner and the service of specialists; (2) The supply of drugs and prostheses; (3) Treatment and attendance in a hospital or other curative institution ; (4) Home attendance by trained nurses. The treatment should be adequate, that is to say, should comprise all the resources of modern medicine. It should be appropriate, i.e. carried out on a plan drawn up with due regard to the medical and social data. — 182 — I t should be economical, i.e. not going beyond what is necessary, avoid all useless or superfluous orders and prescriptions, and from a number of methods of treatment of equal efficacy and rapidity choose the cheapest. PARTICIPATION OF INSURANCE IN THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST SOCIAL DISEASES I. Purpose of the Campaign against Social Diseases. (7) The essential purpose of this campaign is to protect the social group which is threatened by these diseases through the organisation of collective preventive action, namely: (a) By direct and specific action against the disease and its seat; (£>) By indirect action for the purpose of protecting persons in contact with the patient, of improving housing and nutrition and of strengthening resistance to the disease. II. Elements of the Campaign against Social Diseases. (8) Ascertainment. The success of the campaign against social diseases depends, in the first place, on systematic ascertainment and early diagnosis, since it is indispensable to begin treatment as soon as the first signs of disease appear, and afford the persons threatened by disease protection against it. (9) The campaign against social diseases is facilitated when persons suffering from or threatened by disease present themselves for examination on their own initiative. (10) All the organisations which are associated in the campaign against social diseases ought to inform one another (independently of notifications which are required by law) within five days of cases of death and cases of disease which have been ascertained or are suspected. (11) In order to reach the sources of the disease it is necessary to organise the preventive examination of persons who are in contact with the patient. (12) It is likewise important to arrange for a periodical examination of social groups which are especially liable to disease by reason of their housing conditions, nutrition, their occupation, mode of life, etc. (13) Diagnosis. The establishment of an early and complete diagnosis calls for utilisation of resources of laboratories (bacteriological, chemical, microscopic, serological, etc., examinations and analyses) and radiology. The medical diagnosis, supplemented by a consideration of the social circumstances of the patient, renders it possible to draw up a systematic plan of treatment. (14) Curative Treatment. Curative measures comprise general and specialist medical treatment and attendance, and the supply of drugs and prostheses; they are supplemented by economic and social assistance and by after-care. (15) Non-residential Treatment. The treatment will be given as a rule in the doctor's consulting room or at the patient's house. Nevertheless, for patients who are unable to obtain elsewhere the treatment which they need, and where treatment has to be given by persons possessing special qualifications, special treatment centres are desirable. (16) Residential Treatment. Treatment in hospital should be granted where the nature or seriousness of the disease requires a kind of treatment or attendance which can only be given in an institution, or where the necessary and adequate care cannot be afforded to the patient in his home by reason of his family circumstances or the unsuitability of his dwelling, or lastly, where the members of his family have to be protected against infection. (17) Assistance of Family of Hospital Patient. Benefits in cash should be granted to the members of the family of a hospital patient living in his house and mainly dependent on him. (18) Economic and Social Assistance. Benefits in cash represent an important factor in the campaign against social disease, especially where — 183 — they enable the standards of nutrition and housing to be maintained or improved. Other benefits may be found indispensable for the success of the treatment, especially : Benefits provided by way of social service : supervision of the execution of the doctor's orders, education of the patient and those about him; Benefits by way of occupational assistance: facilities for changing occupation, training to resume normal life and employment. (19) After-Care. The results of treatment should be consolidated by admission to convalescent homes, periodical observation and examination, and the education of convalescents and their family. (20) Prevention. Systematic ascertainment and early diagnosis enable diseased individuals to be discovered and threatened individuals to be protected and are therefore most important features of preventive policy. By their use the anxieties of persons who wrongly suppose themselves to be diseased may be allayed and useless treatments may be avoided. (21) Non-residential Prevention. Preventive action of a non-residential nature comprises on the one hand measures intended to prevent the propagation of the disease, in particular by the education of the patient, and by the improvement of housing conditions, enabling the patient to be isolated (roomier dwellings, provision of beds), and on the other hand measures with a view to the protection of healthy persons, especially children, against infection by removing them from unhealthy surroundings (boarding-out in families under supervision) and by increasing their constitutional resistance to disease. ¡ (22) Residential Prevention. Residential prevention is inspired by the same principles: discovery of diseased individuals by observing them in institutions for isolation and treatment ; protection of threatened individuals, especially children, by sending them to preventoria, mountain resorts, holiday homes or the country. III. The Share of Insurance in the Campaign against Social Diseases. (23) Principle of Participation. The insurance scheme should, in the interests of the social group whose health it has to preserve, participate in the campaign against social diseases. Its participation should be active, i.e. not limited to the grant of subsidies but including the collaboration of the insurance medical service. Its participation should secure for persons entitled to insurance benefits an improvement and extension of treatment and preventive care (unless such treatment and care are made generally available through a public medical service). (24) Form of Participation. The collaboration of insurance schemes with other bodies and institutions concerned in the campaign against social diseases, as well as with the medical profession, postulates a common programme of action with a view to the co-ordination of effort and the avoidance of gaps and overlapping. The execution of such a common programme may be achieved either b y a division of labour between the organisations concerned or by undertaking functions jointly. (25) Division of Labour. The programme drawn up by common accord is carried out separately by the several organisations. The insurance scheme should undertake the task of helping to remedy the defects of the existing health services by carrying out all or part of the programme so far as the insured persons are concerned. (26) Functions Undertaken Jointly. The programme drawn up by common accord is likewise executed in common. The execution is entrusted to a special organisation created for the purpose or to an existing organisation particularly well fitted to carry out a specific part of the programme. — 184 — The insurance scheme however cannot transfer to other organisations duties assigned to it by law; as regards other functions carried out in common it ought to retain a direct and active influence proportional to the size of the insured population and the material aid that it renders to the common causes DEVELOPMENT OF MEDICAL EQUIPMENT (27) Development of Existing Equipment. Insurance schemes contribute indirectly but very substantially to the development of general medical equipment by granting persons entitled to insurance benefits facilities for treatment by medical institutions. They can, however, participate directly in the improvement and the extension of the general equipment, if the technical efficacy of such equipment and its availability to persons entitled to insurance benefits are guaranteed. (28) Creation by Insurance Schemes of their own Equipment. It is the duty of the public authorities to provide for the creation and maintenance of proper and sufficient medical equipment. Nevertheless, where an insurance scheme is faced with a general medical equipment which is inadequate for its special needs, it should create its own equipment, possessing a qualified medical and auxiliary staff and the most modern technical appliances. HEALTH EDUCATION (29) Insurance schemes should contribute to the diffusion of the practice of hygienic principles among insured persons and their families (individual hygiene, dietetic hygiene, etc.) (30) The success of this action can be largely influenced by the attitute and the initiative of the responsible authorities of the insurance institutions, who