National Guidelines in China - All-China Federation of Trade Unions

Notice of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Ministry of Public Security and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions Concerning Strengthening Labour Management in Foreign Investment Enterprises and Private Enterprises and the Effective Safeguarding of the Legal Rights and Interests of Employees of 4 March 1994

Addressed to labour personnel, departments, public security departments and all trade union federations of the various provinces, autonomous regions and directly administered municipalities, this Notice aims at:

1. strengthening the management of enterprise labour;
2. redressing behaviour which is in violation of labour laws and regulations; and,
3. protecting the legal rights and interests of enterprise workers.

The obligations of these enterprises include that they must not recruit female labour for posts where prohibited (paragraph 1). They must also implement policies and regulations on social insurance and pay social insurance funds, notably for maternity (paragraph 5). Paragraph 6 underlines that the enterprises must strictly apply laws and regulations on labour protection for female workers and must improve their protection during menstruation, pregnancy, maternity leave and nursing periods.