The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,

Having been convened at San Francisco by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Thirty-first Session on 17 June 1948, and

Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the partial revision of the Night Work (Women) Convention, 1919 adopted by the Conference at its First Session, and the Night Work (Women) Convention (Revised), 1934, adopted by the Conference at its Eighteenth Session, which is the ninth item on the agenda of the session, and

Considering that these proposals must take the form of an international Convention.

adopts the ninth day of July of the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight, the following Convention, which may be cited as the Night Work (Women) Convention (Revised), 1948:

Article 1

1. For the purpose of this Convention, the term industrial undertakings includes particularly:

(a) mines, quarries, and other works for the extraction of minerals from the earth;

(b) undertakings in which articles are manufactured, altered cleaned, repaired, ornamented, finished, adapted for sale, broken up or demolished, or in which materials are transformed, including undertakings engaged in ship-building or in the generation transformation or transmission of electricity or motive power of any kind;

(c) undertakings engaged in building and civil engineering work including constructional, repair, maintenance, alteration and demolition work.

2. The competent authority shall define the line of division which separates industry from agriculture, commerce and other non-industrial occupations.

Article 2

For the purpose of this Convention the term night signifies a period of at least eleven consecutive hours, including an interval prescribed by the competent authority of at least seven consecutive hours falling between ten o'clock in the evening and seven o'clock in the morning; the competent authority may prescribe different intervals for different areas, industries, undertakings or branches of industries or undertakings, but shall consult the employers' and workers' organisations concerned before prescribing an interval beginning after eleven o'clock in the evening.

Article 3

Women without distinction of age shall not be employed during the night in any public or private industrial undertaking, or in any branch thereof, other than an undertaking in which only members of the same family are employed.

Article 4

Article 3 shall not apply:

(a) in case of force majeure, when in any undertaking there occurs an interruption of work which it was impossible to foresee, and which is not of a recurring character;

(b) in cases where the work has to do with raw materials or materials in course of treatment which are subject to rapid deterioration when such night work is necessary to preserve the said materials from certain loss.

Article 5

1. The prohibition of night work for women may be suspended by the government, after consultation with the employers' and workers' organisations concerned, when in case of serious emergency the national interest demands it.

2. Such suspension shall be notified by the government concerned to the Director-General of the International Labour Office in its annual report on the application of the Convention.

Article 6

In industrial undertakings which are influenced by the seasons and in all cases where exceptional circumstances demand it, the night period may be reduced to ten hours on sixty days of the year.

Article 7

In countries where the climate renders work by day particularly trying, the night period may be shorter than that prescribed in the above Articles if compensatory rest is accorded during the day.

Article 8

This Convention does not apply to:

(a) women holding responsible positions of a managerial or technical character; and

(b) women employed in health and welfare services who are not ordinarily engaged in manual work.

Article 9

In those countries where no government regulation as yet applies to the employment of women in industrial undertakings during the night, the term night may provisionally, and for a maximum period of three years, be declared by the government to signify a period of only ten hours, including an interval prescribed by the competent authority of at least seven consecutive hours falling between ten o'clock in the evening and seven o'clock in the morning.

Articles 10

1. The provisions of this Convention shall apply to India subject to the modifications set forth in this Article.

2. The said provisions shall apply to all territories in respect of which the Indian legislature has jurisdiction to apply them.

3. The term industrial undertaking shall include:

a) factories as defined in the Indian Factories Act; and

b) mines to which the Indian Mines Act applies.

Article 11

1. The provisions of this Convention shall apply to Pakistan subject to the modifications set forth in this Article.

2. The said provisions shall apply to all territories in respect of which the Pakistan legislature has jurisdiction to apply them.

3. The term industrial undertaking shall include:

a) factories as defined in the Factories Act;

b) mines to which the Mines Act applies.

Article 12

1. The International Labour Conference may, ay any session at which the matter is included in ts agenda, adopt by a two-thirds majority draft amendments to any one or more of the preceding articles of Part II of this Convention.

2. Any such draft amendment shall state the Member or Members to which it applies, and shall, within the period of one year, or, in exceptional circumstances, of eighteen months from the closing of the session of the Conference, be submitted by the Member or Members to which it applies to the authority or authorities within whose competence the matter lies, for the enactment of legislation or other action.

3. Each such Member will, if it obtains the consent of the authority or authorities within whose competence the matter lies communicate the formal ratification of the amendment to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration.

4. Any such drft amendment shall take effect as an amendment to this Convention on ratification by the Member or Members to which it applies.

Article 13

The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration.

Article 14

1. This Convention shall be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour Organisation whose ratifications have been registered with the Director-General.

2. It shall come into force twelve months after the date on which the ratifications of two Members have been registered with the Director-General.

3. Thereafter, this Convention shall come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on which its ratifications has been registered.

Article 15

1. A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an Act communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration. Such denunciation should not take effect until one year after the date on which it is registered.