should be led to appreciate fully the importance of the thorough application of hygienic principles and of the need for a systematic effort to instil these principles into the understanding and habits of the people. TRAINING IN SOCIAL MEDICINE (31) In order to render the curative and preventive action of insurance schemes as efficacious as possible, it is important to afford, with the participation of insurance institutions, all doctors taking part in insurance services the opportunity and the means of obtaining systematic instruction in the functions and methods of social medicine and in the purposes and sphere of competence of social insurance. (32) The auxiliary medical staff should be trained in the problems and application of social medicine, and give evidence of special training for the functions which they are called upon to perform in the social insurance medical service. E C O N O M I C A L A D M I N I S T R A T I O N O F M E D I C A L AND PHARMACEUTICAL BENEFITS At the beginning of 1934 the International Labour Office, in order t o compare the experience of the several States in the economical administration of benefits in kind under sickness insurance schemes,proceeded t o consult members of its Social Insurance Correspondence Committee. — 185 — In view of the favourable results of this first consultation, the Office was able t o organise, with the approval of the Governing Body, a meeting of experts particularly qualified to give an opinion on t h e question of economical administration of pharmaceutical benefits in sickness insurance. This meeting of experts, which was held at the Office on 9, 10 and 11 J u l y 1934, adooted conclusions of considerable importance which are reproduced below. Introduction. Every social service endeavours to employ its limited resources with the utmost efficiency with respect to its object, which, in the case of sickness insurance, is the protection of the health of its beneficiaries. Sickness insurance can only afford its beneficiaries those medical and pharmaceutical benefits which are necessary; but in so far as these benefits are necessary, they must be appropriate to that case, and adequate both in quality and quantity. It is important to secure a maximum of efficacy at a minimum of cost. The long experience which now informs the administration of the medical and pharmaceutical benefits of sickness insurance shows that the ideals of efficacy and economy are by no means inconsistent. Without trammelling the practitioner's freedom of treatment and prescription, or overlooking the legitimate claims of the patient, the strictest economy compatible with efficacy can and should be observed, in the interest of the insured community as a whole. By way of general indication, attention should be drawn to the interest which an insurance scheme has in preventing an illness rather than in curing it, and emphasis should be laid on the importance of systematic prevention, which may, by itself, occasion economies in all directions. With respect to the economic administration of pharmaceutical benefit, the following general rules, drawn from the concordant practice of several countries, appear to be calculated to avoid any increase in the cost of medicines which is not justified by an increase in therapeutic effect. In economical prescribing it is sought to combine therapeutic efficacy with the strictest economy, by the use of the medicines which, in the particular case, are likely to achieve the most complete and most rapid restoration of health and capacity for work at a minimum cost. I. Principles and Rules for Economical Prescribing. 1. Prescriptions not to be issued unless necessary. No prescription of medicine should be issued unless it is necessary. Such a prescription can often be effectively replaced by hygienic, physical or dietética! measures, which the patient can apply himself, in accordance with the practitioner's directions. 2. All necessary medicines to be prescribed. Any medicine of recognised therapeutical value, irrespective of price, should be available for prescribing in so far as, in the particular case, it is necessary for the restoration of health and capacity for work. In countries where a limitative list of drugs is drawn up for the purpose of sickness insurance, this list should be revised from time to time in order to take account of advances in pharmacology. Luxury and toilet preparations and secret remedies should not be prescribed. 3. The writing of prescriptions. Medicines which are necessary in the particular case should be prescribed with a view to securing a maximum of efficacy and economy. The practitioner may well use commonly accepted standard formulae if they are suitable in the particular case. (a) Efficacy should be sought by the radical treatment of the illness: medicines for symptomatic treatment should only be prescribed in case of necessity; by judiciously selecting and proportioning the ingredients; and — 186 — by making the prescription as simple as possible, and avoiding the admixture of substances where it does not reinforce the therapeutic effect. (b) Economy should be sought by attention to the form in which the medicine is to be dispensed ; by attention to the quantity in which the medicine is ordered, regard being had to the probable development and duration of the illness, to the quantity already consumed, and to the period over which the medicine retains its properties ; by strictly limiting the use of substances which are merely colouring or flavouring agents; and by attention to the cost of compounding and dispensing the prescription. (c) Where a choice of medicines of equal efficacy exists, preference should be given to the less expensive medicine. The practitioner should furnish the patient or his household with proper instructions for the use of the medicine. 4. Preparations of particular make and those sold under trade marks. (a) Preparations of particular make should only be ordered if no substitutes of equal therapeutical value exist or if they cost no more than substitutes dispensed from the practitioner's prescription. [b) Preparations sold under trade mark should, where possible, be prescribed under their scientific designation. 5. Repetition of prescriptions. Before ordering a further supply of medicine, the practitioner should satisfy himself that a further prescription is necessary and that the consumption of the previous supply has proceeded at the rate indicated by him. 6. Decoctions and infusions. In accordance with the practitioner's directions, certain decoctions, teas and infusions in current use may be prepared by the patient himself or his household. 7. Wet packs, gargles and dressing. Medicaments for the purposes of wet packs, of gargles and of dressings should, in case of repeated applications, be prescribed in the form of solids or concentrated solutions. II. Drafting and Application of Guiding Principles for Economical Prescribing. 8. Drafting of guiding principles. The establishment of guiding principles or recommendations adapted to each national scheme and inspired by the conceptions set forth above for economical prescribing is advisable in the interest both of medical practitioners and of insurance institutions ; it should be undertaken either on the initiative of national medical associations or with the collaboration of bodies representative of medical practitioners and associations of insurance institutions, or, in the absence of their initiative, by national committees appointed under Government auspices, which should include delegates of bodies representative of medical practitioners and those of associations of insurance institutions. 9. Purpose of guiding principles. Without restricting the practitioner's rights to prescribe, and the patient's right to receive, proper and sufficient medicines, the guiding principles should serve to prevent excessive or needlessly expensive prescribing by formulating rules which experience has shown to be calculated to prevent any increase in the cost of medicines not justified by an increase in therapeutic effect. These principles should also indicate, without making recommendations as to treatment, all possibilities of economy compatible with efficacy which offer themselves within the terms of the general regulations governing the practice of pharmacy and the special regulations and arrangements relating to pharmaceutical benefit under sickness insurance schemes. In countries where standard formulae are in current use, these formulae should be mentioned in the guiding principles. 10. Pocket aids to economical prescribing. In several countries pocket-books have been issued which show, for the different medicines, the most economical composition, dosage, form and method of dispensing. It is desirable that these pocket-books should be widely used in order that practitioners should have at their disposal detailed information enabling them — 187 — to compare the prices of remedies, according to the ingredients of which they are compounded, and to the form in which they are prepared (pills, solutions, tablets, cachets). These pocket-books, which have been found most useful by practitioners. specify certain medicines as being economical, without, however, implying that those not mentioned are uneconomical or are never to be prescribed. 