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 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.