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Mr Stewart
Mr Male
B. Steet 27/9/16
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PECEIV
30SEP1975
Hkk 210/21
CHILD LABOUR IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND HONG KONG
Mr
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1. In his minute of 10 September Mr Male asked how the Hong Kong guidelines on the employment of children aged 13 and under compare. with the equivalent United Kingdom legislation.
2.
The 1955_Hong_Kong Factories and Industrial Undertakings Regulations, Part II Section 4, state that
"No person shall employ any child in any industrial undertaking or dangerous trade".
A child is defined as a person under the age of 14 years. Industrial undertakings and dangerous trades are also comprehen- sively defined as including factories, mining, construction, transport, etc but excluding agriculture and domestic service. is the only guideline on the employment of children aged 14 and under (although the Regulations do spell out guidelines for the employment of women and young persons aged 14-18).
This
3. The equivalent United Kingdom legislation is the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 as amended by the Children and Young
Persons Act 1963 and the Childrens Act 1972. These state that no child shall be employed:
a. so long as he is under the age of 13 years; or
b.
before the close of school hours on any day on which he is required to attend school; or
C. before seven o'clock in the morning or after seven o'clock in the evening on any day; or
d. for more than two hours on any day on which he is required to attend school; or
e. for more than two hours on any Sunday; or
£.
to lift, carry or move anything so heavy as to be likely to cause injury to him.
Under the Acts, Local Authorities may make by-laws which may be more restrictive: for example, they may not allow children under the age of 14 to be employed, and may prohibit employment in a number of occupations and altogether on Sundays. They may also limit the hours children can work on Saturdays and during school holidays - the maximum that it generally allowed being five hours a day subject to a maximum of 25 hours a week for children under 15, and eight hours a day subject to a maximum of 35 hours a week
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