11. Methods calculated to facilitate efficacious but economical medical action. (a) Teaching of medical students. It is necessary that medical students should receive instruction which, inspired by the conceptions set forth above, will not only render the future practitioner capable of treating the illness, but also, by a well-devised theoretical and practical training, make him understand the value of treating and prescribing effectively and economically, and show him the way to do so. (b) Post-graduate courses. It is likewise necessary to organise (at the instance either of medical faculties and schools, or of insurance institutions, or of medical associations, or else by these different parties concerned acting in concert) post-graduate instruction for practitioners in which will be explained to them in particular the guiding principles which relate to these conceptions. Identical directions should be given to medical advisers of insurance funds, medical referees, etc. (c) Educational propaganda. Educational propaganda should be carried on among the insured population in order to demonstrate the uselessness and disadvantages of demanding medical prescriptions which are superfluous, expensive and unjustified, but on the contrary, to induce them to put their trust in medical directions of a hygienic or dietetical, etc., nature, which are necessary and often sufficient by themselves, and to persuade them that the most expensive treatments are not necessarily the most efficacious. III. Control of Excessive Prescribing. 12. Purpose of control. In order to secure compliance with guiding principles for economical prescribing, and thereby save the insured community needless expenditure, valuable service may be rendered by organising a control based on systematic observation of the general trend of insurance prescribing. 13. Statistical returns. Such systematic observation involves the compilation of periodical returns, relating to all prescriptions issued by the insurance practitioners in a specified area or contracting with a specified insurance institution and showing: (o) The average number of prescriptions per insured person and per person prescribed for; (b) The average cost per insured person, per person prescribed for and per prescription. The prudent and discerning comparison of these general averages with the individual averages of practitioners shows where there is ground for proceeding to an investigation in particular cases. 14. Investigation in particular cases. An investigation of the prescribing of a particular practitioner may be undertaken, within the framework of the national insurance scheme, on the initiative of the representative medical body, the insurance institution, or the administrative department responsible for the supervision of the latter. The investigation, which is carried out in every case by a doctor, acting in consultation with the representative medical body concerned, relates to abuses in prescribing, every facility being afforded to the practitioner to furnish an explanation. Where the finding of the investigation is that excessive prescribing has repeatedly occurred, the practitioner, who may be held financially liable for the excess of expenditure thereby incurred, should be entitled to require that the charges alleged against him shall be subjected to a second investigation. APPENDIX III Principal Stages in 'he Development of Compulsory Social Insurance Legislation In order to illustrate the wide scope and the growth of compulsory social insurance throughout the world, it has been thought desirable to indicate for each country the principal stages in the introduction and extension of legislation on compulsory industrial accident insurance or workmen's compensation, compulsory sickness and maternity insurance, and compulsory invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance. So far as the information available allows, the number of persons insured under each scheme is also given, on the basis of the most recent statistics received by the Office. The list below shows that there are at present : 130 compulsory accident insurance or workmen's compensation schemes in 54 countries; 45 compulsory sickness and maternity insurance schemes in 31 countries; 75 compulsory invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance schemes in 30 countries. According to the statistics received by the Office, compulsory sickness and maternity insurance covers about 90 million persons, and compulsory invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance over 100 million workers. When the new United States legislation comes into operation (on 1 January 1937), the number of persons insured against old age will t e over 125 million. The legislation on industrial accident insurance or workmen's compensation is much wider in scope than that on sickness insurance or invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance; but it is impossible to give a general estimate of the number of workers covered, for in many countries such statistics are not compiled, since the premiums or contributions are fixed, not according to the number of workers employed, but according to the total wage-bill of the undertakings covered. - It may be added that the list is by no means complete. For instance, it mentions only incidentally for certain countries the legislation on compulsory insurance for railway workers, although everywhere these workers are covered by special and very complex schemes, often organised by the railway companies. No mention is made of insurance legislation for the officials of the State, provinces, departments, or communes, who are also covered by special schemes in nearly every country. If all the general and special schemes of compulsory insurance and workmen's compensation and the non-contributory pension schemes could be taken into account, it would be seen that there are at present some 400 laws for the protection of the workers against the risks of industrial accidents, sickness, maternity, invalidity, old age, and death. — 189 — § 1. — Workmen's Compensation and Industrial Accident Insurance Principal stages in the development oí national legislation ARGENTINA 1915. 1934. Accident compensation for persons earning under 3,000 pesos a year, and employed in industrial undertakings where other than human power is used, or in assimilated undertakings. Establishment of a special compensation scheme for persons employed in commerce. AUSTRALIA Commonwealth 1911. 1912. 1930. Accident compensation for seamen. Accident compensation for persons in the service of the Commonwealth. Increase of benefits and introduction of medical benefit. New South Wales 1910. 1916. 1926. Accident compensation for persons employed in factories, mines, railways, and construction. Extension of compensation scheme to all employed persons. Compulsory accident insurance for employed persons; establishment of a Compensation Commission. Introduction of medical benefit. Queensland 1905. 1916. Accident compensation for employed persons. Compulsory accident insurance for employed persons. South Australia 1900. 1911. 1925. 1932. Accident compensation for persons employed in factories, mines, railways, and construction. Extension of compensation scheme to all nonagricultural workers, except office workers and domestic servants. Compulsory accident insurance for employed persons. Consolidation of legislation. Insured persons Year Number — 190 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation Insured persons Year Number Tasmania 1911. Accident compensation for persons employed in factories, mines, railways, and construction. Extension of compensation scheme to all employed persons. Consolidation of legislation and increase of benefits. Compulsory accident insurance. Introduction of medical benefit. 1919. 1927. 1934. Victoria 1914- Compulsory accident insurance for employed 1915. persons. 1929. Consolidation of legislation. Western Australia 1902. 1912. 1924. Accident compensation for persons employed in factories, mines, railways, and construction. Extension of compensation scheme to all employed persons. Introduction of medical benefit. Compulsory accident insurance for employed persons. The Northern Territory 1920- Accident compensation for employed per1923. sons. 1931. Compulsory accident insurance for employed persons. Introduction of medical benefit. 1934. Abrogation of medical benefit. AUSTRIA (a) insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce 1888. Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce. 1926. Establishment of a special scheme of insurance for salaried employees. 1925. Reform of accident insurance, and extension of compulsory insurance to all industrial, commercial, etc., undertakings (b) 1934 Workers 395,000 Salaried employees 198,000 1933 700,000 1933 Insurance for agricultural workers 1928. Establishment of compulsory insurance for agricultural workers. — 191 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation Insured persons Year Number BELGIUM 1903. 1905. 1921 and 1926. 1929. 