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ILOLEX |
Searching in ILOLEX
Finding the text of a Convention or Recommendation
Finding ratification information
Finding documents of the ILO supervisory bodies
regarding a particular country
Ratifications of the fundamental
Conventions
Browsing through ILOLEX documents
Advanced searching
using the Universal Query Form
Free text searching
Ratifications and texts of Conventions and
Recommendations
Documents of the supervisory
bodies
Comments of the supervisory bodies on a
particular country or Convention
Committee on Freedom of Association Cases
How do I access ILOLEX?
ILOLEX on the Internet
Problems with ILOLEX on Internet
ILOLEX on CD-ROM
Other legal information sources
Guide to international labour standards
NATLEX
Legislative Information
Art. 19 and Art 22
report forms
ILOLEXis a full-text trilingual (English, French and Spanish) database on international labour standards accessible on the Internet or on a single CD-ROM. Included in the ILOLEX Website interface are more than 80,000 documents including the following document categories:
To find out more about what these types of documents mean, please consult the explanation of documents found in ILOLEX.
The first four search options allow the user to quickly find information on commonly-asked questions.
The "display the text of a Convention or Recommendation" function allows for a quick reference of the text of these instruments. Note that some of the older Conventions have been shelved or withdrawn. The numbers of withdrawn or shelved Conventions are listed in parentheses.
The "display ratification information function" allows the user to generate a table of ratification information by Convention and by country. The ratification information is updated daily.
The "display ILOLEX documents related to a specific country function" allows the user to find all comments which have been made by the ILO's supervisory bodies for the past 15 years (13 years for the comments of the Committee of Experts) with regard to a specific country.
The Ratifications Campaign button produces a list (updated daily) of ratifications of the eight ILO fundamental human rights Conventions. The list is also available in a printer-friendly format (click in the top left-hand corner on <Print version>).
The ILO browse option allows users to browse through General Surveys, the ILO Constitution and Standing Orders of the International Labour Conference, Cases of the Committee on Freedom of Association, General reports of the supervisory bodies, the Handbook of Procedures, the Declaration on Multinational Enterprises and the Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
The “Universal Query Form” allows the user to search across all ILOLEX documents by several different criteria. This is the most powerful search tool. Because the Universal Query Form is the most versatile search method, the following section describes the use of this function in greater detail.
The <Select Convention>, <Select country> and <Select subject> buttons allow the user to choose from drop list. Some tips for using the drop lists
To activate the drop list, click once on the button.
In order to select consecutive items on a list, hold down the “Shift” key while dragging the cursor downwards with the mouse.
In order to select non-consecutive items, hold down the control key <Ctrl> and select each item by clicking on it with the mouse.
The <Free text search> box allows you to look for a word or a phrase in the title or in the text of the document. For example, to look for Freedom of Association Case No. 1934, you can type “1934" in the <search the document title> box (and select as category of document CFA cases). To find references to “child labour” in ILOLEX documents, type “child labour” in the <search the entire document> box.
Searching tips:
A space indicates a phrase: trade union
A <,> indicates OR: seaman, seafarer
A <+> indicates an AND: maternity + leave
A <-> indicates NOT: vessel - ship
A // may be used as a proximity connector: burden/2/proof searches the word "proof" no more than two words after the word "burden"; minister/-1,2/labour will find occurrences of the word "labour" no more than one word before or two words after the word minister. This option is useful for quick searches for phrases which contain many "noise" words, such as "right to strike". Right//strike finds the word "right" and strike" in proximity of one word from another.
A "*" may be used for truncated searches: child* will find "child" or "children".
A "!" may be used as a wild card character: wom!n searches both "woman" and "women". (This option does not yet work on the web version of ILOLEX).
Parentheses may be used to process sub searches first: maternity + (leave, benefit) searches for all documents with the words "leave" or "benefit", and then restricts results to those which also contain "maternity".
Finally, the <Select Categories> yellow box on the left allows you to select the range of documents across which the search will be performed. It is important to note: you must select a category of documents before searching ILOLEX; otherwise the default search will be across Conventions or Ratifications only. Note that to select a category, click in the small box to the left of the name of the type of document. More than one category of document may be selected at the same time. If you click on the name of the document itself, a description of the document category will appear but no document category selection will have been made.
By Convention. Click on the <Convention> button and select a Convention from the drop list.
Select “Ratifications" in the yellow document category box. Click on the <Submit Query> button. A list of ratifications of the chosen Convention will appear.
By Country.> Click on the <Country> button and select a Country from the drop list.
Select “Ratifications”. Click on the <Submit Query> button. A list of ratifications by the chosen Country will appear.
Texts of Conventions
Click on the <Conventions> button and select a Convention. To select more than one Convention, either drag and highlight them consecutively or use the <Ctrl> key to select several non-consecutive Conventions. Select "Conventions” in the yellow document category box. Click on the <Submit Query> button. A list of the selected Conventions will appear. Click on the titles of the Conventions to see the full text.
