C181 - Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181)

• Subject Matter: Employment policy and promotion,Politique et promotion de l'emploi,Política y promoción del empleo
• Court: International Labour Organization

Preamble

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 Eighty-fifth Session on 3 June 1997, and

Noting the provisions of the Fee-Charging Employment Agencies Convention (Revised), 1949, and

Being aware of the importance of flexibility in the functioning of labour markets, and

Recalling that the International Labour Conference at its 81st Session, 1994, held the view that the ILO should proceed to revise the Fee-Charging Employment Agencies Convention (Revised), 1949, and

Considering the very different environment in which private employment agencies operate, when compared to the conditions prevailing when the above-mentioned Convention was adopted, and

Recognizing the role which private employment agencies may play in a well-functioning labour market, and

Recalling the need to protect workers against abuses, and

Recognizing the need to guarantee the right to freedom of association and to promote collective bargaining and social dialogue as necessary components of a well-functioning industrial relations system, and

Noting the provisions of the Employment Service Convention, 1948, and

Recalling the provisions of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930, the Freedom of Association and the Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948, the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949, the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958, the Employment Policy Convention, 1964, the Minimum Age Convention, 1973, the Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment Convention, 1988, and the provisions relating to recruitment and placement in the Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949, and the Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975, and

Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the revision of the Fee- Charging Employment Agencies Convention (Revised), 1949, 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 nineteenth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven, the following Convention, which may be cited as the Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997:

Article 1

1. 1. For the purpose of this Convention the term private employment agency means any natural or legal person, independent of the public authorities, which provides one or more of the following labour market services
   • (a) services for matching offers of and applications for employment, without the private employment agency becoming a party to the employment relationships which may arise therefrom;
   • (b) services consisting of employing workers with a view to making them available to a third party, who may be a natural or legal person (referred to below as a "user enterprise") which assigns their tasks and supervises the execution of these tasks;
   • (c) other services relating to jobseeking, determined by the competent authority after consulting the most representative employers and workers organizations, such as the provision of information, that do not set out to match specific offers of and applications for employment.
2. 2. For the purpose of this Convention, the term workers includes jobseekers.
3. 3. For the purpose of this Convention, the term processing of personal data of workers means the collection, storage, combination, communication or any other use of information related to an identified or identifiable worker.

Article 2

1. 1. This Convention applies to all private employment agencies.
2. 2. This Convention applies to all categories of workers and all branches of economic activity. It does not apply to the recruitment and placement of seafarers.
3. 3. One purpose of this Convention is to allow the operation of private employment agencies as well as the protection of the workers using their services, within the framework of its provisions.
4. ...