For the purposes of this Convention, the term woman applies to any person of the female sex, without discrimination of any kind, and the term child to any child, without discrimination of any kind.

1. This Convention shall apply to all employed women, including women who are employed in non-standard forms of dependent work.

2. However, a Member ratifying the Convention may, after consulting the representative organisations of employers and workers concerned, completely or partially exclude from its scope the limited categories of Workers when applying to these categories would raise special problems of particular importance.

3. Any Member who avails himself of the possibility provided for in the preceding paragraph shall, in his first report on the application of the Convention submitted under Art. 22 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization ¹ , indicate the categories of workers thus excluded and the reasons for their exclusion. In its subsequent reports, the Member must describe the measures taken to progressively extend the provisions of the Convention to these categories.

Every Member shall, after consulting the representative organisations of employers and workers, adopt the measures necessary to ensure that pregnant or breastfeeding women are not obliged to carry out any work that has been determined By the competent authority as harmful to their health or that of their child or which has been established by an assessment that there is a significant risk to the health of the mother or of the child.

1. Upon presentation of a medical certificate or other appropriate certificate, as determined by national law and practice, indicating the presumed date of delivery, any woman to whom this Convention applies a The right to maternity leave of at least fourteen weeks.

2. The duration of the leave mentioned above shall be specified by the Member in a declaration accompanying the ratification of this Convention.

3. Any Member may subsequently file with the Director General of the International Labour Office a new declaration extending the period of maternity leave.

With due regard to the protection of the health of the mother and the child, maternity leave shall include a period of compulsory leave of six weeks after confinement, unless at the national level otherwise agreed by The government and representative organisations of employers and workers.

5. The duration of prenatal maternity leave shall be extended by a leave of absence equivalent to the period between the date assumed and the effective date of confinement, without reducing the duration of any compulsory postnatal leave.

On presentation of a medical certificate, leave must be granted, before or after the period of maternity leave, in the case of illness, complications or the risk of complications arising from pregnancy or childbirth. The nature and maximum duration of such leave may be specified in accordance with national legislation and practice.

1. Cash benefits must be provided, in accordance with national legislation or in any other way in accordance with national practice, to women who are absent from work due to leave under s. 4 or 5.

2. Cash benefits must be established at a level such that the woman can provide for her maintenance and that of her child in good health conditions and a suitable standard of living.

3. Where national legislation or practice provides for cash benefits paid in respect of leave under s. 4, are determined on the basis of the earlier gain, the amount of these benefits must not be less than two-thirds of the woman's previous gain or the gain as considered in the calculation of benefits.

4. Where national legislation or practice provides for cash benefits paid in respect of leave under s. 4, shall be determined by other methods, the amount of such benefits shall be of the same order of magnitude as the average resulting from the application of the preceding paragraph.

5. Any Member must ensure that the conditions required for the benefit of cash benefits can be met by the vast majority of women to whom this Convention applies.

6. Where a woman does not meet the conditions laid down in national law or otherwise provided for in accordance with national practice in order to benefit from cash benefits, she shall be entitled to appropriate benefits Financed by social assistance funds, subject to the control of the resources required for the granting of such benefits.

7. Medical benefits shall be provided to the mother and her child, in accordance with national law or in any other manner in accordance with national practice. Medical benefits must include prenatal care, care related to childbirth, post-natal care and hospitalization when necessary.

8. In order to protect the situation of women in the labour market, benefits in respect of leave under s. 4 and 5 shall be covered by compulsory social insurance or public funds or in a manner determined by national law and practice. The employer shall not be held personally liable for the direct cost of any such financial benefit, due to a woman employed by the employer, without any express consent, unless:

(a)

That this has been provided for in practice or by legislation in force in the Member State prior to the adoption of this Convention by the International Labour Conference; or

(b)

That this is subsequently agreed at national level by the government and organisations representing employers and workers.

1. Any Member whose economy and the social security system are insufficiently developed shall be deemed to give effect to art. 6, para. 3 and 4, if the cash benefits are at least equal to that of sickness or temporary incapacity provided for in the national legislation.

