The governments signatory hereto, being members of the Council of Europe,
Considering that the aim of the Council of Europe is the achievement of
greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and
realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and of
facilitating their economic and social progress, in particular by the
maintenance and further realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms;
Considering that in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms signed at Rome on 4th November 1950, and the Protocol
thereto signed at Paris on 20th March 1952, the member States of the Council
of Europe agreed to secure to their populations the civil and political rights
and freedoms therein specified;
Considering that the enjoyment of social rights should be secured without
discrimination on grounds of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion,
national extraction or social origin;
Being resolved to make every effort in common to improve the standard of
living and to promote the social well-being of both their urban and rural
populations by means of appropriate institutions and action,
The Contracting Parties accept as the aim of their policy, to be pursued by
all appropriate means, both national and international in character, the
attainment of conditions in which the following rights and principles may be
effectively realised:
Everyone shall have the opportunity to earn his living in an occupation
freely entered upon.
All workers have the right to just conditions of work.
All workers have the right to safe and healthy working conditions.
All workers have the right to a fair remuneration sufficient for a decent
standard of living for themselves and their families.
All workers and employers have the right to freedom of association in
national or international organisations for the protection of their economic
and social interests.
All workers and employers have the right to bargain collectively.
Children and young persons have the right to a special protection against
the physical and moral hazards to which they are exposed.
Employed women, in case of maternity, and other employed women as
appropriate, have the right to a special protection in their work.
Everyone has the right to appropriate facilities for vocational guidance
with a view to helping him choose an occupation suited to his personal
aptitude and interests.
Everyone has the right to appropriate facilities for vocational training.
Everyone has the right to benefit from any measures enabling him to enjoy
the highest possible standard of health attainable.
All workers and their dependents have the right to social security.
Anyone without adequate resources has the right to social and medical
assistance.
Everyone has the right to benefit from social welfare services.
Disabled persons have the right to vocational training, rehabilitation and
resettlement, whatever the origin and nature of their disability.
The family as a fundamental unit of society has the right to appropriate
social, legal and economic protection to ensure its full development.
Mothers and children, irrespective of marital status and family relations,
have the right to appropriate social and economic protection.
The nationals of any one of the Contracting Parties have the right to
engage in any gainful occupation in the territory of any one of the others on
a footing of equality with the nationals of the latter, subject to
restrictions based on cogent economic or social reasons.
Migrant workers who are nationals of a Contracting Party and their
families have the right to protection and assistance in the territory of any
other Contracting Party.
The Contracting Parties undertake, as provided for in Part III, to consider
themselves bound by the obligations laid down in the following articles and
paragraphs.
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to work, the
Contracting Parties undertake:
To accept as one of their primary aims and responsibilities the
achievement and maintenance of as high and stable a level of employment as
possible, with a view to the attainment of full employment;
To protect effectively the right of the worker to earn his living in an
occupation freely entered upon;
To establish or maintain free employment services for all workers;
To provide or promote appropriate vocational guidance, training and
rehabilitation.
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to just conditions
of work, the Contracting Parties undertake:
To provide for reasonable daily and weekly working hours, the working
week to be progressively reduced to the extent that the increase of
productivity and other relevant factors permit;
To provide for public holidays with pay;
To provide for a minimum of two weeks annual holiday with pay;
To provide for additional paid holidays or reduced working hours for
workers engaged in dangerous or unhealthy occupations as prescribed;
To ensure a weekly rest period which shall, as far as possible, coincide
with the day recognised by tradition or custom in the country or region
concerned as a day of rest.
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to a fair
remuneration, the Contracting Parties undertake:
To recognise the right of workers to a remuneration such as will give
them and their families a decent standard of living;
To recognise the right of workers to an increased rate of remuneration
for overtime work, subject to exceptions in particular cases;
To recognise the right of men and women workers to equal pay for work of
equal value;
To recognise the right of all workers to a reasonable period of notice
for termination of employment;
To permit deductions from wages only under conditions and to the extent
prescribed by national laws or regulations or fixed by collective agreements
or arbitration awards.
