LEGAL OPINION

Background
Eurofins Advinus Limited is a company established with an objective to provide R&D services
for pre-clinical testing, discovery and development of compounds for diverse industries
including Pharmaceuticals, Biologicals, Agrochemicals, Nutraceuticals and Cosmetics. They
have not registered themselves under the Apprentice Act, 1961 and have therefore received
an email from the Director of Board of Apprentice to register themselves on their portal.

Query
Whether the Apprentice Act, 1961 is applicable to Eurofins Advinus Limited?

Applicable Law
Apprentices Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”);
Apprenticeship Rules, 1992 (hereinafter referred to as “the Rules”).

Response to query
1. Eurofins Advinus Limited has been established with the following objectives as per its
Memorandum of Association (MOA) at the time of its incorporation:
1. To exclusively engage in activities and processes relating to drug (medicine) discovery
& developments including genomics, proteomics, chemistry, pharmacology, biology,
bio-technology, bio-sciences, bio-informatics, structural biology, medicinal chemistry,
organic and inorganic chemistry, synthetic chemistry, analogue chemistry,
computational chemistry and all related areas of pharmaceutical and clinical
development activities.
2. To provide research and development services and / or products to chemical,
Agrochemical, life sciences, healthcare and other organizations carrying research and
development activities for development of products or services including research
institutions as well as patients and consumers and to use the information technology
tools and techniques to work with existing biological data and information as well as
to generate information on the genomics and proteomics of living organs including
human beings through research and study.
3. To exclusively conduct pharmaceutical and Biotechnology research, toxicity studies
and Bio-Equivalence studies, Clinical Trials, Clinical Researches Clinical Testing of the
experimental drugs and to render clinical, Chemistry, pathology, Clinical Laboratory
services, Bio-Analytical, consulting and pharmaceutical development services.
2. As per the Act, the industries and trades that are specified by the Central Government in
the Official Gazette have to comply with the provisions of the Act and register themselves
with the Board of Apprenticeship on their portal.
3. The Central Government, Vide GSR 401 dated 28th April 1988 and subsequently amended
by S.O 2961 dated 3rd November 1992 and S.O. 2223 dated 22nd August 1997, has published
a list of groups of industries covered under the Act. As per this list, the specific industry
applicable in the present case is :
92. EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC AND RESEARCH SERVICES

Research and scientific services not classified elsewhere such as those rendered by institutions
and laboratories engaged in research in the biological, physical and social sciences,
metrological institutes and medical research organisation
- 922

In our opinion, the scope of this industry description is wide and includes in its ambit the
objects with which Eurofins Advinus Limited has been established.
4. However, as per the 2019 Amendment to the Act,
a. All the establishments having work force (regular and contract employees) of 30 or
more are mandated to engage apprentices undertaking Apprenticeship Programmes
in a range from 2.5% -10% of their workforce every year.
b. For establishments having a workforce between 4 & 30, engagement of apprentices is
optional.
c. Establishments have a workforce of 4 or less are not permitted to engage apprentices.
(https://upload.indiacode.nic.in/showfile?actid=AC_CEN_6_6_00016_196152_1517807321
778&type=notification&filename=gazette_notification_dt.25.9.2019-
amendment_in_apprenticeship_rules,_1992.pdf)
(https://nsdcindia.org/sites/all/themes/ibees/pdf/apprenticeship-faqs.pdf)

5. As per our understanding, Eurofins Advinus Limited is an establishment that has a

workforce of more than 30 workers, and are therefore mandated to register themselves
under the Apprentice Act, 1961.