(2) Any Member who avails himself of the possibility provided for in the preceding paragraph shall explain the reasons and specify the rate at which the cash benefits are paid, in his first report on the application of the Convention submitted under Of Art. 22 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization ¹ In its subsequent reports, the Member must describe the measures taken to gradually increase the rate.

1. The employer is prohibited from dismissing a woman during her pregnancy, the leave under s. 4 or 5, or for a period following his or her return from leave to be determined by national legislation, except for reasons unrelated to pregnancy, the birth of the child and his or her suites or lactation. The burden of proving that the grounds for dismissal are unrelated to the pregnancy, the birth of the child and her suites or lactation is the responsibility of the employer.

2. At the end of the maternity leave, the woman must be insured, when she resumes the work, to return to the same position or a paid equivalent position at the same rate.

1. Every Member must adopt measures to ensure that maternity does not constitute a source of discrimination in employment, including access to employment, notwithstanding s. 2, para. 1.

2. The measures referred to in the preceding paragraph include the prohibition of requiring a woman who applies for a position to submit to a pregnancy test or whether she has a certificate attesting to the state of Pregnancy, except where provided for in the national legislation for work which:

(a)

Are prohibited, totally or partially, under national law, pregnant or breastfeeding women; or

(b)

Have a recognized or significant risk to the health of the woman and the child.

1. A woman is entitled to one or more daily breaks or a daily reduction in the duration of work to breastfeed her child.

2. The period during which time off or the daily reduction of working time is permitted, the number and duration of such breaks and the conditions for the daily reduction of working time shall be determined by National legislation and practice. These breaks or the daily reduction of working time must be counted as working time and remunerated accordingly.

Any Member shall periodically examine, in consultation with employers'and workers' representative organisations, the desirability of extending the period of leave provided for in Art. 4 and to increase the amount or rate of the cash benefits referred to in s. 6.

This Convention shall be implemented by legislation, except to the extent that it is given effect by any other means, such as collective agreements, arbitral awards, judicial decisions, or in any other manner National practice.

This Convention reviss the Maternity Protection Convention (revised), 1952.

The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to and registered by the Director General of the International Labour Office.

(1) This Convention shall bind only the Members of the International Labour Organization whose ratification has been registered by the Director General of the International Labour Office.

2. It shall enter into force twelve months after the ratifications of two Members have been registered by the Director General.

3. Thereafter, this Convention shall enter into force for each Member twelve months after the date on which its ratification has been registered.

1. Any Member having ratified this Convention may denounce it at the expiration of a period of ten years after the date of the initial entry into force of the Convention by an act communicated to the Director General of the International Labour Office And by registered him. The denunciation shall take effect only one year after being registered.

2. Any Member having ratified this Convention which, within one year of the expiration of the ten-year period referred to in the preceding paragraph, shall not make use of the right of denunciation provided for in this Article shall be bound For a further period of ten years and thereafter may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each ten-year period under the conditions laid down in this Article.

The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of the International Labour Organization of the registration of all ratifications and of all acts of denunciation communicated to it by Members of the International Labour Organization. The Organization.

2. By notifying the Members of the Organization of the registration of the second ratification which has been communicated to it, the Director General shall call the attention of the Members of the Organization on the date on which this Convention enters into force Vigor.

The Director General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, for the purposes of registration, in accordance with art. 102 of the United Nations Charter ¹ , complete information about all ratifications and all acts of denunciation which it has registered in accordance with the previous articles.

Whenever it deems it necessary, the Governing Council of the International Labour Office shall submit to the General Conference a report on the implementation of this Convention and consider whether it should be included in the agenda of the Conference the question of its total or partial revision.

1. In the event that the Conference adopts a new convention for the total or partial revision of this Convention, and unless the new Convention provides otherwise:

(a)

Ratification by a Member of the new revision agreement would automatically entail, notwithstanding s. 16 above, immediate denunciation of this Convention, provided that the new revision agreement has entered into force;

(b)

From the date of entry into force of the new revision agreement, this Convention shall cease to be open for ratification by Members.

(2) This Convention shall in any case remain in force in its form and content for Members who have ratified it and which do not ratify the revised Convention.

The English and French versions of the text of this Convention shall be equally authentic.

(Suivent signatures)