The exercise of these rights shall be achieved by freely concluded
collective agreements, by statutory wage-fixing machinery, or by other means
appropriate to national conditions.
With a view to ensuring or promoting the freedom of workers and employers to
form local, national or international organisations for the protection of
their economic and social interests and to join those organisations, the
Contracting Parties undertake that national law shall not be such as to
impair, nor shall it be so applied as to impair, this freedom. The extent to
which the guarantees provided for in this article shall apply to the police
shall be determined by national laws or regulations. The principle governing
the application to the members of the armed forces of these guarantees and the
extent to which they shall apply to persons in this category shall equally be
determined by national laws or regulations.
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to bargain
collectively, the Contracting Parties undertake:
To promote joint consultation between workers and employers;
To promote, where necessary and appropriate, machinery for voluntary
negotiations between employers or employers' organisations and workers'
organisations, with a view to the regulation of terms and conditions of
employment by means of collective agreements;
To promote the establishment and use of appropriate machinery for
conciliation and voluntary arbitration for the settlement of labour
disputes; and recognise:
The right of workers and employers to collective action in cases of
conflicts of interest, including the right to strike, subject to obligations
that might arise out of collective agreements previously entered into.
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right of children and
young persons to protection, the Contracting Parties undertake:
To provide that the minimum age of admission to employment shall be 15
years, subject to exceptions for children employed in prescribed light work
without harm to their health, morals or education;
To provide that a higher minimum age of admission to employment shall be
fixed with respect to prescribed occupations regarded as dangerous or
unhealthy;
To provide that persons who are still subject to compulsory education
shall not be employed in such work as would deprive them of the full benefit
of their education;
To provide that the working hours of persons under 16 years of age shall
be limited in accordance with the needs of their development, and
particularly with their need for vocational training;
To recognise the right of young workers and apprentices to a fair wage or
other appropriate allowances;
To provide that the time spent by young persons in vocational training
during the normal working hours with the consent of the employer shall be
treated as forming part of the working day;
To provide that employed persons of under 18 years of age shall be
entitled to not less than three weeks' annual holiday with pay;
To provide that persons under 18 years of age shall not be employed in
night work with the exception of certain occupations provided for by
national laws or regulations;
To provide that persons under 18 years of age employed in occupations
prescribed by national laws or regulations shall be subject to regular
medical control;
To ensure special protection against physical and moral dangers to which
children and young persons are exposed, and particularly against those
resulting directly or indirectly from their work.
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right of employed women
to protection, the Contracting Parties undertake:
To provide either by paid leave, by adequate social security benefits or
by benefits from public funds for women to take leave before and after
childbirth up to a total of at least 12 weeks;
To consider it as unlawful for an employer to give a woman notice of
dismissal during her absence on maternity leave or to give her notice of
dismissal at such a time that the notice would expire during such absence;
To provide that mothers who are nursing their infants shall be entitled
to sufficient time off for this purpose;
To regulate the employment of women workers on night work in industrial
employment;
To prohibit the employment of women workers in underground mining, and,
as appropriate, on all other work which is unsuitable for them by reason
of its dangerous, unhealthy, or arduous nature.
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to vocational
guidance, the Contracting Parties undertake to provide or promote, as
necessary, a service which will assist all persons, including the handicapped,
to solve problems related to occupational choice and progress, with due regard
to the individual's characteristics and their relation to occupational
opportunity: this assistance should be available free of charge, both to young
persons, including school children, and to adults.