1930. Industrial accident compensation for persons employed in industry, commerce, and agriculture, and in undertakings where other than human or animal power is used, or where not less than three workers (agriculture, commerce) or five workers (industry) are generally employed. Bringing into operation of the Accident Compensation Act. Adjustment of accident compensation legislation to economic changes since the war. Extension of accident compensation scheme to seamen. Widening of scope of accident compensation scheme and increase of benefits provided. Improvement of scheme of allowances to pensioners to compensate for depreciation of currency. 1933 2,200,000 BOLIVIA 1924. Accident compensation for persons employed in undertakings with a capital of over 20,000 bolivianos. BRAZIL 1919. 1934. Accident compensation for persons employed in industry, construction, transport, and agricultural undertakings where other than human or animal power is used. Extension of compensation scheme to all employed persons. BULGARIA 1924. Compulsory accident insurance for employed 1933-1934 persons. 251,268 CANADA Alberta 1908. 1918. 1922. 1924. Accident compensation for persons employed in factories, mines, railways, and construction. Compulsory accident insurance (with a public fund) for persons employed in manufacturing industry, mines, transport, and construction. Consolidation of legislation. Improvement of scheme of benefits. 1933 57,000 — 192 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation British Columbia 1902. Accident compensation for persons employed in factories, mines, railways, and construction. 1916. Compulsory accident insurance (with a public fund) for persons employed in manufacturing industry, mines, transport, and construction. 1924. Consolidation of legislation. Insured persons Year Number 1933 110,000 1933 45,000 Manitoba 1910. 1916. 1920. Accident compensation for persons in nonagricultural employment. Establishment of a guarantee fund operating in case of insolvency of the person liable. Compulsory accident insurance (with a public fund) for persons employed in manufacturing industry, mines, transport, and construction. New Brunswick 1918. 1932. Compulsory accident insurance (with a public fund) for persons employed in manufacturing industry, transport, commerce, mines, and construction (excluding office employees). Consolidation of legislation; extension of accident insurance to all office employees in above undertakings. Nova Scotia 1910. 1915. 1923. Accident compensation for persons employed in factories, mines, railways, and construction. Compulsory accident insurance (with a public fund) for persons employed in manufacturing industry, mines, transport, and construction (excluding office employees). Consolidation of legislation; extension of accident insurance to all office employees in above undertakings. Ontario 1914. 1917. 1927. Compulsory accident insurance (with a public fund) for persons employed in manufacturing industry, mines, transport, and construction. Exemption from the obligation to insure for certain large undertakings, which are merely liable to pay compensation. Extension of compensation to cover medical benefits. Consolidation of legislation. — 193 — Principal stages in the development oí national legislation I nsured persons Year Number Quebec 1909. Accident compensation for persons employed in factories, mines, transport, and construction. 1928. Compulsory accident insurance. Establishment of a Compensation Commission; improvement of scheme of benefits. 1931. Compulsory accident insurance (with a public fund) for persons employed in manufacturing industry, mines, transport, and construction. Exemption from the obligation to insure for certain undertakings, which are merely liable to pay compensation. Saskatchewan 1911. 1929. Accident compensation for persons employed in factories, mines, railways, and construction. Compulsory accident insurance (with a public fund) of persons employed in manufacturing industry, mines, transport, and construction. Yukon Territory 1917. Accident compensation for persons employed in manufacturing industry, mines, transport, and construction. CHILE 1916. 1924. Accident compensation for persons employed in industry, construction, transport, and agricultural undertakings where other than human power is used, provided that the undertaking employs more than ten persons. Extension of compensation scheme to all employed persons. COLOMBIA 1915. Accident compensation for employed persons earning less than 3 pesos a day and engaged in the undertakings, specified in the Act (mines, quarries, construction, railways, etc.) with a capital of over 1,000 gold pesos. 1925. Accident compensation for persons employed . in certain undertakings specified in the Act (factories, transport, mines, etc.) and agricultural undertakings employing not less than five workers, in which other than human power is used. COSTA RICA 13 — 194 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation Insured persons Year Number CUBA 1916. 1933. Establishment of an accident insurance scheme for persons employed in industry and agriculture. Widening of scope of accident compensation to include persons employed in commerce. . Increase in the level of benefits provided. CZECHOSLOVAKIA 1888. 1900. 1907. Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce, in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia. Compulsory accident insurance for domestic servants and seasonal agricultural workers in Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia. Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce in Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia. 1934 1,800,000 DENMARK 1898. 1900. 1905. 1908. 1916. Accident compensation for manual workers employed in industry and undertakings using mechanical power. Voluntary accident insurance for fishermen. Compulsory accident insurance for seamen. Compulsory accident insurance for agricultural workers (excluding small farmers). Compulsory accident insurance for all persons 1928-1931 employed in all branches of economic activity, as well as domestic servants). 576,400 (annual average) DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1932. Accident compensation for persons employed in undertakings employing not less than three workers, and agricultural undertakings employing not less than five workers. ECUADOR 1921. Accident compensation for persons employed in undertakings where other than human motive power is used, and in quarries, construction, etc. ESTONIA 1912. 1934. Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in industry. Extension of insurance scheme to seamen. 1933 49,088 — 195 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation FINLAND 1895. 1918. Compulsory accident insurance for workers in industry. Extension of compulsory accident insurance to all classes of workers, except domestic servants, home workers, and persons employed in certain small industrial and agricultural undertakings. Insured persons Year Number 1931 501,456 1933 10,310,000 FRANCE 1898, 1906. 1920. 1922. 1926. 1930. Compensation for accidents occurring in industrial undertakings. Extension of compensation scheme to persons employed in commercial undertakings. Adaptation of accident compensation legislation to economic changes since the war; raising of maximum basic wage. Extension of accident compensation to agricultural undertakings; grant to pensioners of allowances to compensate for depreciation of the currency. Adaptation of compensation scheme to economic changes since 1920; raising of maximum basic wage. Increase in scale of allowances granted to pensioners to compensate for depreciation of currency. GERMANY 1884. 1886. 1887. 1900. 1925. 1928. Compulsory accident insurance for workers and salaried employees in industrial undertakings. Extension of insurance to persons employed in agricultural and forestry undertakings. Extension of insurance to seamen and to persons employed in constructional undertakings. Consolidation of legislation. Improvement of benefits in kind. Extension of insurance to further groups of undertakings (hospitals, theatres, restaurants, etc.). GREAT BRITAIN 1897. 1900. Accident compensation for persons employed in factories, mines, railways, and construction. Extension of compensation scheme to persons employed in agriculture. 1933 22,000,000 — 196 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation 1906. 1934. Insured ¡Sersons Year Number Extension of compensation scheme to all employed persons. Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in the coal mining industry. GREECE 1907. 1914. 1934. Establishment of a pension fund for disabled seamen, to regulate compensation for accidents in maritime navigation. Accident compensation for persons employed in industrial undertakings, construction, transport by water, loading, unloading, or warehousing, etc. Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in industrial and commercial undertakings and certain agricultural undertakings. GUATEMALA 1906. Accident compensation for persons employed in transport undertakings. Accident compensation for persons employed in undertakings employing more than 12 workers. HUNGARY (a) Insurance for agricultural workers 1900. Compulsory insurance for domestic servants and seasonal agricultural workers, and for workers employed on agricultural machinery. Insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce. 1907. Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in industrial and commercial undertakings. 1927. Reform of compulsory insurance for workers in industrial and commercial undertakings. 