Employers' Handbook on ILO Standards-related Activities

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EMPLOYERS’ HANDBOOK ON ILO STANDARDS-RELATED ACTIVITIES
l Competent national authority: This is the body that has the power to enact legislation
or to take other action to implement the instrument. Usually this is the parliament;
however, depending on national rules, it may be a different body.
l Form of submission: The submission “should always be accompanied or followed
by a statement or proposals setting out the government’s views as to the action to
be taken on the instruments”, since “Article 19 of the Constitution is clearly aimed
at obtaining a decision from the competent authorities”.
l Extent of submission: It is emphasized in the Memorandum that “governments
have complete freedom as to the nature of the proposals to be made” to the competent
authorities and that submission “does not imply any obligation to propose the
ratification or application of the instrument in question”. Thus, a government may,
in full accordance with the above ILO constitutional rules, propose that the competent
authorities not ratify a Convention or that a decision in this regard be postponed.
Employers’ and workers’ organizations, first of all, must be informed by their government
that it has fulfilled the submission obligation (Art. 23, para. 2, ILO Constitution;
for more detail see Chapter V). Over and above that, governments should consult
representative organizations of employers and workers on “… the proposals to be
made to the competent authority or authorities in connection with the submission of
Conventions and Recommendations …” (Art. 5, para. 1 (b) of Convention No. 144 and
Para. 5 (b) of Recommendation No. 152). These consultations are obligatory for countries
which have ratified Convention No. 144.
As a result of this information/consultation, employers know whether, when and
in what way the government intends to implement a new instrument. They are in a
position to comment on the government’s plans or to present their own proposals. For
example, they may specify why, in their view, the ratification or the intended way of
implementing a particular Convention would or would not correspond to the needs of
employers in the country, generally or at present.
For more detail, see:
l ILO: Revision of the Memorandum concerning the obligation to submit Conventions
and Recommendations to the competent authorities, GB.212/SC/4/1
(Geneva, 1980).
l ILO: <strong>Handbook</strong> of procedures relating to international labour Conventions and
Recommendations, Rev. 2 (Geneva, 1998).
Ratification and implementation of Conventions
Under international law, ratification of a Convention is the voluntary undertaking
by a member State to apply the Convention’s provisions in national law and practice.
The main purpose of ratification is to promote, through international legal commitments,
the application of labour standards in member States. In addition, ratification
has the following significant functions: