Notification

"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 Workmen's Compensation for Occupational Diseases (No. 18), adopted at Geneva on 10 June 1925 (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.

Within the above ambit, the Government of the People's Republic of China will assume the responsibility for the international rights and obligations that place on a Party to the Convention."

ILO No. 18

Convention concerning Workmen’s Compensation for Occupational Diseases, as modified by the Final Articles Revision Convention, 1946

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 Seventh Session on 19 May 1925, and

Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to workmen’s compensation for occupational diseases, which is included in the first item of the agenda of the Session, and

Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention,

adopts this tenth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five the following Convention, which may be cited as the Workmen’s Compensation (Occupational Diseases) Convention, 1925, for ratification by the Members of the International Labour Organisation in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation:

Article 1

1. Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to provide that compensation shall be payable to workmen incapacitated by occupational diseases, or, in case of death from such diseases, to their dependants, in accordance with the general principles of the national legislation relating to compensation for industrial accidents.

2. The rates of such compensation shall be not less than those prescribed by the national legislation for injury resulting from industrial accidents. Subject to this provision, each Member, in determining in its national law or regulations the conditions under which compensation for the said diseases shall be payable, and in applying to the said diseases its legislation in regard to compensation for industrial accidents, may make such modifications and adaptations as it thinks expedient.

Article 2

Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention undertakes to consider as occupational diseases those diseases and poisonings produced by the substances set forth in the Schedule appended hereto, when such diseases or such poisonings affect workers engaged in the trades or industries placed opposite in the said Schedule, and result from occupation in an undertaking covered by the said national legislation.

SCHEDULE

Article 3

The formal ratifications of this Convention, under the conditions set forth in the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation, shall be communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration.

Article 4

1. 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 Director-General.

2. It shall be binding only upon those Members whose ratifications have been registered with the International Labour Office.

3. Thereafter, the Convention shall come into force for any Member at the date on which its ratification has been registered with the International Labour Office.

Article 5

As soon as the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered with the International Labour Office, the Director-General of the International Labour Office 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 6

Subject to the provisions of Article 4, each Member which ratifies this Convention agrees to bring the provisions of Articles 1 and 2 into operation not later than 1 January 1927 and to take such action as may be necessary to make these provisions effective.

Article 7

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 35 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation.

Article 8

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 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 with the International Labour Office.

Article 9

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 10

The French and English texts of this Convention shall both be authentic.

* Note: Version amended by International Labour Organization Convention No. 80 “The Final Articles Revision Convention, 1946”