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to vocational
training, the Contracting Parties undertake:
To provide or promote, as necessary, the technical and vocational
training of all persons, including the handicapped, in consultation with
employers' and workers' organisations, and to grant facilities for access to
higher technical and university education, based solely on individual
aptitude;
To provide or promote a system of apprenticeship and other systematic
arrangements for training young boys and girls in their various employments;
To provide or promote, as necessary:
adequate and readily available training facilities for adult workers;
special facilities for the re-training of adult workers needed as a result
of technological development or new trends in employment;
To encourage the full utilisation of the facilities provided by
appropriate measures such as:
reducing or abolishing any fees or charges;
granting financial assistance in appropriate cases;
including in the normal working hours time spent on supplementary
training taken by the worker, at the request of his employer, during
employment;
ensuring, through adequate supervision, in consultation with the
employers' and workers' organisations, the efficiency of apprenticeship
and other training arrangements for young workers, and the adequate
protection of young workers generally.
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to protection of
health, the Contracting Parties undertake, either directly or in co-operation
with public or private organisations, to take appropriate measures designed
inter alia:
To remove as far as possible the causes of ill-health;
To provide advisory and educational facilities for the promotion of
health and the encouragement of individual responsibility in matters of
health;
To prevent as far as possible epidemic, endemic and other diseases.
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to social
security, the Contracting Parties undertake:
To establish or maintain a system of social security;
To maintain the social security system at a satisfactory level at least
equal to that required for ratification of International Labour Convention
(No. 102) Concerning Minimum Standards of Social Security;
To endeavour to raise progressively the system of social security to a
higher level;
To take steps, by the conclusion of appropriate bilateral and
multilateral agreements, or by other means, and subject to the conditions
laid down in such agreements, in order to ensure:
equal treatment with their own nationals of the nationals of other
Contracting Parties in respect of social security rights, including the
retention of benefits arising out of social security legislation, whatever
movements the persons protected may undertake between the territories of
the Contracting Parties;
the granting, maintenance and resumption of social security rights by
such means as the accumulation of insurance or employment periods
completed under the legislation of each of the Contracting Parties.
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to social and
medical assistance, the Contracting Parties undertake:
To ensure that any person who is without adequate resources and who is
unable to secure such resources either by his own efforts or from other
sources, in particular by benefits under a social security scheme, be
granted adequate assistance, and, in case of sickness, the care necessitated
by his condition;
To ensure that persons receiving such assistance shall not, for that
reason, suffer from a diminution of their political or social rights;
To provide that everyone may receive by appropriate public or private
services such advice and personal help as may be required to prevent, to
remove, or to alleviate personal or family want;
To apply the provisions referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this
article on an equal footing with their nationals to nationals of other
Contracting Parties lawfully within their territories, in accordance with
their obligations under the European Convention on Social and Medical
Assistance, signed at Paris on 11th December 1953.
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to benefit from
social welfare services, the Contracting Parties undertake:
To promote or provide services which, by using methods of social work,
would contribute to the welfare and development of both individuals and
groups in the community, and to their adjustment to the social environment;
To encourage the participation of individuals and voluntary or other
organisations in the establishment and maintenance of such services.
Article 15 - The right of physically or mentally disabled persons to
vocational training, rehabilitation and social resettlement
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right of the physically
or mentally disabled to vocational training, rehabilitation and resettlement,
the Contracting Parties undertake:
To take adequate measures for the provision of training facilities,
including, where necessary, specialised institutions, public or private;
To take adequate measures for the placing of disabled persons in
employment, such as specialised placing services, facilities for sheltered
employment and measures to encourage employers to admit disabled persons to
employment.
With a view to ensuring the necessary conditions for the full development of
the family, which is a fundamental unit of society, the Contracting Parties
undertake to promote the economic, legal and social protection of family life
by such means as social and family benefits, fiscal arrangements, provision of
family housing, benefits for the newly married, and other appropriate means.
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right of mothers and
children to social and economic protection, the Contracting Parties will take
all appropriate and necessary measures to that end, including the
establishment or maintenance of appropriate institutions or services.
