Brief on International Labour Convention
No.83: Application of International
Labour Standards to Non-Metropolitan
Territories (ILC 83)
ILC 83 provides that a member nation shall declare on
behalf of its non-metropolitan territories (NMTs) the application of those conventions listed in the schedule, irrespective of
whether these conventions are ratified by the member nation.
list of these conventions with Hong Hong's status of application
is given in the Appendix.
A
This convention was adopted in 1947. Like many other
conventions, it provides that it shall came into force twelve
month after the date on which the ratifications of two member
nations have been registered with the Director-general of the ILO.
The first ratification was registered on 27.3.50 by UK. However,
as the second ratification by Australia was registered as late as 15.6.73, this convention did not come into force until 15.6.74. As at 31.12.85, this convention had only two ratifications.
The provision in this convention allowing NMTs to make
declarations in respect of conventions not ratified by their
parent states has been used to infer that Article 35 of the ILO
Constitution must have intended to restrict an NMT's application of conventions to those already ratified by its parent state irrespective of whether it has self-governing power in the subject matter of the convention. However, according to an ILO report on "Proposed International Labour Obligations in respect of Non- Self-Governing Territories" (later to become ILC 83) in 1946, ILC 83 could have probably been adopted with a view not so much
as to providing an avenue for NMTs to apply more conventions but
as to imposing an obligation on member states in addition to that
required under Article 35 in extending the application of more ILCs to NMTs, or as the 1946 ILO report puts it, "seeking firmer
obligations through Convention action". This can be seen in the
wording of ILC 83 :
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