Comments by the Supervisory Bodies on a particular Convention or Country
If you wish to search by Convention, click on the <Conventions> button and select a Convention. To select more than one Convention, either drag and highlight them consecutively or use the <Ctrl> key to select several non-consecutive Conventions.
If you wish to search by Country, click on the <Country> button and follow the same procedures as above.
Select from the yellow document category box:
“CEACR Observations” for comments by the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations
“General Surveys” for reports under Article 19 of the ILO Constitution
“C.Appl. (Conference)” for comments by the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards
“Complaints (art. 26)" for Article 26 procedures
“Representations (art. 24)” for Article 24 procedures
“CFA Cases” for cases of the Committee on the Freedom of Association
Choose a year of range of years if desired
Click on the <Submit Query> button. A list all comments by supervisory bodies regarding a particular Country or Convention will appear.
ILOLEX documents on a particular topic
There are essentially three ways to search ILOLEX on a particular topic:
Click on the <Select subject> button and select a subject;
Select a Convention or group of Conventions that relate to the topic you are interested in. For example, if you are interested in forced labour, choose Conventions Nos. 29 and 105.
In the <free text search> box, enter a word or phrase you are interested in finding.
As with all searches, you must choose a category or categories of documents.
Click on the <Submit Query> button. A list of documents regarding a particular topic will appear. Of particular interest in searches by topic are General Surveys.
In the Universal Query Form, type in the number of the case in the <search the entire document for> box. Select "CFA cases" in the "select categories" box and hit submit query. CFA cases are in ILOLEX back to 1985. It is also possible to browse through the CFA cases by clicking on the CFA cases link in the browse section.
ILOLEX is available on the Internet at: http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/index.htm
As ILOLEX is available in either English, French or Spanish, select one of the three languages.
It is recommended that users unfamiliar with the ILO, international labour standards and the supervisory system for their application should first click on the "Explanation of documents in ILOLEX" button and spend some time exploring this part of the database, which explains the different types of documents which can be found in ILOLEX. The Guide to International Labour Standards further contains over 100 pages of highly readable material organized by subject-matter and connected by hyper-links. The database can only be effectively used to its full potential by those with knowledge of the nature and purpose of the various categories of documents in the database.
If you have problems reaching ILOLEX via Internet, it might be that there are temporary problems with our server. In the past, a small number of users reported problems accessing the specific port 1567 on our web server due to set-up problems on firewalls which normally use port 80 by default. This problem was solved by providing a routing address at http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/index.htm.
Should you nonetheless continue to have problems accessing ILOLEX, please contact infonorm@ilo.org
A CD-ROM version of ILOLEX is available through the ILO Publications Bureau. The CD version differs from the Website version both in terms of content and functionality.
Differences in content
The CD-ROM includes three additional categories of documents: direct requests by the Committee of Experts, submissions to the competent authorities, and declarations of applicability of Conventions to non-metropolitan territories and their related documents. However, the Website is always completely up-to-date, while the CD-ROM is only issued twice a year and for this reason cannot be so up-to-date. For example, new ratifications of Conventions by member-States are registered almost immediately on the Website.
Differences in functionality
In terms of functionality, the CD-ROM offers search and display possibilities (types of display, double-screen comparison of the same text in any two of the languages (English, French or Spanish), multiple printing and downloading features, capacity to sort, create tables, etc.) that do not exist on the Website. Also, the CD-ROM does not depend on the quality of service provided by a server. This advantage can be particularly significant when conducting searches for a large number of documents, or when downloading long documents, such as certain decisions of the Committee on Freedom of Association.
Differences in use
Both the ILOLEX CD-ROM and Website function with an interface based on the Windows operating system. However, in view of the high level of sophistication of its search mechanisms, ILOLEX on the CD-ROM differs in its use and search procedures are slightly more complicated. Information on how to use the CD-ROM is contained directly in the database under its “Help” function.
The CD-ROM can be obtained from ILO local offices or by writing to ILO Publications, International Labour Office, CH-1211, Geneva 22, Switzerland (pubvente@ilo.org).
Guide to International Labour Standards
The Guide to International Labour Standards offers a detailed explanation of the International Labour Standards System and also contains a glossary of ILO standards-related terms.
The NATLEX database contains over 50,000 bibliographic references to national labour laws of over 180 countries and territories, and a growing library of a full text labour laws. NATLEX can be browsed or searched by country, title, keyword, subject, and year.
The monthly bulletin Legislative Information contains abstracts of new labour laws which have been added to the ILO's NATLEX database. It is a useful tool for keeping abreast of developments in labour law around the world.
Article 19 and 22 report forms
Report forms for Governments required under Articles 19 and 22 of the Constitution are also increasingly available in electronic format at the Standards Department website. Additional forms will be added in anticipation of reports required in future reporting cycles.
This page was last updated on 20 September 2002.