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to engage in a
gainful occupation in the territory of any other Contracting Party, the
Contracting Parties undertake:
To apply existing regulations in a spirit of liberality;
To simplify existing formalities and to reduce or abolish chancery dues
and other charges payable by foreign workers or their employers;
To liberalise, individually or collectively, regulations governing the
employment of foreign workers; and recognise:
The right of their nationals to leave the country to engage in a gainful
occupation in the territories of the other Contracting Parties.
With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right of migrant workers
and their families to protection and assistance in the territory of any other
Contracting Party, the Contracting Parties undertake:
To maintain or to satisfy themselves that there are maintained adequate and
free services to assist such workers, particularly in obtaining accurate
information, and to take all appropriate steps, so far as national laws and
regulations permit, against misleading propaganda relating to emigration and
immigration;
To adopt appropriate measures within their own jurisdiction to facilitate
the departure, journey and reception of such workers and their families, and
to provide, within their own jurisdiction, appropriate services for health,
medical attention and good hygienic conditions during the journey;
To promote co-operation, as appropriate, between social services, public
and private, in emigration and immigration countries;
To secure for such workers lawfully within their territories, insofar as
such matters are regulated by law or regulations or are subject to the control
of administrative authorities, treatment not less favourable than that of
their own nationals in respect of the following matters:
remuneration and other employment and working conditions;
membership of
trade unions and enjoyment of the benefits of collective bargaining;
accommodation;
To secure for such workers lawfully within their territories treatment not
less favourable than that of their own nationals with regard to employment
taxes, dues or contributions payable in respect of employed persons;
To facilitate as far as possible the reunion of the family of a foreign
worker permitted to establish himself in the territory;
To secure for such workers lawfully within their territories treatment not
less favourable than that of their own nationals in respect of legal
proceedings relating to matters referred to in this article;
To secure that such workers lawfully residing within their territories are
not expelled unless they endanger national security or offend against public
interest or morality;
To permit, within legal limits, the transfer of such parts of the earnings
and savings of such workers as they may desire;
To extend the protection and assistance provided for in this article to
self-employed migrants insofar as such measures apply.
To consider Part I of this Charter as a declaration of the aims which it
will pursue by all appropriate means, as stated in the introductory
paragraph of that part;
To consider itself bound by at least five of the following articles of
Part II of this Charter: Articles 1, 5, 6, 12, 13, 16 and 19;
In addition
to the articles selected by it in accordance with the preceding
sub-paragraph, to consider itself bound by such a number of articles or
numbered paragraphs of Part II of the Charter as it may select, provided
that the total number of articles or numbered paragraphs by which it is
bound is not less than 10 articles or 45 numbered paragraphs.
The articles or paragraphs selected in accordance with sub-paragraphs b and
c of paragraph 1 of this article shall be notified to the Secretary General of
the Council of Europe at the time when the instrument of ratification or
approval of the Contracting Party concerned is deposited.
Any Contracting Party may, at a later date, declare by notification to the
Secretary General that it considers itself bound by any articles or any
numbered paragraphs of Part II of the Charter which it has not already
accepted under the terms of paragraph 1 of this article. Such undertakings
subsequently given shall be deemed to be an integral part of the ratification
or approval, and shall have the same effect as from the thirtieth day after
the date of the notification.
The Secretary General shall communicate to all the signatory governments
and to the Director General of the International Labour Office any
notification which he shall have received pursuant to this part of the
Charter.
Each Contracting Party shall maintain a system of labour inspection
appropriate to national conditions.
The Contracting Parties shall send to the Secretary General of the Council of
Europe a report at two-yearly intervals, in a form to be determined by the
Committee of Ministers, concerning the application of such provisions of Part
II of the Charter as they have accepted.
The Contracting Parties shall send to the Secretary General, at appropriate
intervals as requested by the Committee of Ministers, reports relating to the
provisions of Part II of the Charter which they did not accept at the time of
their ratification or approval or in a subsequent notification. The Committee
of Ministers shall determine from time to time in respect of which provisions
such reports shall be requested and the form of the reports to be provided.
