(ETS no. 83)
Strasbourg, 6.V.1974
The member States of the Council of Europe, signatory hereto,
Considering that the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve greater unity between its
members, in particular for the purpose of facilitating their economic and social progress;
Considering that the improvement of living conditions of farmers through the
implementation of appropriate measures can contribute to social progress in Europe;
Recalling that the aim of the European Social Charter, also drawn up within the Council of
Europe and opened to signature by member States on 18 October 1961, is to improve the
standard of living and to promote the social well-being of both their urban and rural
populations;
Considering that the special conditions and characteristics of farming as well as the
changes taking place in the farming world require the adoption of appropriate measures to
promote the social well-being of farmers;
Considering, in consequence, that measures should be taken to extend and to reinforce the
social protection of farmers, the members of their families and, where appropriate, their
paid employees, with due regard to the social needs of these persons and to the special
conditions of farming,
Have agreed as follows:
Part I
Article 1
Each Contracting Party undertakes to apply the provisions of this Convention to its
nationals, resident in its territory.
Article 2
For the purposes of this Convention, the term "farmer" means any
self-employed person occupied exclusively or mainly in agriculture, horticulture,
forestry, viticulture or other similar work, it being understood that he may be assisted
in such work by members of his family and/or paid employees.
Part II
Article 3
Each Contracting Party shall ensure to farmers, the members of their families and,
where appropriate, their paid employees, social protection comparable to that enjoyed by
other groups of the population, account being taken of the provisions of Articles 4 to 13
of this Convention.
Article 4
- Each Contracting Party shall apply, as far as appropriate, to farmers and persons
entitled through them, the social security standards laid down by its laws for the other
protected categories of the population.
- Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 1 of this article, each Contracting
Party shall grant farmers, within appropriate conditions and time-limits, social security
protection in respect of at least four of the following contingencies: sickness,
maternity, invalidity, old age, death, occupational injuries and diseases and family
commitments.
Article 5
- Each Contracting Party shall ensure that when a farmer ceases farming for structural or
other reasons to be determined by the Contracting Party, he, the members of his family
and, where appropriate, any of his paid employees, shall benefit from appropriate
measures.
These measures shall include:
- the provision of facilities to enable them to take up a new activity preferably in their
own region, in particular, arrangements for vocational guidance, training and re-training;
- the payment of temporary allowances to enable them to prepare for another activity;
- the maintenance of acquired rights and of rights in the course of acquisition with
regard to social security;
- the payment of fair compensation or appropriate grants to a farmer who, because of his
age, has difficulty in taking up another activity, provided that his ceasing farming
contributes towards structural improvement.
- Cessation of farming is not to be interpreted, for the purposes of this article, as
excluding the retention by the farmer of a limited area of land for his personal needs.
- Each Contracting Party shall ensure that when a farmer only partially ceases farming for
structural or other reasons to be determined by the Contracting Party, he, the members of
his family, and, where appropriate, any of his paid employees, shall benefit from the
measures mentioned in sub-paragraphs a, b and c of paragraph 1 above, suitably modified to
meet needs.
Article 6
Each Contracting Party shall take appropriate measures to make farmers aware of the
objectives of its farming policy, to consult, where appropriate, with farming interests in
relation to this policy and to keep farmers informed of relevant international
developments in farming.
Article 7
In the formulation of its regional development policy, each Contracting Party shall
take account of the problems caused by the loss of employment in farming areas, in
particular with a view to creating new employment there.
Article 8
- Each Contracting Party shall take appropriate measures with a view to:
- assuring the provision of adequate socio-cultural facilities in farming areas;
- encouraging the improvement of living and sanitary conditions in farm buildings for the
benefit of farmers, the members of their families and, where appropriate, their paid
employees;
- granting advantages such as long-term loans, subsidies or low interest loans to farmers,
to facilitate, inter alia, the implementation of the measures referred to in
sub-paragraph b above.
- Each Contracting Party shall also take appropriate measures to make it possible for
farmers in areas to be specified by it, to continue farming and to contribute, at the same
time, to the upkeep and protection of the countryside, nature conservation, the
development of recreational facilities and the maintenance of a suitable demographic
balance in those areas.
Article 9
Each Contracting Party shall take or encourage appropriate measures to guarantee to
children resident in farming areas an education and a training of a level equivalent to
that enjoyed by children in urban areas. These measures shall relate particularly to:
- grants for the construction of such school buildings as are necessary for the gradual
abolition of classes comprising children of all ages;
- transport to and from schools;
- the appointment of sufficient qualified teachers to schools in farming areas.
Article 10
Each Contracting Party shall take or encourage measures to benefit young persons in
farming areas, particularly with a view to:
- securing that qualified counsellors are available to give vocational guidance
appropriate to their needs, including before school leaving age;
- ensuring that they receive such general education and vocational training as will give
them opportunities equal to those enjoyed by other young persons as regards integration
into working life;
- creating or improving, as necessary, vocational schools, training and further training
centres and farming colleges;
- providing them with educational grants under such conditions as will afford them
opportunities equal to those enjoyed by other young persons.