1933 620,000 1933 780,000 (b) INDIA 1923. 1933. Accident compensation for persons employed in factories employing not less than 20 persons, mines, railways, construction, and shipping marine. Extension of compensation scheme to persons employed in factories employing 10 persons, workshops employing 50 persons, plantations employing 25 persons, etc. — 197 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation IRISH FREE STATE 1897. 1900. 1906. Insured persons Year Number Accident compensation for persons employed in factories, mines, railways, and construction. Extension of compensation scheme to persons employed in agriculture. Extension of compensation scheme to all employed persons. ICELAND 1903. 1909. 1917. 1925. Compulsory accident insurance for fishermen employed on board decked ships. Extension of compulsory insurance to the crews of all Icelandic vessels (except twooared boats). Accident compensation for employed persons in general. Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce (except persons employed in certain small undertakings). ITALY (a) Insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce 1898. Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce. 1933. Administrative unification of insurance. (b) Insurance for persons employed in agriculture 1917. Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in agriculture. 1934 2,853,000 1933 7,500,000 1933 4,000,000 JAPAN 1905. 1911. 1923. Accident compensation for miners. Accident compensation for persons employed in dangerous or unhealthy undertakings or in factories regularly employing more than ten persons. Amendment of definition of the risk covered, so as to ensure the right to compensation in all cases of accident occurring at the workplace. Improvement of scheme of benefits. 19261929. 1931. Extension of scope of industrial accident compensation scheme to workers in transport, construction, etc. Establishment of compulsory insurance for certain groups of undertakings. — 198 — ' . ' ' 1912. 1927. Principal stages in the development of national legislation LATVIA Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in industry. Extension of compulsory insurance to all employed persons. Insured persons Year Number 1933 103,884 1 1933 35,573 (persons employed in industry only) 1933 1,182,873 1933 170,750 LITHUANIA 1903. Accident compensation for persons employed in industry. LUXEMBURG 1902. Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in industry. 1909. Extension of insurance to persons employed in agriculture. 1920- Adaptation of insurance benefits to economic 1923 changes since the war; grant of special allowances to compensate for depreciation of currency. 1925. Codification of social insurance, making accident insurance compulsory for all industrial, agricultural, and forestry undertakings (except commercial undertakings). MEXICO 1931. Federal legislation concerning accident compensation for employed persons. NETHERLANDS (a) Insurance for persons employed in commerce and industry 1901. Compulsory accident insurance for employed persons. 1921. Improvement of scheme of benefits. (b) Accident insurance in agriculture 1922. Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in agriculture. (c) Accident insurance for seamen 1919. Compulsory accident insurance for seamen. NEW ZEALAND 1900. 1902. 1922. Accident compensation for persons employed in industry and commerce. Extension of scheme to persons employed in agriculture. Consolidation of legislation. Excluding persons employed in agriculture and public undertakings. — 199 — „ Principal stages in the development of national legislation Insured persons Year Number NICARAGUA 1930. Accident compensation for persons employed in certain undertakings (mines, quarries, construction, railways, factories, etc.) employing more than 15 workers, and having a capital of over 25,000 córdobas. NORWAY (a) Insurance for employed persons in general 1894. Compulsory insurance for persons employed in industrial undertakings where mechanical (other than human or animal) power is used, and persons employed in factories, undertakings engaged in loading or unloading ships, etc. 1915. Reform of accident insurance ; amendment of benefit scheme. 1918. Improvement of benefit scheme. Insurance for seamen and workers assimilated to them 1908. Compulsory accident insurance for all fishermen, whalers, sealers, etc., seamen, and persons employed in small-scale navigation. 1911. Compulsory accident insurance for the crews of all Norwegian vessels of over 50 tons gross. 1920. Improvement of scheme of benefits. 1931 169,335 1932 132,669 (b) PALESTINE 1926. Accident compensation for manual workers employed in the principal industrial and transport undertakings. PANAMA 1916. Accident compensation for persons employed in certain undertakings, mines, salt works, quarries, factories, metal-working undertakings, and establishments where explosives or inflammable or poisonous products, etc., are manufactured. PARAGUAY 1927. Accident compensation for persons employed in certain industrial undertakings specified in the Act (mines, quarries, transport, etc.) and in agricultural undertakings where more than six workers are employed. — 200 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation Insured persons Year Number PERU 1911. Accident compensation for employed persons earning under 120 pounds a year, persons employed in certain groups of undertakings (electricity, shipbuilding, transport), agricultural undertakings, and mines employing more than 35 workers. POLAND 1883- Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in industrial and agricultural 1885, undertakings in the western provinces and Upper Silesia. Compulsory accident insurance for persons 1888. employed in industrial undertakings in the southern provinces. 1924. Extension to whole country of accident insurance for persons employed in industrial and commercial undertakings and to workers employed in agricultural undertakings of more than 30 hectares. 1934 3,300,000 PORTUGAL 1913. 1919. Accident compensation for persons employed in factories, mines, railways, construction, and shipping. Extension of compensation scheme to all employed persons. RUMANIA 1912. 1920. 1921. 1924. 1933. Compulsory accident insurance for handicraftsmen and persons employed in industry. Adaptation of insurance to new economic conditions ; increase of benefits with a view to taking account of depreciation of currency. Extension of insurance to Bessarabia. Increase of contributions, and new increases of benefits to compensate for depreciation of currency. Unification and co-ordination of insurance scheme for the whole country. Extension of compulsory insurance to persons employed in commercial undertakings. 1933 600,000 — 201 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation Year Insured persons Number SALVADOR 1911. 1916. Accident compensation for persons employed in certain undertakings (mines, transport, electricity, etc.) Extension of scheme to certain other industries (metal-working, loading and unloading, etc.). SPAIN 1922. 1931. 1932. Accident compensation for persons employed in transport, construction, etc., and in agricultural undertakings employing more than six workers. Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in agriculture. Compulsory accident insurance for workers and salaried employees employed in industry and commerce. SWEDEN 1901. 1916. Accident compensation for workers in industry. Compulsory accident insurance for employed persons in general. SWITZERLAND 1911. Compulsory insurance against industrial and non-industrial accidents for workers and salaried employees in industry, handicrafts, transport, and shipping. UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA 1914. 1934. Industrial accident compensation for persons employed in industry and commerce. Compulsory insurance for employed persons, with the exception of those employed in agricultural undertakings. Improvement of scheme of benefits. UNITED STATES Federal Legislation 1908. 1927. Accident compensation for civilian workers employed by the Federal Government. Compulsory accident insurance for longshoremen and harbour workers. 1931 1,576,262 — 202 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation Year Insured persons Number State legislation (a) Compulsory insurance laws 1911. 1912. 1913. 1914. 1915. 1916. 1917. 1918. 1919. 1920. 1925. 1928. 1929. 1935. (b) California, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Washington, Wisconsin. Arizona, Michigan, Rhode Island. Connecticut, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Texas, West Virginia. Louisiana, Maryland. Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Maine, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Wyoming. Kentucky, Porto Rico. South Dakota, Delaware, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah. Virginia. North Dakota, Tennessee. Georgia. Missouri. Philippine Islands, District of Columbia. North Carolina. Florida. Compensation laws 1919. Alabama. URUGUAY 1920. 1922. 1932. 1933. 1934. Accident compensation for persons employed in undertakings where the risk of accident is specially high. Extension of accident compensation to persons employed by public works contractors. Extension of accident compensation to agricultural workers. Extension of accident compensation to domestic workers. Establishment of compulsory accident insurance. U.S.S.R. 1922. 