Each Contracting Party shall communicate copies of its reports referred to
in Articles 21 and 22 to such of its national organisations as are members of
the international organisations of employers and trade unions to be invited
under Article 27, paragraph 2, to be represented at meetings of the
Sub-committee of the Governmental Social Committee.
The Contracting Parties shall forward to the Secretary General any comments
on the said reports received from these national organisations, if so
requested by them.
The reports sent to the Secretary General in accordance with Articles 21 and
22 shall be examined by a Committee of Experts, who shall have also before
them any comments forwarded to the Secretary General in accordance with
paragraph 2 of Article 23.
The Committee of Experts shall consist of not more than seven members
appointed by the Committee of Ministers from a list of independent experts of
the highest integrity and of recognised competence in international social
questions, nominated by the Contracting Parties.
The members of the committee shall be appointed for a period of six years.
They may be reappointed. However, of the members first appointed, the terms of
office of two members shall expire at the end of four years.
The members whose terms of office are to expire at the end of the initial
period of four years shall be chosen by lot by the Committee of Ministers
immediately after the first appointment has been made.
A member of the Committee of Experts appointed to replace a member whose
term of office has not expired shall hold office for the remainder of his
predecessor's term.
The International Labour Organisation shall be invited to nominate a
representative to participate in a consultative capacity in the deliberations
of the Committee of Experts.
The reports of the Contracting Parties and the conclusions of the Committee
of Experts shall be submitted for examination to a sub-committee of the
Governmental Social Committee of the Council of Europe.
The sub-committee shall be composed of one representative of each of the
Contracting Parties. It shall invite no more than two international
organisations of employers and no more than two international trade union
organisations as it may designate to be represented as observers in a
consultative capacity at its meetings. Moreover, it may consult no more than
two representatives of international non-governmental organisations having
consultative status with the Council of Europe, in respect of questions with
which the organisations are particularly qualified to deal, such as social
welfare, and the economic and social protection of the family.
The sub-committee shall present to the Committee of Ministers a report
containing its conclusions and append the report of the Committee of Experts.
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe shall transmit to the
Consultative Assembly the conclusions of the Committee of Experts. The
Consultative Assembly shall communicate its views on these conclusions to the
Committee of Ministers.
By a majority of two-thirds of the members entitled to sit on the Committee,
the Committee of Ministers may, on the basis of the report of the
sub-committee, and after consultation with the Consultative Assembly, make to
each Contracting Party any necessary recommendations.
In time of war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation
any Contracting Party may take measures derogating from its obligations under
this Charter to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the
situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with its other
obligations under international law.
Any Contracting Party which has availed itself of this right of derogation
shall, within a reasonable lapse of time, keep the Secretary General of the
Council of Europe fully informed of the measures taken and of the reasons
therefor. It shall likewise inform the Secretary General when such measures
have ceased to operate and the provisions of the Charter which it has accepted
are again being fully executed.
The Secretary General shall in turn inform other Contracting Parties and
the Director General of the International Labour Office of all communications
received in accordance with paragraph 2 of this article.
The rights and principles set forth in Part I when effectively realised,
and their effective exercise as provided for in Part II, shall not be subject
to any restrictions or limitations not specified in those parts, except such
as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society for the
protection of the rights and freedoms of others or for the protection of
public interest, national security, public health, or morals.
The restrictions permitted under this Charter to the rights and obligations
set forth herein shall not be applied for any purpose other than that for
which they have been prescribed.
Article 32 - Relations between the Charter and domestic law or
international agreements
The provisions of this Charter shall not prejudice the provisions of domestic
law or of any bilateral or multilateral treaties, conventions or agreements
which are already in force, or may come into force, under which more
favourable treatment would be accorded to the persons protected.
