International
Labour Organization
Note: Date of coming into force: :13:06:1921.
The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,
Having been convened by the Government of the United States of America at Washington, on the 29 October 1919, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the employment of children: during the night, 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 Night Work of Young Persons (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 or 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, 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
1. Young persons under eighteen years of age shall not be employed during the night 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, except as hereinafter provided for.
2. Young persons over the age of sixteen may be employed during the night in the following industrial undertakings on work which, by reason of the nature of the processes, is required to be carried on continuously day and night:
(a) manufacture of iron and steel; processes in which reverberatory or regenerative furnaces are used, and galvanising of sheet metal or wire (except the pickling process);
(b) glass works;
(c) manufacture of paper;
(d) manufacture of raw sugar;
(e) gold mining reduction work.
Article 3
1. For the purpose of this Convention, the term night signifies a period of at least eleven consecutive hours, including the interval between ten o'clock in the evening and five o'clock in the morning.
2. In coal and lignite mines work may be carried on in the interval between ten o'clock in the evening and five o'clock in the morning, if an interval of ordinarily fifteen hours, and in no case of less than thirteen hours, separates two periods of work.
3. Where night work in the baking industry is prohibited for all workers, the interval between nine o'clock in the evening and four o'clock in the morning may be substituted in the baking industry for the interval between ten o'clock in the evening and five o'clock in the morning.
4. In those tropical countries in which work is suspended during the middle of the day, the night period may be shorter than eleven hours if compensatory rest is accorded during the day.
Article 4
The provisions of Articles 2 and 3 shall not apply to the night work of young persons between the ages of sixteen and eighteen years in case of emergencies which could not have been controlled or foreseen, which are not of a periodical character, and which interfere with the normal working of the industrial undertaking.
Article 5
In the application of this Convention to Japan, until 1 July 1925, Article 2 shall apply only to young persons under fifteen years of age and thereafter it shall apply only to young persons under sixteen years of age.
Article 6
In the application of this Convention to India, the term "industrial undertaking" shall include only "factories" as defined in the Indian Factory Act, and Article 2 shall not apply to male young persons over fourteen years of age.
Article 7
The prohibition of night work may be suspended by the Government, for young persons between the ages of sixteen and eighteen years, when in case of serious emergency the public interest demands it.
Article 8
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 9
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 10
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 11
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 12
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 13
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 14
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 15
The French and English texts of this Convention shall both be authentic.