C20 Convention concerning Night Work in Bakeries

Geneva, 8 giugno 1925

The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,


Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Seventh Session on 19 May 1925, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to night work in bakeries, the fourth item in the agenda of the Session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention,
adopts this eighth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five the following Convention, which may be cited as the Night Work (Bakeries) Convention, 1925, for ratification by the Members of the International Labour Organisation in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation:


Article 1

1. Subject to the exceptions hereinafter provided, the making of bread, pastry or other flour confectionery during the night is forbidden.
2. This prohibition applies to the work of all persons, including proprietors as well as workers, engaged in the making of such products; but it does not apply to the making of such products by members of the same household for their own consumption.
3. This Convention has no application to the wholesale manufacture of biscuits. Each Member may, after consultation with the employers' and workers' organisations concerned, determine what products are to be included in the term "biscuits" for the purpose of this Convention.

Article 2

For the purpose of this Convention, the term night signifies a period of at least seven consecutive hours. The beginning and end of this period shall be fixed by the competent authority in each country after consultation with the organisations of employers and workers concerned, and the period shall include the interval between eleven o'clock in the evening and five o'clock in the morning. When it is required by the climate or season, or when it is agreed between the employers' and workers' organisations concerned, the interval between ten o'clock in the evening and four o'clock in the morning may be substituted for the interval between eleven o'clock in the evening and five o'clock in the morning.

Article 3

After consultation with the employers' and the workers' organisations concerned, the competent authority in each country may make the following exceptions to the provisions of Article 1:
(a) the permanent exceptions necessary for the execution of preparatory or complementary work as far as it must necessarily be carried on outside the normal hours of work, provided that no more than the strictly necessary number of workers and that no young persons under the age of eighteen years shall be employed in such work;
(b) the permanent exceptions necessary for requirements arising from the particular circumstances of the baking industry in tropical countries;
(c) the permanent exceptions necessary for the arrangement of the weekly rest; (d) the temporary exceptions necessary to enable establishments to deal with unusual pressure of work or national necessities.

Article 4

Exceptions may also be made to the provisions of Article 1 in case of accident, actual or threatened, or in case of urgent work to be done to machinery or plant, or in case of force majeure, but only so far as may be necessary to avoid serious interference with the ordinary working of the undertaking.

Article 5

Each Member which ratifies this Convention shall take appropriate measures to ensure that the prohibition prescribed in Article 1 is effectively enforced, and shall enable the employers, the workers, and their respective organisations to co-operate in such measures, in conformity with the Recommendation adopted by the International Labour Conference at its Fifth Session (1923).

Article 6

The provisions of this Convention shall not take effect until 1 January 1927.

Article 7

The formal ratifications of this Convention, under the conditions set forth in the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation, shall be communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration.

Article 8

1. This Convention shall come into force at the date on which the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered by the Director-General.
2. It shall be binding only upon those Members whose ratifications have been registered with the International Labour Office.
3. Thereafter, the Convention shall come into force for any Member at the date on which its ratification has been registered with the International Labour Office.

Article 9

As soon as the ratifications of two Members of the International Labour Organisation have been registered with the International Labour Office, the Director-General of the International Labour Office shall so notify all the Members of the International Labour Organisation. He shall likewise notify them of the registration of the ratifications which may be communicated subsequently by other Members of the Organisation.

Article 10

Each Member of the International Labour Organisation which ratifies this Convention engages to apply it to its colonies, possessions and protectorates, in accordance with the provisions of Article 35 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation.

Article 11

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 with the International Labour Office.

Article 12

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 13

The French and English texts of this Convention shall both be authentic.


Entrata in vigore: 26 maggio 1928
Ratifica: L’Italia non ratifica la convenzione

Fonte: ILO