"In
accordance with the Joint Declaration of the Government of the People's
Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Portugal on the
Question of Macao (hereinafter referred to as the Joint Declaration), the
Government of the People's Republic of China will resume the exercise of
sovereignty over Macao with effect from 20 December 1999. Macao will, from that
date, become a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
and will enjoy a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs
which are the responsibilities of the Central People's Government of the
People's Republic of China.
It is provided
both in section VIII of Elaboration by the Government of the People's Republic
of China of its Basic Policies Regarding Macao, which is Annex I to the Joint
Declaration, and Article 138 of the Basic Law of the Macao Special
Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, which was adopted on
31 March 1993 by the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of
China, that international agreements to which the People's Republic of China is
not yet a party but which are implemented in Macao may continue to be
implemented in the Macao Special Administrative Region.
In accordance
with the above provisions, I am instructed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the People's Republic of China to inform Your Excellency of the following:
Convention
concerning Hygiene in Commerce Offices (No. 120), adopted at Geneva on 8 July
1964 (hereinafter referred to as the "Convention"), which applies to
Macao at present, will continue to apply to the Macao Special Administrative
Region with effect from 20 December 1999.
The Government of
the People's Republic of China will assume the responsibility for the international
rights and obligations arising from the application of the Convention to the
Macao Special Administrative Region."
(ILO No. 120)
(Adopted at Geneva on 8 July
1964)
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 Forty-eighth Session on 17 June 1964, and
Having decided upon
the adoption of certain proposals with regard to hygiene in commerce and
offices, which is the fourth item on the agenda of the session, and
Having determined
that certain of these proposals shall take the form of an international
Convention,
adopts this eighth
day of July of the year one thousand nine hundred and sixty-four the following
Convention, which may be cited as the Hygiene (Commerce and Offices)
Convention, 1964:
PART I. OBLIGATIONS OF PARTIES
Article 1
This Convention
applies to--
(a) trading
establishments;
(b) establishments,
institutions and administrative services in which the workers are mainly
engaged in office work;
(c) in so far as
they are not subject to national laws or regulations or other arrangements
concerning hygiene in industry, mines, transport or agriculture, any
departments of other establishments, institutions, or administrative services
in which departments the workers are mainly engaged in commerce or office work.
Article 2
The competent
authority may, after consultation with the organisations of employers and
workers directly concerned, where such exist, exclude from the application of
all or any of the provisions of this Convention specified classes of the
establishments, institutions or administrative services, or departments
thereof, referred to in Article 1, where the circumstances and conditions of
employment are such that the application to them of all or any of the said
provisions would be inappropriate.
Article 3
In any case in
which it is doubtful whether an establishment, institution or administrative
service is one to which this Convention applies, the question shall be settled
either by the competent authority after consultation with the representative
organisations of employers and workers concerned, where such exist, or in any
other manner which is consistent with national law and practice.
Article 4
Each Member which
ratifies this Convention undertakes that it will--
(a) maintain in
force laws or regulations which ensure the application of the General
Principles set forth in Part II; and
(b) ensure that
such effect as may be possible and desirable under national conditions is given
to the provisions of the Hygiene (Commerce and Offices) Recommendation, 1964,
or to equivalent provisions.
Article 5
The laws or
regulations giving effect to the provisions of this Convention and any laws or
regulations giving such effect as may be possible and desirable under national
conditions to the provisions of the Hygiene (Commerce and Offices)
Recommendation, 1964, or to equivalent provisions, shall be framed after
consultation with the representative organisations of employers and workers
concerned, where such exist.
Article 6
1. Appropriate
measures shall be taken, by adequate inspection or other means, to ensure the
proper application of the laws or regulations referred to in Article 5.
2. Where it is
appropriate to the manner in which effect is given to this Convention, the
necessary measures in the form of penalties shall be taken to ensure the
enforcement of such laws or regulations.
PART II. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Article 7
All premises used
by workers, and the equipment of such premises, shall be properly maintained
and kept clean.
Article 8
All premises used
by workers shall have sufficient and suitable ventilation, natural or
artificial or both, supplying fresh or purified air.
Article 9
All premises used
by workers shall have sufficient and suitable lighting; workplaces shall, as
far as possible, have natural lighting.
Article 10
As comfortable and
steady a temperature as circumstances permit shall be maintained in all
premises used by workers.
Article 11
All workplaces
shall be so laid out and work-stations so arranged that there is no harmful
effect on the health of the worker.
Article 12
A sufficient supply
of wholesome drinking water or of some other wholesome drink shall be made
available to workers.
Article 13
Sufficient and
suitable washing facilities and sanitary conveniences shall be provided and
properly maintained.
Article 14
Sufficient and
suitable seats shall be supplied for workers and workers shall be given
reasonable opportunities of using them.
Article 15
Suitable facilities
for changing, leaving and drying clothing which is not worn at work shall be
provided and properly maintained.
Article 16
Underground or windowless
premises in which work is normally performed shall comply with appropriate
standards of hygiene.
Article 17
Workers shall be
protected by appropriate and practicable measures against substances, processes
and techniques which are obnoxious, unhealthy or toxic or for any reason
harmful. Where the nature of the work so requires, the competent authority
shall prescribe personal protective equipment.
Article 18
Noise and
vibrations likely to have harmful effects on workers shall be reduced as far as
possible by appropriate and practicable measures.
Article 19
Every
establishment, institution or administrative service, or department thereof, to
which this Convention applies shall, having regard to its size and the possible
risk--
(a) maintain its
own dispensary or first-aid post; or
(b) maintain a
dispensary or first-aid post jointly with other establishments, institutions or
administrative services, or departments thereof; or
(c) have one or
more first-aid cupboards, boxes or kits.
PART III. FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 20
The formal
ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General
of the International Labour Office for registration.
Article 21
1. This Convention
shall be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour
Organisation whose ratifications have been registered with the
Director-General.
2. It shall come
into force twelve months after the date on which the ratifications of two
Members have been registered with the Director-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 22
1. 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 Director-General of the International Labour Office 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 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 23
1. The
Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of
the International Labour Organisation of the registration of all ratifications
and denunciations communicated to him by the Members of the Organisation.
2. When notifying
the Members of the Organisation of the registration of the second ratification
communicated to him, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the
Members of the Organisation to the date upon which the Convention will come
into force.
Article 24
The
Director-General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration in accordance with
Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations full particulars of all
ratifications and acts of denunciation registered by him in accordance with the
provisions of the preceding Articles.
Article 25
At such times as it
may consider necessary the Governing Body of the International Labour Office
shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this
Convention and shall examine the desirability of placing on the agenda of the
Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part.
Article 26
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 22 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 27
The English and
French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authoritative.