In member States where the provisions of paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of
Article 2, paragraphs 4, 6 and 7 of Article 7 and paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4 of
Article 10 of Part II of this Charter are matters normally left to agreements
between employers or employers' organisations and workers' organisations, or
are normally carried out otherwise than by law, the undertakings of those
paragraphs may be given and compliance with them shall be treated as effective
if their provisions are applied through such agreements or other means to the
great majority of the workers concerned.
In member States where these provisions are normally the subject of
legislation, the undertakings concerned may likewise be given, and compliance
with them shall be regarded as effective if the provisions are applied by law
to the great majority of the workers concerned.
This Charter shall apply to the metropolitan territory of each Contracting
Party. Each signatory government may, at the time of signature or of the
deposit of its instrument of ratification or approval, specify, by declaration
addressed to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the territory
which shall be considered to be its metropolitan territory for this purpose.
Any Contracting Party may, at the time of ratification or approval of this
Charter or at any time thereafter, declare by notification addressed to the
Secretary General of the Council of Europe, that the Charter shall extend in
whole or in part to a non-metropolitan territory or territories specified in
the said declaration for whose international relations it is responsible or
for which it assumes international responsibility. It shall specify in the
declaration the articles or paragraphs of Part II of the Charter which it
accepts as binding in respect of the territories named in the declaration.
The Charter shall extend to the territory or territories named in the
aforesaid declaration as from the thirtieth day after the date on which the
Secretary General shall have received notification of such declaration.
Any Contracting Party may declare at a later date, by notification
addressed to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, that, in respect
of one or more of the territories to which the Charter has been extended in
accordance with paragraph 2 of this article, it accepts as binding any
articles or any numbered paragraphs which it has not already accepted in
respect of that territory or territories. Such undertakings subsequently given
shall be deemed to be an integral part of the original declaration in respect
of the territory concerned, and shall have the same effect as from the
thirtieth day after the date of the notification.
The Secretary General shall communicate to the other signatory governments
and to the Director General of the International Labour Office any
notification transmitted to him in accordance with this article.
This Charter shall be open for signature by the members of the Council of
Europe. It shall be ratified or approved. Instruments of ratification or
approval shall be deposited with the Secretary General of the Council of
Europe.
This Charter shall come into force as from the thirtieth day after the date
of deposit of the fifth instrument of ratification or approval.
In respect of any signatory government ratifying subsequently, the Charter
shall come into force as from the thirtieth day after the date of deposit of
its instrument of ratification or approval.
The Secretary General shall notify all the members of the Council of Europe
and the Director General of the International Labour Office of the entry into
force of the Charter, the names of the Contracting Parties which have ratified
or approved it and the subsequent deposit of any instruments of ratification
or approval.
Any member of the Council of Europe may propose amendments to this Charter in
a communication addressed to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
The Secretary General shall transmit to the other members of the Council of
Europe any amendments so proposed, which shall then be considered by the
Committee of Ministers and submitted to the Consultative Assembly for opinion.
Any amendments approved by the Committee of Ministers shall enter into force
as from the thirtieth day after all the Contracting Parties have informed the
Secretary General of their acceptance. The Secretary General shall notify all
the members of the Council of Europe and the Director General of the
International Labour Office of the entry into force of such amendments.
Any Contracting Party may denounce this Charter only at the end of a period
of five years from the date on which the Charter entered into force for it, or
at the end of any successive period of two years, and, in each case, after
giving six months notice to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe who
shall inform the other Parties and the Director General of the International
Labour Office accordingly. Such denunciation shall not affect the validity of
the Charter in respect of the other Contracting Parties provided that at all
times there are not less than five such Contracting Parties.
Any Contracting Party may, in accordance with the provisions set out in the
preceding paragraph, denounce any article or paragraph of Part II of the
Charter accepted by it provided that the number of articles or paragraphs by
which this Contracting Party is bound shall never be less than 10 in the
former case and 45 in the latter and that this number of articles or
paragraphs shall continue to include the articles selected by the Contracting
Party among those to which special reference is made in Article 20, paragraph
1, sub-paragraph b.