1933. Compulsory accident insurance for employed persons. Transfer of insurance administration to the trade unions. 1934 23,513,600 — 203 — Principal stages in the development ol nationallegislation • Insured persona Year Number VENEZUELA 1928. Accident compensation for employed persons earning under 600 bolivars a month, excluding persons employed in undertakings employing less than 25 workers and agricultural and forestry undertakings. • YUGOSLAVIA 1887. 1907. 1922. Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in industry in Dalmatia and Slovenia. Compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in industry in Croatia and Slavonia. Extension and unification throughout the country of compulsory accident insurance for persons employed in industrial and commercial undertakings. 1934 680,000 § 2 . — Compulsory Sickness and Maternity Insurance ARGENTINA 1934. Compulsory maternity insurance for women employed in industry and commerce. AUSTRIA (a) Insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce 1854. Compulsory sickness insurance for miners. 1888. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce. 1926. Establishment of a special scheme of compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for salaried employees. 1935. Reform of sickness insurance, affecting the insurance of miners, workers and salaried employees. (b) Insurance for persons employed in agriculture 1928. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in agriculture. 1934 Miners and workers : 744,000 Salaried employees : 243,000 1933 275,000 — 204 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation Year Insured persons Number BELGIUM 1844. 1931. Establishment of an Assistance and Welfare Fund for seamen sailing under the Belgian flag. Promulgation of revised rules for the Assistanee and Welfare Fund. 1933 2,953 1933 211,000 BRAZIL 1931. 1932. 1933. 1934. 1934. 1934. 1934. Compulsory sickness insurance (benefits in kind) for persons employed in public utility undertakings. Extension of insurance to miners. Compulsory sickness insurance (benefits in kind) for seamen and fishermen. Compulsory maternity insurance and compulsory sickness insurance (benefits in kind) in certain districts, for persons employed in commerce. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for the staffs of banks. Compulsory sickness insurance (cash benefits) for workers in coffee warehouses. Compulsory sickness insurance (cash benefits) for stevedores. BULGARIA 1924. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance 1933-1934 for employed persons. 251,268 CANADA Alberta 1935. Sickness insurance (benefits in kind) for the working population; the question of compulsion to be decided by each district. CHILE 1924. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for employed persons. CUBA 1934. 1935. Compulsory maternity insurance for women employed in industry and commerce. Widening of scope of insurance. Increase of rates of benefit insured. 1933 500,000 — 205 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation Insured persons Year Number CZECHOSLOVAKIA 1888. 1907. 1920. 1924. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce in Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia. Extension of compulsory sickness and maternity insurance to persons employed in agriculture. Legislative and administrative unification of compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for employed persons. 1934 2,900,000 1933 40,173 1933 274,119 1933 195,700 1933 7,040,000 ESTONIA 1912. Compulsory sickness and maternity insuranee for persons employed in industry. FRANCE (a) Insurance for miners 1894. 1930. 1935. (b) Insurance for seamen 1931. (c) Compulsory sickness insurance for persons employed in mines. Reform of compulsory insurance for persons employed in mines. Amendment of miners' sickness insurance scheme in order to balance the budgets of the funds: increase of financial resources and possible decrease of benefits. Compulsory sickness (non-occupational risks) and maternity insurance for persons employed at sea. Insurance for workers in general 1928. 1930. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance. Bringing into operation of compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for employed persons, after amendments relating essentially to the financial system and the introduction of separate provisions for agricultural workers. GERMANY 1883. 1886, Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce. Extension of insurance to persons employed in agricultural and forestry undertakings. — 206 — 1911. 1914. 1923. Principal stages in the development of national legislation Bringing into operation of Social Insurance Code. Unification of insurance authorities and of procedure and jurisdiction in the matter of insurance. Extension of maternity benefits. Extension of scope of insurance to salaried employees in social utility undertakings (education, training, social assistance) and to home workers (handicraftsmen). Authorisation given to sickness funds to utilise certain resources for prevention of sickness in individual cases and in general. Insured persons Year Number 1933 16,800,000 1933 ' 17,707,000 1933 870,000 1933 474,000 1933 143,000 1933 840,000 1933 6,250,000 1933 42,000 GREAT BRITAIN 1911. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for employed persons. GREECE 1926. 1934. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in tobacco manufacture. Compulsory sickness and ¡ompuisory sicKness ana maternity insurance for employed persons, except those employed in agriculture. HUNGARY 1907. 1927. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce. Reform of compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce; extension of insurance to domestic servants. IRISH FREE STATE 1911. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance (cash benefits) for employed persons. ITALY 1888. 1910. 1927. 1929. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce in former Austrian provinces. Compulsory maternity insurance for women employed in industry and commerce. Compulsory tuberculosis insurance for all employed persons. Compulsory sickness insurance for seamen and airmen. — 207 — Principal stages in the development ol national legislation 1929. Sickness insurance on the basis of collective agreements for persons employed in commerce. 1930. Sickness insurance on the basis of collective agreements for persons employed in industry. 1930. Sickness insurance on the basis of collective agreements for persons employed in agriculture. Insured persons Year Number 1934 252,000 1933 1,320,000 1935 2,667,000 1934 165,000 1934 42,096 1933 48,000 JAPAN 1922. Introduction of compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in mines and factories regularly employing not less than ten workers. 1926. Bringing into operation of the obligation to insure. 1934. Extension of compulsory insurance to persons employed in factories regularly employing not less than five workers. LATVIA 1912. 1922. 1930. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in industry. Extension of sickness and maternity insurance to other groups of employed persons, except persons employed in agriculture. Extension of compulsory sickness insurance to seamen. LITHUANIA 1926. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce. LUXEMBURG 1901. 1925. 1933. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in industry. Codification of social insurance scheme, in particular to cover sickness risk for persons employed in commerce and industry. Improvement of scheme of maternity benefits NETHERLANDS 1913. 1929. Adoption of an Act on compulsory sickness insurance for employed persons, providing for grant of cash benefit only. Amendment and bringing into operation of above Act. — 208 — •• •' 1911. 1935. Principal stages in the development of national legislation NORWAY Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for all employed persons whose income does not exceed a certain limit. Extension of compulsory insurance to fishermen working on their own account. Insured persons Year Number 1933 568,209 1934 1,600,000 1933 600,000 1933 591,000 POLAND 1889. Compulsory sickness insurance for employed persons in western provinces and Upper Silesia. 1920. . Extension to whole territory of compulsory sickness insurance for persons employed in industrial and commercial undertakings. RUMANIA 1912. 1920. 1921. 1924. 1933. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for handicraftsmen and persons employed in industry. Adaptation of insurance to new economic conditions; increase of benefits in order to compensate for depreciation of currency. Extension of insurance to Bessarabia. Increase of contributions and new increase of benefits, to compensate for depreciation of currency. Unification and co-ordination of social insuranee scheme for the whole country. Extension of compulsary insurance to persons employed in commerce. SPAIN 1929. Compulsory maternity insurance for employed women. SWITZERLAND Confederation 1911. Adoption of legislation on voluntary sickness insurance, empowering cantonal authorities. to introduce compulsory sickness insurance laws. Cantons which have introduced compulsory sickness insurance for persons whose annual income or capital does not exceed a specified limit : 1914. Basle (Town). 