NORMLEX User Guide

What are Fundamental Conventions?

There are ten Fundamental Conventions with one Protocol. They cover subjects that are considered fundamental principles and rights at work: freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour; the effective abolition of child labour; the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation; and a safe and healthy working environment.
Specifically, the ten Fundamental Conventions are:

• Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87)
• Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98)
• Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)
• Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105)
• Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138)
• Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182)
• Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100)
• Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111)
• Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155)
Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 2006 (No. 187)

What are Governance Conventions?

There are four Governance Conventions. They relate to, and are important for, the functioning of the international labour standards system and are considered as the most important instruments from the point of view of governance. As a result, the ILO encourages member States to ratify them as a matter of priority.
The four Governance Conventions are:

• Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81)
• Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129)
• Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144)
• Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122)

What are Up-To-Date Conventions?

An Up-To-Date Convention is one that is ready for ratification by member States and/or one that has been examined by the ILO Governing Body and deemed to be still relevant.

Where can I find a list of Up-To-Date Convention titles and summaries?

There are no summaries within NORMLEX for the various Conventions. In general, the preamble to a given Convention describes its purpose or background.
However, the ILO publication "Rules of the Game: An introduction to the standards-related work of the International Labour Organization" provides summaries of a large number of Conventions, broken down by subject area. You can download a copy of this publication here.
To display a full list of Convention titles:

1. Click on Instruments in the main menu on the left. [Graphic included further down.]
2. Click on the Number display option radio button.

What are Instruments?

Instruments is the collective term for:

• Conventions
• Protocols
• Recommendations

What is a Protocol?

A Protocol is a procedural device for adding extra flexibility to a Convention or for extending a Convention’s obligations.

Protocols are also international treaties, but which, in the ILO context, do not exist independently since they are always linked to a Convention. Like Conventions, they are subject to ratification. They allow adaptation to changing conditions and they enable practical difficulties to be dealt with which have arisen since the Convention was adopted, thus making the Conventions more relevant and up to date. Protocols are particularly appropriate where the aim is to keep intact a Convention which has already been ratified and which may receive further ratifications, while amending or adding to certain provisions on specific points.

The ILC has adopted five Protocols to date.

What is a Recommendation?

Recommendations are also international instruments adopted by the ILC but are not legally binding and serve as guidelines to help member States formulate their policy at a national level. Often, they supplement an existing convention by providing detailed guidelines for its implementation but they can also be adopted autonomously.

What are the meanings of the various statuses that a Convention can have?

An instrument goes through many stages during its life.

You can search and/or sort the lists of instruments by their status within NORMLEX;

The various statuses are:

• Up-to-date instrument
• Instrument with interim status
• Request for information
• Instrument to be revised
• No conclusions
• Final Article Convention, not examined
• Outdated instrument
• Requiring further action to ensure continued and future relevance
• Extinguished Instruments (Abrogated, Withdrawn and Replaced)

Where can I find the text of a Convention, Protocol, instrument…?

1. Click on Instruments in the main menu on the left.



This displays a list of Conventions and Protocols. You can change the display order by clicking on one of the buttons.



2. Click on the title of the instrument to display its full text.

How do I find instruments that relate or refer to a specific subject? For example, the design of workplaces.

NORMLEX includes a free-text search function. The search options are:

• Instruments

Search for text within all instruments or just a specific one.

• Key documents

Search for text within all five Key Documents or just a specific one.

• Ratifications

Search for text within conventions. You can restrict the search by geography, convention, years and status.

• Comments by supervisory bodies

Search for text within comments reported by the CEACR and the ILCCR. You can restrict the search by geography, convention, subject, years, type of comment, and committee reporting.

• Freedom of association cases

Search for text within Freedom of Association reports. You can restrict the search by country, status of the case, and type of case. You can also search a specific case.

Is it possible to see all the comments and observations made for a specific Convention concerning my government over the last x years? If so, how? (For example, comments for the last 5 years about convention 87 in the UK.)

If you are already displaying comments for the convention and country in question, click on the year link on the right of the window to display previous comments.

If not:

1. Click on the Country Profile menu.
2. Click on the country you are interested in.
3. Select the year from the dropdown list in the Comments section.
4. Click on the Convention number required.

Note: It is, however, not possible to display more than one year at a time.