International
Labour Organization
Note: Date of coming into force: 13:06:1921.
The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,
Having been convened at Washington by the Government of the United States of America on the 29 October 1919, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the employment of children: minimum age of employment, which is part of the fourth item in the agenda for the Washington meeting of the Conference, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention,
adopts the following Convention, which may be cited as the Minimum Age (Industry) Convention, 1919, 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. For the purpose of this Convention, the term industrial undertaking includes particularly--
(a) mines, quarries and other works for the extraction of minerals from the earth;
(b) industries in which articles are manufactured, altered, cleaned, repaired, ornamented, finished, adapted for sale, broken up or demolished, or in which materials are transformed; including shipbuilding, and the generation, transformation, and transmission of electricity and motive power of any kind;
(c) construction, reconstruction, maintenance, repair, alteration, or demolition of any building, railway, tramway, harbour, dock, pier, canal, inland waterway, road, tunnel, bridge, viaduct, sewer, drain, well, telegraphic or telephonic installation, electrical undertaking, gas work, water work, or other work of construction, as well as the preparation for or laying the foundations of any such work or structure;
(d) transport of passengers or goods by road or rail or inland waterway, including the handling of goods at docks, quays, wharves, and warehouses, but excluding transport by hand.
2. The competent authority in each country shall define the line of division which separates industry from commerce and agriculture.
Article 2
Children under the age of fourteen years shall not be employed or work in any public or private industrial undertaking, or in any branch thereof, other than an undertaking in which only members of the same family are employed.
Article 3
The provisions of Article 2 shall not apply to work done by children in technical schools, provided that such work is approved and supervised by public authority.
Article 4
In order to facilitate the enforcement of the provisions of this Convention, every employer in an industrial undertaking shall be required to keep a register of all persons under the age of sixteen years employed by him, and of the dates of their births.
Article 5
1. In connection with the application of this Convention to Japan, the following modifications of Article two may be made:
a) children over twelve years of age may be admitted into employment if they have finished the course in the elementary school;
b) as regards children between the ages of twelve and fourteen already employed, transitional regulation may be made.
2. The provisions in the present Japanese law admitting children under the age of twelve years to certain light and easy employments shall be repealed.
Article 6
The provisions of Article 2 shall not apply to India, but in India children under twelve years of age shall not be employed:
a) in manufactories working with power and employing more than ten persons;
b) in mines, quarries, and other works for the extracting of minerals from the earth;
c) in transport of passengers or goods, or mails, by rail, or in the handling of goods at docks, quays, and wharves, but excluding transport by hand.
Article 7
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 8
1. Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention engages to apply it to its colonies, protectorates and possessions which are not fully self-governing:
a) except where owing to the local conditions its provisions are
inapplicable; or
b) subject to such modifications as may be necessary to adapt its
provisions to local conditions.
2. Each Member shall notify to the International Labour Office the action taken in respect of each of its colonies, protectorates, and possessions which are not fully self-governing.
Article 9
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.
Article 10
This Convention shall come into force at the date on which such notification is issued by the Director-General of the International Labour Office, and it shall then be binding only upon those Members which have registered their ratifications with the International Labour Office. Thereafter this Convention will come into force for any other Member at the date on which its ratification is registered with the International Labour Office.
Article 11
Each Member which ratifies this Convention agrees to bring its provisions into operation not later than 1 July 1922, and to take such action as may be necessary to make these provisions effective.
Article 12
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 with the International Labour Office.
Article 13
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 14
The French and English texts of this Convention shall both be authentic.