How International Labour Standards are created

Adoption of international labour standards

International labour standards evolve from a growing international concern that action needs to be taken on a particular issue, such as providing working women with maternity protection, or ensuring safe working conditions for agricultural workers. 

• As a first step, the Governing Body agrees to put an issue on the agenda of a future International Labour Conference. 
• The International Labour Office prepares a report that analyses the law and practice of member States with regard to the issue at stake. 
• The report is communicated to member States and to workers’ and employers’ organizations for comments and is then submitted to the International Labour Conference for a first discussion. 
• A second report is then prepared by the Office with a draft instrument, which is also sent for comments and submitted for discussion at the following session of the Conference, where the draft instrument is discussed, amended as necessary and proposed for adoption. This “double discussion” procedure gives Conference participants sufficient time to examine the draft instrument and make comments on it. 
• A two-thirds majority of votes is required for a standard to be adopted. 

More on the adoption of ILS from the Handbook of Procedures 

Ratification of Conventions and Protocols

ILO member States are required to submit any Convention or Protocol adopted by the International Labour Conference to their competent national authority for the enactment of relevant legislation or other action, including ratification. An adopted Convention or Protocol normally comes into force 12 months after being ratified by two member States. Ratification is a formal procedure whereby a State accepts the Convention or Protocol as a legally binding instrument. Once it has ratified a Convention or Protocol, a country is subject to the ILO regular supervisory system, which is responsible for ensuring that the instrument is applied.

More on ratification from the Handbook of Procedures

More on the ILO supervisory system