"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 signed on 13
April 1987, 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, with effect 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.
In this connection, 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 Tripartite
Consultations to Promote the Implementation of International Labour Standards
(No. 144), 1976, (hereinafter referred to as the "Convention"), to
which the Government of the People's Republic of China deposited the instrument
of ratification on 2 November 1990, will 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."
Convention concerning Tripartite Consultations to Promote the Implementation of International Labour Standards
(ILO No.144)
(Adopted at Geneva on 21 June
1976)
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 Sixty-first Session on 2 June 1976, and
Recalling the terms
of existing international labour Conventions and Recommendations--in particular
the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention,
1948, the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949, and the
Consultation (Industrial and National Levels) Recommendation, 1960--which
affirm the right of employers and workers to establish free and independent
organisations and call for measures to promote effective consultation at the
national level between public authorities and employers' and workers'
organisations, as well as the provisions of numerous international labour
Conventions and Recommendations which provide for the consultation of
employers' and workers' organisations on measures to give effect thereto, and
Having considered the
fourth item on the agenda of the session which is entitled "Establishment
of tripartite machinery to promote the implementation of international labour
standards", and having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals
concerning tripartite consultation to promote the implementation of
international labour standards, and
Having determined
that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention,
adopts this
twenty-first day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and seventy-six
the following Convention, which may be cited as the Tripartite Consultation
(International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976:
Article 1
In this Convention
the term representative organisations means the most
representative organisations of employers and workers enjoying the right of
freedom of association.
Article 2
1. Each Member of
the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes
to operate procedures which ensure effective consultations, with respect to the
matters concerning the activities of the International Labour Organisation set
out in Article 5, paragraph 1, below, between representatives of the
government, of employers and of workers.
2. The nature and
form of the procedures provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be
determined in each country in accordance with national practice, after
consultation with the representative organisations, where such organisations
exist and such procedures have not yet been established.
Article 3
1. The
representatives of employers and workers for the purposes of the procedures
provided for in this Convention shall be freely chosen by their representative
organisations, where such organisations exist.
2. Employers and
workers shall be represented on an equal footing on any bodies through which
consultations are undertaken.
Article 4
1. The competent
authority shall assume responsibility for the administrative support of the
procedures provided for in this Convention.
2. Appropriate
arrangements shall be made between the competent authority and the
representative organisations, where such organisations exist, for the financing
of any necessary training of participants in these procedures.
Article 5
1. The purpose of
the procedures provided for in this Convention shall be consultations on--
(a) government
replies to questionnaires concerning items on the agenda of the International
Labour Conference and government comments on proposed texts to be discussed by
the Conference;
(b) the proposals
to be made to the competent authority or authorities in connection with the
submission of Conventions and Recommendations pursuant to article 19 of the
Constitution of the International Labour Organisation;
(c) the
re-examination at appropriate intervals of unratified Conventions and of
Recommendations to which effect has not yet been given, to consider what
measures might be taken to promote their implementation and ratification as
appropriate;
(d) questions
arising out of reports to be made to the International Labour Office under
Article 22 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation;
(e) proposals for
the denunciation of ratified Conventions.
2. In order to
ensure adequate consideration of the matters referred to in paragraph 1 of this
Article, consultation shall be undertaken at appropriate intervals fixed by
agreement, but at least once a year.
Article 6
When this is
considered appropriate after consultation with the representative
organisations, where such organisations exist, the competent authority shall
issue an annual report on the working of the procedures provided for in this
Convention.
Article 7
The formal
ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General
of the International Labour Office for registration.
Article 8
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 9
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 10
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 11
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 12
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 13
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 9 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 14
The English and
French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authoritative.