1914. St. Gallen. 1916. Appenzell (Outer Rhodes). 1920. Appenzell (Inner Rhodes). 1926. Thurgau. ' — 209 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation Cantons which have delegated to the communes the right to introduce compulsory sickness insurance: Berne Grisons Lucerne Schaffhausen Schwyz Solothurn Ticino Year Insured persons Number Uri Valais Zurich U.S.S.B. 1922. 1933. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for employed persons. Transfer of insurance administration to the trade unions. 1934 23,513,600 1934 680,000 YUGOSLAVIA 1888. 1907. 1909. 1922. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce in Dalmatia and Slovenia. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce in Croatia and Slavonia. Compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Extension and unification of compulsory sickness and maternity insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce, for the whole country. § 3. — Compulsory Invalidity, Old-Age and Widows' and Orphans' Insurance ARGENTINA 1919. 1921. 1923. 1935. Compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for workers employed on railways. Compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for staffs of private undertakings of public utility. Compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for bank staffs. Compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for journalists and persons employed in the printing industry. 1933 130,000 1933 37,700 1932 9,200 14 — 210 — .>i (a) , Principal stages in the development . of .national legislation AUSTRIA Year Insured persons Number Insurance for miners 1854. 1920. 1925. Compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for miners. Reform of the benefit scheme. Reform of insurance administration. 1933 13,000 1934 198,000 1934 600,000 1933 280,000 1933 2,953 (b) Insurance for salaried employees 1907. 1926. 1935. (c) Compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for salaried employees. Reform of insurance for salaried employees. Improvement of benefit scheme. Reform of the financial system and benefits, with a view to rendering insurance charges less onerous and securing financial equilibrium. Insurance for workers in industry and commerce 1926. 1935. (d) Promulgation of an Act establishing compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for workers in industry and commerce. Only the transitional provisions of this Act concerning old-age assistance are in operation Amendment of conditions of award ; reduction of benefits. Insurance for agricultural workers 1928. Promulgation of an Act establishing compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for agricultural workers. Only the transitional provisions of this Act concerning old-age assistance are in operation. BELGIUM (a) Insurance for seamen 1844. 1931. (b) Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance with the Assistance and Welfare Fund for seamen sailing under the Belgian flag. Application of preliminary measures for the organisation of social insurance for seamen of all ratings in the mercantile marine. Insurance for miners 1911. 1914. 1920. Compulsory old-age insurance for miners. Widening of scope of insurance. Extension of insurance to cover risk of death ; improvement of benefit scheme. — 211 — 1924. 1930. 1935. (c) Principal stages in the development of national legislation Extension of insurance to cover risk of invalidity; improvement of benefit scheme. Reform of scheme. Increase of contributions to Miners' Insurance Fund; restriction of coincident rights, and reduction of certain benefit rates. Insured persons Year Number 1933 180,645 1933 1,772,760 1933 approx. 235,000 1933 211,000 Insurance for workers 1924; 1927. 1928. 1929. 1930. 1932. 1933. 1934. (d) Compulsory old-age and survivors' insurance for workers. Increase of benefits provided for beneficiaries under the transitional scheme. Do. Do. Reform and unification of workers' old-age and survivors' insurances legislation. Amendment, with the object of avoiding certain abuses, of the transitional provisions in old-age and survivors' insurance. Reduction of cost of benefits provided for insured persons under the transitional scheme, in the form of stricter conditions of award and reduced basic rates. New regulation, with the object of decreasing the cost of insurance, of conditions of award of benefits under the transitional scheme. Insurance for salaried employees 1925. 1930. 1933. Compulsory old-age, invalidity, and survivors' insurance for salaried employees. Amendment of legislation, in order to facilitäte its application. Do. BOLIVIA 1926. Invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for persons employed in banks. BRAZIL (a) Insurance for persons employed in public utility undertakings and workers in mines 1923. 1926. 1931. 1932. Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for workers employed on railways. Extension of insurance to persons employed in undertakings operating port services. Reorganisation and extension of insurance to all persons employed in public utility undertakings. Extension of insurance to miners. — 212 — (b) Principal stages in the development of national legislation Other groups of workers 1933. Insured persons Year Number Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for seamen and fishermen. Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for persons employed in commerce. Compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for the staffs of banks. Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for workers in coffee warehouses. Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for stevedores. 1934. 1934. 1934. 1934. BULGARIA 1924. Compulsory invalidity and old-age insurance 1933-1934 for employed persons. 251,268 CHILE 1924. Compulsory invalidity and old-age insurance for employed persons. 1933 500,000 1934 100,000 COLOMBIA 1929. Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for workers on railways. CUBA 1923. 1927. 1929. Establishment of a general superannuation and pension fund for workers and salaried employees in land transport undertakings. Establishment of a superannuation and pension fund for workers and salaried employees in ports and undertakings engaged in maritime or river navigation. Amendment of pension scheme for persons employed in ports and navigation undertakings, and for persons employed in land transport undertakings. Transition from accumulation to assessment system. CZECHOSLOVAKIA (a) Insurance for miners 1889. 1922. Compulsory invalidity, invall old-age and survivors' insurance for mi miners. Reform and improvement of scheme. — 213 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation Insurance for salaried employees (b) 1907. 1934. (c) Compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for salaried employees in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia. Reform and improvement of scheme. Insured persons Year Number 1934 300,000 1934 1,700,000 1933 1,830,596 1933 approx. 195,700 Insurance for manual workers 1924. 1934. Compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for workers. Reform and improvement of scheme. (d) Insurance for persons carrying on business independently 1925. Adoption of an Act on compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for persons carrying on business independently (Act not yet in force). DENMARK 1921. 1933. Compulsory invalidity insurance for all persons of small means who belong to a voluntary sickness insurance fund. Compulsory invalidity insurance for all persons between 21 and 60 years of age who fulfil certain health conditions. ECUADOR 1928. Compulsory invalidity and old-age insurance for the staffs of banks. FRANCE (a) Insurance for seamen 1791. Establishment of the right to an invalidity pension for seamen. Organisation of compulsory invalidity, oldage and survivors' insurance for seamen. Reform of insurance scheme. Increase of financial resources and benefits. Increase of rate of benefits. 1885. 1930. 1931. (b) Insurance for miners 1894. 1923. 1929. Compulsory old-age and survivors' insurance for workers in mines. Extension of compulsory insurance to cover risk of invalidity. Increase of financial resources and benefits. Amendment of financial system : partial transition from accumulation to assessment system. Improvement of benefits. — 214 — ' ' '•• 1931. 1933. (c) Principal stages in the development of national legislation Co-ordination of invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance, for miners with general scheme of social insurance ; introduction of new benefits corresponding to those provided under general scheme. Increase of certain benefit rates. . Insured persons Year Number • ; 1933 285,857 1933 7,040,000 (including approximately 640,000 in agriculture) , 1933 17,000,000 1933 3,600,000 Insurance for employed persons in general 1910. 1928. . . ,, 1930. 1934. 