INTERNATIONAL
LABOUR CONFERENCE
Convention 183
Convention concerning the revision of the Maternity
Protection Convention (Revised), 1952
The General
Conference of the International Labour Organization,
Having been
convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office,
and having met in its 88th Session on 30 May 2000,
and
Noting the
need to revise the Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952, and the
Maternity Protection Recommendation, 1952, in order to further promote equality
of all women in the workforce and the health and safety of the mother and
child, and in order to recognize the diversity in economic and social
development of Members, as well as the diversity of enterprises, and the
development of the protection of maternity in national law and practice, and
Noting the
provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the United
Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(1979), the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), the
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), the International Labour
Organization’s Declaration on Equality of Opportunity and Treatment for Women
Workers (1975), the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on
Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up (1998), as well as
the international labour Conventions and Recommendations aimed at ensuring
equality of opportunity and treatment for men and women workers, in particular
the Convention concerning Workers with Family Responsibilities, 1981, and
Taking into
account the circumstances of women workers and the need to provide protection
for pregnancy, which are the shared responsibility of government and society,
and
Having decided
upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the revision of the
Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952, and Recommendation, 1952,
which is the fourth item on the agenda of the session, and
Having determined
that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention;
adopts this
fifteenth day of June of the year two thousand the following Convention, which
may be cited as the Maternity Protection Convention, 2000.
SCOPE
Article
1
For the purposes
of this Convention, the term woman applies to any female person without
discrimination whatsoever and the term child applies to any child without
discrimination whatsoever.
Article
2
1. This
Convention applies to all employed women, including those in atypical forms of
dependent work.
2. However,
each Member which ratifies this Convention may, after consulting the
representative organizations of employers and workers concerned, exclude wholly
or partly from the scope of the Convention limited categories of workers when
its application to them would raise special problems of a substantial nature.
3. Each Member
which avails itself of the possibility afforded in the preceding paragraph
shall, in its first report on the application of the Convention under article
22 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization, list the
categories of workers thus excluded and the reasons for their exclusion. In its
subsequent reports, the Member shall describe the measures taken with a view to
progressively extending the provisions of the Convention to these categories.
HEALTH
PROTECTION
Article
3
Each Member
shall, after consulting the representative organizations of employers and
workers, adopt appropriate measures to ensure that pregnant or breastfeeding women
are not obliged to perform work which has been determined by the competent
authority to be prejudicial to the health of the mother or the child, or where
an assessment has established a significant risk to the mother’s health or that
of her child.
MATERNITY
LEAVE
Article
4
1. On
production of a medical certificate or other appropriate certification, as
determined by national law and practice, stating the presumed date of
childbirth, a woman to whom this Convention applies shall be entitled to a
period of maternity leave of not less than 14 weeks.
2. The length
of the period of leave referred to above shall be specified by each Member in a
declaration accompanying its ratification of this Convention.
3. Each Member
may subsequently deposit with the Director-General of the International Labour
Office a further declaration extending the period of maternity leave.
4. With due
regard to the protection of the health of the mother and that of the child,
maternity leave shall include a period of six weeks’ compulsory leave after
childbirth, unless otherwise agreed at the national level by the government and
the representative organizations of employers and workers.
5. The
prenatal portion of maternity leave shall be extended by any period elapsing
between the presumed date of childbirth and the actual date of childbirth,
without reduction in any compulsory portion of postnatal leave.
LEAVE
IN CASE OF ILLNESS OR COMPLICATIONS
Article
5
On production
of a medical certificate, leave shall be provided before or after the maternity
leave period in the case of illness, complications or risk of complications
arising out of pregnancy or childbirth. The nature and the maximum duration of
such leave may be specified in accordance with national law and practice.
BENEFITS
Article
6
1. Cash
benefits shall be provided, in accordance with national laws and regulations,
or in any other manner consistent with national practice, to women who are
absent from work on leave referred to in Articles 4 or 5.
2. Cash
benefits shall be at a level which ensures that the woman can maintain herself
and her child in proper conditions of health and with a suitable standard of
living.
3. Where,
under national law or practice, cash benefits paid with respect to leave
referred to in Article 4 are based on previous earnings, the amount of such
benefits shall not be less than two-thirds of the woman’s previous earnings or
of such of those earnings as are taken into account for the purpose of
computing benefits.
4. Where,
under national law or practice, other methods are used to determine the cash
benefits paid with respect to leave referred to in Article 4, the amount of
such benefits shall be comparable to the amount resulting on average from the
application of the preceding paragraph.
5. Each Member
shall ensure that the conditions to qualify for cash benefits can be satisfied
by a large majority of the women to whom this Convention applies.