Any Contracting Party may denounce the present Charter or any of the
articles or paragraphs of Part II of the Charter, under the conditions
specified in paragraph 1 of this article in respect of any territory to which
the said Charter is applicable by virtue of a declaration made in accordance
with paragraph 2 of Article 34.
The appendix to this Charter shall form an integral part of it. In witness
whereof, the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto, have signed this
Charter. Done at Turin, this 18th day of October 1961, in English and French,
both texts being equally authoritative, in a single copy which shall be
deposited within the archives of the Council of Europe. The Secretary General
shall transmit certified copies to each of the Signatories.
Appendix to the Social Charter
Scope of the Social Charter in terms of persons protected
1. Without prejudice to Article 12, paragraph 4, and Article 13, paragraph 4,
the persons covered by Articles 1 to 17 include foreigners only insofar as
they are nationals of other Contracting Parties lawfully resident or working
regularly within the territory of the Contracting Party concerned, subject to
the understanding that these articles are to be interpreted in the light of
the provisions of Articles 18 and 19. This interpretation would not prejudice
the extension of similar facilities to other persons by any of the Contracting
Parties.
2. Each Contracting Party will grant to refugees as defined in the Convention
relating to the Status of Refugees, signed at Geneva on 28th July 1951, and
lawfully staying in its territory, treatment as favourable as possible, and in
any case not less favourable than under the obligations accepted by the
Contracting Party under the said Convention and under any other existing
international instruments applicable to those refugees.
Part I, paragraph 18, and Part II, Article 18, paragraph 1
It is understood that these provisions are not concerned with the question of
entry into the territories of the Contracting Parties and do not prejudice the
provisions of the European Convention on Establishment, signed at Paris on
13th December 1955.
Part II
Article 1, paragraph 2
This provision shall not be interpreted as prohibiting or authorising any
union security clause or practice.
Article 4, paragraph 4
This provision shall be so understood as not to prohibit immediate dismissal
for any serious offence.
Article 4, paragraph 5
It is understood that a Contracting Party may give the undertaking required in
this paragraph if the great majority of workers are not permitted to suffer
deductions from wages either by law or through collective agreements or
arbitration awards, the exceptions being those persons not so covered.
Article 6, paragraph 4
It is understood that each Contracting Party may, insofar as it is concerned,
regulate the exercise of the right to strike by law, provided that any further
restriction that this might place on the right can be justified under the
terms of Article 31.
Article 7, paragraph 8
It is understood that a Contracting Party may give the undertaking required in
this paragraph if it fulfils the spirit of the undertaking by providing by law
that the great majority of persons under 18 years of age shall not be employed
in night work.
Article 12, paragraph 4
The words "and subject to the conditions laid down in such
agreements" in the introduction to this paragraph are taken to imply
inter alia that with regard to benefits which are available independently of
any insurance contribution a Contracting Party may require the completion of a
prescribed period of residence before granting such benefits to nationals of
other Contracting Parties.
Article 13, paragraph 4
Governments not Parties to the European Convention on Social and Medical
Assistance may ratify the Social Charter in respect of this paragraph provided
that they grant to nationals of other Contracting Parties a treatment which is
in conformity with the provisions of the said Convention.
Article 19, paragraph 6
For the purpose of this provision, the term "family of a foreign
worker" is understood to mean at least his wife and dependent children
under the age of 21 years.
Part III
It is understood that the Charter contains legal obligations of an
international character, the application of which is submitted solely to the
supervision provided for in Part IV thereof.
Article 20, paragraph 1
It is understood that the "numbered paragraphs" may include articles
consisting of only one paragraph.
Part V
Article 30
The term "in time of war or other public emergency" shall be so
understood as to cover also the threat of war.