1935. Compulsory old-age, invalidity, and survivors' insurance (workers' and peasants' pensions). Establishment of a new scheme of compulsory old-age, invalidity, and survivors' insuranee. Bringing into operation of new scheme of compulsory old-age, invalidity and survivors' insurance for persons employed in commerce and industry, and of compulsory old-age and survivors' insurance for persons employed in agriculture. Extension of insurance to cover the risk of invalidity for workers in agriculture. Amendment of financial system in order to avoid increasing contributions in 1934 as intended. Reduction of State subsidy, provided that initial benefit rates are maintained. GERMANY (a) Insurance for workers 1889. 1899. 1911. 1933. (b) Compulsory invalidity and old-age insurance for workers and salaried employees whose wages do not exceed a specified limit. Extension of compulsory insurance to persons employed in agriculture and forestry. Codification of social insurance. Insurance extended to cover risk of death ; unification of administrative structure of insurance, procedure and jurisdiction. Reform of financial system and benefits, with the object of restoring financial equilibrium. Insurance for salaried employees 1911. 1933. Introduction of a special scheme of compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for all salaried employees (who before 1911 were included in the general scheme established in 1889). Reform of financial system and benefits, with the object of restoring financial equilibrium. — 215 — (c) Principal stages in the development of national legislation Insurance for miners . 1923. 1933. Establishment of Federal legislation concerning compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for miners (before 1923, miners' insurance was a matter for State legislation). Reform of financial system and benefits, with the object of restoring financial equilibrium. Insured persons Year Number 1933 500,000 1933 19,178,000 1933 560,000 (including 40,000 miners) 1933 474,000 GREAT BRITAIN 1911. 1925. Compulsory invalidity insurance for employed persons. Compulsory old-age and survivors' insurance for employed persons. GREECE 1907. 1922. 1926. 1934. Establishment of a fund for disabled seamen. Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for seamen. Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for workers employed in tobacco manufacture. Adoption of an Act providing for compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for all employed persons except in agriculture. HUNGARY 1925. 1928. Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for miners. Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce. ICELAND 1890. 1909. Compulsory old-age insurance for workers and domestic servants. Extension of compulsory insurance to all Icelandic nationals between 18 and 60 years of age. IRISH FREE STATE 1911. 1935. Compulsory invalidity insurance for employed persons. Compulsory survivors'insurance for employed persons. — 216 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation Insured persons Year Number ITALY (a) Insurance for seamen 1861. 1913. 1919. ¡b) Establishment of invalidity funds for the mercantile marine, to cover risks of invalidity, old age, and death, and to replace the old savings and assistance funds for seamen. Amalgamation of the invalidity funds of the mercantile marine to form a single body: the Mercantile Marine Invalidity Fund. Reform of compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for seamen. 1933 95,000 1933 6,100,000 1934 40,000 1933 6,000 1933 3,050,000 1933 32,092 Insurance for persons employed in commerce, industry, and agriculture 1919. Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for employed persons. LUXEMBURG (a) Insurance for workers in commerce and industry. 1911. 1925. 1929. (b) Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for workers in industry and commerce. Codification of social insurance. Increase of financial resources and of benefits provided. Reassessment of pensions; simplification of method of calculating benefits. Insurance for salaried employees 1931. Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for salaried employees. NETHERLANDS (a) Insurance for persons employed in commerce, industry, and agriculture 1913. Adoption of an Act on compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for employed persons. 1919. Bringing into operation of above Act. (b) Insurance for miners 1919. Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for miners. PARAGUAY 1924. Compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for workers employed on railways. — 217 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation Insured persons Year Number POLAND (a) Insurance for workers in commerce and industry 1889. 1912. 1934. (b) Compulsory invalidity and old-age insurance for persons employed in the western provinces and Upper Silesia. Compulsory invalidity and old-age insurance for miners in the southern provinces. Extension of compulsory insurance for persons employed in the western provinces and Upper Silesia, to cover the risk of death. Extension and unification, to cover the whole country, of compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for workers employed in industrial or commercial undertakings. Insurance 1907. 1912. 1927. for salaried 1934 1,230,000 1934 270,000 1933 600,000 employees Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for salaried employees in the southern provinces. Compulsory invalidity, old-age, and survivors' insurance for salaried employees in the western provinces and Upper Silesia. Extension and unification, to cover the whole country, of compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for intellectual workers. RUMANIA 1912. 1920. 1921. 1924. 1933. Compulsory old-age, invalidity, and survivors' insurance for handicraftsmen and persons employed in industry. Adaptation of insurance to new economic conditions : increase of benefits in order to compensate for depreciation of currency. Extension of insurance to Bessarabia. Increase of contributions, and new increases of benefits in order to compensate for depreciation of currency. Unification and co-ordination of social insurance for the whole country. Extension of compulsory insurance to persons employed in commerce. SPAIN 1919. Compulsory old-age insurance for employed persons in general. — 218 — Principal stages in the development . of national legislation SWEDEN , National compulsory invalidity and old-age insurance covering the whole adult population, except public officials. Abolition of exception relating to public officials. ... Insured persons Year Number 1933 3,930,000 1933 20,389 1933 27,717 1933 66,132 1937 26,000,000 SWITZERLAND Insurance is compulsory only in certain cantons. Glarus 1916. Compulsory invalidity and old-age insurance for all persons between 17 and 50 years of age legally domiciled within the territory of the Canton. Appenzell (Outer Rhodes) 1925. Compulsory old-age insurance for all persons between 18 and 64 years of age legally domiciled within the territory of the Canton. Basle (Town) 1930. Compulsory old-age and survivors' insurance for all persons between 20 and 65 years of age having been domiciled in the Canton for two years. UNITED STATES 1935. Compulsory old-age insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce (Act to come into operation on 1 January 1937). URUGUAY (a) Insurance for employed persons in general 1919. 1922. 1928. 1933. 1934. Compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for persons employed in public utility undertakings. Extension of compulsory insurance to dockers and port workers. Extension of compulsory insurance to journalists and workers in printing trades, and to persons employed by joint-stock and similar companies. Fixing minimum benefit and restricting the possibility of drawing both pension and wages. General reform and unification of compulsory insurance scheme. Extension of insurance to persons employed in commerce and industry. Amendment of rules in regard to pensions for service prior to enforcement of scheme. 1933 ' approx. 150,000 — 219 — Principal stages in the development of national legislation (b) Insured persons Year Number Insurance for the staffs of banks and the Slock Exchange 1925. 1933. 1934. Compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for the staffs of banks and the Stock Exchange. Fixing of maximum benefits. Amendment of rules in regard to pensions for service prior to enforcement of scheme. 1934 2,198 1934 23,513,600 (provisional figure) 1934 45,000 1934 10,000 Ü.S.S.R. 1922. 1927. 1929. 1932. 1933. Compulsory invalidity and survivors' insurance for employed persons. Compulsory old-age insurance for workers in the textile industry. Extension of old-age insurance to workers employed in key industries and transport. Extension of old-age insurance to all manual workers and various categories of nonmanual workers. Transfer of insurance administration to the trade unions. YUGOSLAVIA (a) Insurance for miners 1889. 1924. (b) Insurance for salaried employees 1909. 1934. (c) Compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for miners in Dalmatia and Slovenia. Extension of scheme to miners throughout the country. Compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for salaried employees in Dalmatia and Slovenia. Extension of insurance to salaried employees in maritime navigation. Insurance for persons employed in industry and commerce 1922. Promulgation of an Act to establish compulsory invalidity, old-age and survivors' insurance for persons employed in industrial and commercial undertakings (Act not yet in force).