6. Where a
woman does not meet the conditions to qualify for cash benefits under national
laws and regulations or in any other manner consistent with national practice,
she shall be entitled to adequate benefits out of social assistance funds,
subject to the means test required for such assistance.
7. Medical
benefits shall be provided for the woman and her child in accordance with
national laws and regulations or in any other manner consistent with national
practice. Medical benefits shall include prenatal, childbirth and postnatal
care, as well as hospitalisation care when necessary.
8. In order to
protect the situation of women in the labour market, benefits in respect of the
leave referred to in Articles 4 and 5 shall be provided through compulsory
social insurance or public funds, or in a manner determined by national law and
practice. An employer shall not be individually liable for the direct cost of
any such monetary benefit to a woman employed by him or her without that
employer’s specific agreement except where:
(a) such is provided for in national law or
practice in a member State prior to the date of adoption of this Convention by
the International Labour Conference; or
(b) it is subsequently agreed at the national level
by the government and the representative organizations of employers and
workers.
Article
7
1. A Member
whose economy and social security system are insufficiently developed shall be
deemed to be in compliance with Article 6, paragraphs 3 and 4, if cash benefits
are provided at a rate no lower than a rate payable for sickness or temporary
disability in accordance with national laws and regulations.
2. A Member
which avails itself of the possibility afforded in the preceding paragraph
shall, in its first report on the application of this Convention under
article 22 of the Constitution of
the International Labour Organization, explain the reasons therefor and
indicate the rate at which cash benefits are provided. In its subsequent
reports, the Member shall describe the measures taken with a view to
progressively raising the rate of benefits.
EMPLOYMENT
PROTECTION AND NON-DISCRIMINATION
Article
8
1. It shall be
unlawful for an employer to terminate the employment of a woman during her
pregnancy or absence on leave referred to in Articles 4 or 5 or during a period
following her return to work to be prescribed by national laws or regulations,
except on grounds unrelated to the pregnancy or birth of the child and its
consequences or nursing. The burden of proving that the reasons for dismissal
are unrelated to pregnancy or childbirth and its consequences or nursing shall
rest on the employer.
2. A woman is
guaranteed the right to return to the same position or an equivalent position
paid at the same rate at the end of her maternity leave.
Article
9
1. Each Member
shall adopt appropriate measures to ensure that maternity does not constitute a
source of discrimination in employment, including – notwithstanding Article 2,
paragraph 1 – access to employment.
2. Measures
referred to in the preceding paragraph shall include a prohibition from
requiring a test for pregnancy or a certificate of such a test when a woman is
applying for employment, except where required by national laws or regulations
in respect of work that is:
(a) prohibited or restricted for pregnant or
nursing women under national laws or regulations; or
(b) where there is a recognized or significant risk
to the health of the woman and child.
BREASTFEEDING
MOTHERS
Article
10
1. A woman
shall be provided with the right to one or more daily breaks or a daily
reduction of hours of work to breastfeed her child.
2. The period
during which nursing breaks or the reduction of daily hours of work are
allowed, their number, the duration of nursing breaks and the procedures for
the reduction of daily hours of work shall be determined by national law and
practice. These breaks or the reduction of daily hours of work shall be counted
as working time and remunerated accordingly.
PERIODIC
REVIEW
Article
11
Each Member
shall examine periodically, in consultation with the representative
organizations of employers and workers, the appropriateness of extending the
period of leave referred to in Article 4 or of increasing the amount or the
rate of the cash benefits referred to in Article 6.
IMPLEMENTATION
Article
12
This
Convention shall be implemented by means of laws or regulations, except in so
far as effect is given to it by other means such as collective agreements,
arbitration awards, court decisions, or in any other manner consistent with
national practice.
PROVISIONS
Article
13
This
Convention revises the Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952.
Article
14
The formal
ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General
of the International Labour Office for registration.
Article
15
1. This
Convention shall be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour
Organization whose ratifications have been registered with the Director-General
of the International Labour Office.
2. It shall
come into force 12 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 12 months after the date
on which its ratification has been registered.
Article
16
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 shall 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
17
1. The
Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of
the International Labour Organization of the registration of all ratifications
and acts of denunciation communicated by the Members of the Organization.
2. When
notifying the Members of the Organization of the registration of the second
ratification, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the Members of
the Organization to the date upon which the Convention shall come into force.
Article
18
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 the Director-General in
accordance with the provisions of the preceding Articles.
Article
19
At such times
as it may consider necessary, 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
20
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 iure involve the immediate denunciation of this
Convention, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 16 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
21
The English
and French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authoritative.