2. Each Member which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year following the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article, will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article.

Article 16

1. The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of the International Labour Organisation of the registration of all ratifications and denunciations communicated to him by the Members of the Organisation.

2. When notifying the Members of the Organisation of the registration of the second ratification communicated to him, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the Members of the Organisation to the date upon which the Convention will come into force.

Article 17

The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations full particulars of all ratifications and acts of denunciation registered by him in accordance with the provisions of the preceding Articles.

Article 18

At the expiration of each period of ten years after the coming into force of this Convention, the Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall examine the desirability of placing on the agenda of the Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part.

Article 19

1. Should the Conference adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part, then, unless the new Convention otherwise provides:

a) the ratification by a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the immediate denunciation of this Convention notwithstanding the provisions of Article 15 above, if and when the new revising Convention shall have come into force;

b) as from the date when the new revising Convention comes into force this Convention shall cease to be open to ratification by the Members.

2. This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention.

Article 20

The English and French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authoritative.

The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,

Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its 77th Session on 6 June 1990, and

Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to night work, which is the fourth item on the agenda of the session and

Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a Protocol to the Night Work (Women) Convention (Revised), 1948 (hereinafter referred to as "the Convention"),

adopts this twenty-sixth day of June 1990 the following Protocol which may be cited as the Protocol of 1990 to the Night Work (Women) Convention (Revised), 1948

1.

(1) National laws or regulations, adopted after consulting the most representative organisations of employers and workers, may provide that variations in the duration of the night period as defined in Article 2 of the Convention and exemptions from the prohibition of night work contained in Article 3 thereof may be introduced by decision of the competent authority:

(a) in a specific branch of activity or occupation, provided that the organisations representative of the employers and the workers concerned have concluded an agreement or have given their agreement;

(b) in one or more specific establishments not covered by a decision taken pursuant to clause (a) above, provided that:

(i) an agreement has been concluded in the establishment or enterprise concerned between the employer and the workers' representatives concerned; and

(ii) the organisations representative of the employers and workers of the branch of activity or occupation concerned or the most representative organisations of employers and workers have been consulted;

(c) in a specific establishment not covered by a decision taken pursuant to clause (a) above, and where no agreement has been reached in accordance with clause (b) (i) above, provided that:

(i) the workers' representatives in the establishment or enterprise as well as the organisations representative of the employers and the workers of the branch of activity or occupation concerned or the most representative organisations of employers and workers have been consulted;

(ii) the competent authority has satisfied itself that adequate safeguards exist in the establishment as regards occupational safety and health, social services and equality of opportunity and treatment for women workers; and

(iii) the decision of the competent authority shall apply for a specified period of time, which may be renewed by means of the procedure under subclauses (i) and (ii) above, (2) For the purposes of this paragraph the term "workers' representatives" means persons who are recognised as such by national law or practice, in accordance with the Workers' Representatives Convention, 1971.

2. The laws or regulations referred to in paragraph 1 shall determine the circumstances in which such variations and exemptions may be permitted and the conditions to which they shall be subject.

Article 2

1. It shall be prohibited to apply the variations and exemptions permitted pursuant to Article 1 above to women workers during a period before and after childbirth of at least 16 weeks, of which at least eight weeks shall be before the expected date of childbirth. National laws or regulations may allow for the lifting of this prohibition at the express request of the woman worker concerned on condition that neither her health nor that of her child will endangered.

2. The prohibition provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article shall also apply to additional periods in respect of which a medical certificate is produced stating that this is necessary for the health of the mother or child:

(a) during pregnancy;

(b) during a specified time prolonging the period after childbirth fixed pursuant to paragraph 1 above.

3. During the periods referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article:

(a) a woman worker shall not be dismissed or given notice of dismissal, except for justifiable reasons not connected with pregnancy or childbirth;

(b) the income of a woman worker concerned shall be maintained at a level sufficient for the upkeep of herself and her child in accordance with a suitable standard of living. This income maintenance may be ensured through assignment to day work, extended maternity leave, social security benefits or any other appropriate measure, or through a combination of these measures.

4. The provisions of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of this Article shall not have the effect of reducing the protection and benefits conncected with maternity leave.

Article 3

Information on the variations and exemptions introduced pursuant to this Protocol shall be included in the reports on the application of the Convention submitted under article 22 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation.

Article 4

1. A Member may ratify this Protocol at the same time as or at any time after its ratification of the Convention, by communicating its formal ratification of the Protocol to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration. Such ratification shall take effect 12 months after the date on which it has been registered by the Director-General. Thereafter the Convention shall be binding on the Member concerned with the addition of Articles 1 to 3 of this Protocol.

2. The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of the International Labour Office of the registration of all ratifications of this Protocol communicated to him by parties to the Convention.

3. The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations full particulars of all ratifications registered by him in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article.

Article 5

The English and French versions of the text of this Protocol are equally authoritative.