Link: http://www.molss.gov.cn/gb/ywzn/2006-02/20/content_107411.htm
Link: http://www.molss.gov.cn/gb/ywzn/2006-02/20/content_107414.htm
The 3 laws related to Child and Youth Labor in China are the PRC Labor law, Law of the PRC on the Protection of Minors, and Provisions on the Prohibition of Using Child Labor. Child labor does not rank among the most common violations in Chinese factories, but anecdotal evidence suggests it is on the rise, particularly when workers are hired through private agencies or vocational schools. The regulation stipulates that employers will be fined 5,000 RMB ($735) for every child laborer they hire for one month. If they continue to employ child workers, their licenses will be rescinded.
In Provisions on the Prohibition of Using Child Labor, employers should take note of Articles 2 & 4, detailed here:
Article 2: No State organs, social organizations, enterprises, institutions, private non-enterprise units, or individual industrial and commercial businesses (hereinafter referred to as employing units) may recruit and hire minors under the age of 16 (the term "hiring minors under the age of 16" is hereinafter referred uniformly to as "use of child labor”). All units and individuals are prohibited from providing job placement service to minors under the age of 16.
Article 4: Employing units, when recruiting employees, shall verify the identification card of the recruited; no minors under the age of 16 shall be recruited. The employing units shall properly preserve the documents for recruitment registration and verification.
Employers in China should establish an employment management system to prevent the use o child labor by making reasonable and good faith efforts to asses the authenticity of age documentation and comparison with the interview record.
Eighteen is the age of majority in China. Under the Minors Protection Law, “minors” are defined as citizens under eighteen years old. The civil law of China provides that people above eighteen years old and those from sixteen to eighteen who make a living on their own have full civil conduct capacity.
The employers should pay attention to Article 38:
No organization or individual may hire any minor under the age of sixteen, except where otherwise prescribed by the State.
Any organization or individual that, according to the relevant regulations of the State, hires minors who have reached the age of sixteen but not the age of eighteen shall observe State regulations regarding the types of jobs, working hours, intensity of labor and protective measures, and may not assign them to any overly strenuous jobs, jobs exposed to toxic or hazardous substances, or other jobs that imperil their physical or mental health, or any dangerous operations.
When an employer uses juvenile workers (under 18), these workers should be registered with the local labor bureau. The employer should establish an effective management system including hazardous assessment of the workplace and annual health check to protect juvenile workers from working hazardous and unsafe conditions.
The following practices are recommended: |
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n Designate a person responsible for routinely verifying the effectiveness of the factory's policy and procedures on child labor. |
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n Written agreements with hiring agents regarding hiring practices. |
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n Ensure each employee has been educated on the facility’s policy and procedures on child labor (e.g. handbooks, meetings, courses, classes, postings, periodic notification). |
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n Educate and train hiring staff employees on local laws, regulations and restrictions pertaining to the use of child labor and juvenile workers. |
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n Develop and adopt a standard hiring practice for verifying the age of employees prior to employment. |
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n Check for reliable proof-of-age documentation and ensure that a copy of the relevant document is kept on file. Note: such information is often falsified by juvenile workers seeking employment. |
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n Maintain a copy of official age documentation on file to critically examine against documentation submitted as proof of age by new applicants. |
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n Establish a system to track the nature and volume of work performed by juvenile workers. |
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