Preamble
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 a proposal with regard to the extension and application of the International Convention adopted at Berne in 1906 on the prohibition of the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches, which is part of the fifth item in the agenda for the Washington meeting of the Conference, and
Having determined that this proposal shall take the form of a Recommendation,
adopts the following Recommendation, which may be cited as the White Phosphorus Recommendation, 1919, to be submitted to the Members of the International Labour Organisation for consideration with a view to effect being given to it by national legislation or otherwise, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation:
The General Conference recommends that each Member of the International Labour Organisation, which has not already done so, should adhere to the International Convention adopted at Berne in 1906 on the prohibition of the use of white phosporus in the manufacture of matches.
ANNEX
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE SUBJECT OF THE PROBITION OF THE USE OF WHITE (YELLOW) PHOSPHORUS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MATCHES, CONCLUDED AT BERNE IN 1906.
Article 1. The High Contracting Parties bind themselves to prohibit in their prospective territories the manufacture, importation and sale of matches which contain white (yellow) phosphorus.
Article 2. It is incumbent upon each of the contracting States to take the administrative measures necessary to ensure the strict execution of the terms of the present Convention within their respective territories.
Each Government shall communicate to the others through the diplomatic channel the laws and regulations which exist or shall hereafter come into force in their country with regard to the subject-matter of the present Convention, as well as the reports on the manner in which the said laws and regulations are applied.
Article 3. The present Convention shall only apply to a colony, possession or protectorate when a notice to this effect shall have been given on its behalf by the Government of the mother country to the Swiss Federal Council.
Article 4. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratification deposited with the Swiss Federal Council by the 31 December 1908, at the latest.
A record of the deposit shall be drawn up, of which one certified copy shall be transmitted to each of the contracting States through the diplomatic channel.
The present Convention shall come into force three years after the date on which the record of the deposit is closed.
Article 5. The States non-signatories to the present Convention shall be allowed to declare their adhesion by an act addressed to the Swiss Federal Council, who will bring it to the notice of each of the other contracting States.
The time limit laid down in Article 4 for the coming into force of the present Convention is extended in the case of the non-signatory States, as well as of their colonies, possessions, or protectorates, to five years, counting from the date of their notification of their adhesion.
Article 6. It shall not be possible for the signatory States, or the States, colonies, possessions, or protectorates who may subsequently adhere, to denounce the present Convention before the expiration of five years from the date on which the record of the deposit of ratifications is closed.
Thenceforward the Convention may be denounced from year to year.
The denunciation will only take effect after the lapse of one year from the time when written notice has been given to the Swiss Federal Council by the Government concerned, or in the case of a colony, possession or protectorate, by the Government of the mother country; the Federal Council shall communicate the denunciation immediately to the Governments of each of the other contracting States.
The denunciation shall only be operative as regards the State, colony, possession or protectorate on whose behalf it has been notified.
In witness whereof the plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention.
Done at Berne this 26 day of September, 1906, in a single copy which shall be kept in the archives of the Swiss Federation, and one copy of which duly certified shall be delivered to each of the contracting Powers through the diplomatic channel.