Article 11
Each Contracting Party shall encourage the provision, in farming areas, of advisory and
information services dealing with farming matters and the evolution of the labour market
in other sectors of the economy.
Article 12
Each Contracting Party, in order to ensure as favourable working conditions on farms as
possible, shall facilitate and encourage various forms of co-operation, mutual assistance
between farmers and, where appropriate, supply of temporary helpers.
Article 13
With a view to facilitating the tasks inherent in family life on farms, each
Contracting Party shall encourage:
- the use of facilities intended to simplify and lighten household tasks;
- the provision of home aid and family help services.
Article 14
The provisions of this Convention shall not prejudice the provisions of any
international conventions or agreements which are already in force or may come into force
under which more favourable treatment would be accorded to the persons referred to in this
Convention.
Part III
Article 15
- This Convention shall be open to signature by the member States of the Council of
Europe. It shall be subject to ratification, acceptance or approval. Instruments of
ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with the Secretary General of the
Council of Europe.
- This Convention shall enter into force three months after the date of the deposit of the
third instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval.
- In respect of a signatory State ratifying, accepting or approving subsequently, the
Convention shall enter into force three months after the date of the deposit of its
instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval.
Article 16
- After the entry into force of the Convention, the Committee of Ministers of the Council
of Europe may invite any non-member State to accede thereto.
- Such accession shall be effected by depositing with the Secretary General of the Council
of Europe an instrument of accession which shall take effect three months after the date
of its deposit.
Article 17
- Any State may, at the time of signature or when depositing its instrument of
ratification, acceptance, approval or accession specify the territory or territories to
which this Convention shall apply.
- Any State may, when depositing its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or
accession or at any later date, by declaration addressed to the Secretary General of the
Council of Europe, extend this Convention to any other territory or territories specified
in the declaration and for whose international relations it is responsible or on whose
behalf it is authorised to give undertakings.
- Any declaration made in pursuance of the preceding paragraph may, in respect of any
territory mentioned in such declaration, be withdrawn. Such withdrawal shall take effect
six months after the date of receipt by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe of
the declaration of withdrawal.
Article 18
Any State may, at the time of signature or when depositing its instrument of
ratification, acceptance, approval or accession or at any later date, by declaration
addressed to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, extend the benefit of this
Convention, or of those provisions thereof which it shall specify, to persons other than
its nationals, resident in the territory or territories specified in accordance with
Article 17 and designated in the declaration.
Article 19
- Any State may, at the time of signature or when depositing its instrument of
ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, declare that it avails itself of one or
more of the reservations provided for in the annex to this Convention. No other
reservation shall be admissible.
- Any State may wholly or partly withdraw a reservation it has made in accordance with the
foregoing paragraph by means of a declaration addressed to the Secretary General of the
Council of Europe which shall become effective as from the date of its receipt.
Article 20
- No Contracting Party may denounce this Convention before the end of a period of four
years from the date on which the Convention entered into force for it or before the end of
any successive period of three years.
- Such denunciation shall be effected by means of a notification addressed to the
Secretary General of the Council of Europe and shall take effect six months after the date
of receipt by the Secretary General of such notification.
Article 21
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe shall notify member States of the
Council of Europe and any State which has acceded to this Convention of:
- any signature;
- any deposit of an instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession;
- any date of entry into force of this Convention in accordance with Article 15 thereof;
- any declaration received in pursuance of the provisions of paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article
17;
- any declaration received in pursuance of the provisions of Article 18;
- any reservation made in pursuance of the provisions of paragraph 1 of Article 19;
- the withdrawal of any reservation carried out in pursuance of the provisions of
paragraph 2 of Article 19;
- any notification received in pursuance of the provisions of Article 20 and the date on
which denunciation takes effect.
In witness whereof the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto, have signed this
Convention.
Done at Strasbourg, this 6th day of May 1974, in English and French, both texts being
equally authoritative, in a single copy which shall remain deposited in the archives of
the Council of Europe. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe shall transmit
certified copies to each of the signatory and acceding States.
ANNEX
Reservations
(Article 19, paragraph 1)
Each of the Contracting Parties may declare that it reserves the right:
1. to exclude from the field of application of this Convention one or several of the
following categories of persons:
– self-employed persons occupied exclusively or mainly in agriculture, horticulture,
forestry, viticulture or other similar work, but not deriving the major part of their
income from these activities,
– persons occupied exclusively in forestry;
2. not to apply the provisions of Article 5, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph b;
3. not to apply the provisions of Article 5, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph c;
4. not to apply the provisions of Article 5, paragraph 1, sub-paragraph d;
5. not to apply the provisions of Article 5, paragraph 3.
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