Chapter 13. LABOUR
Article 13.1: Definitions
For the purposes of this Chapter:
ILO Declaration on Rights at Work means the International Labour Organization (“ILO”) ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-Up adopted at Geneva in June 1998, as amended in 2022;
ILO Declaration on Social Justice means ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization adopted at Geneva in June 2008, as updated in 2022; and
labour laws means a measure of a Party that implements or otherwise relates to the commitments and rights set out in Section B of this Chapter.
Section A: Shared Commitments
Article 13.2: General Commitments
1. The Parties affirm their obligations as members of the ILO including those stated in the ILO Declaration on Rights at Work, such as the obligation to respect, promote and realize in good faith the fundamental rights which are the subject of ILO Conventions, even if the Party has not ratified the Convention in question.
2. The Parties affirm their commitments to further the aims of the Decent Work Agenda that are enshrined in the ILO Declaration on Social Justice.
3. The Parties recognize the important role of workers’ and employers’ organizations in protecting internationally recognized labour rights.
Section B: Obligations1,2
Article 13.3: General Obligations
1. Each Party shall adopt and maintain in its labour laws the following internationally recognized labour principles and rights, taking into account, if applicable, its commitments under the ILO Declaration on Rights at Work:
(a) freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;3
(b) the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour;
(c) the effective abolition of child labour and a prohibition on the worst forms of child labour;
(d) the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation;
(e) a safe and healthy working environment;
(f) acceptable minimum employment standards such as minimum wage, maximum hours of work and overtime pay for wage earners, including those not covered by collective agreements; and
(g) non-discrimination in respect of working conditions for migrant workers.4
2. Each Party shall effectively implement in its labour laws the fundamental ILO Conventions that it has ratified and shall endeavour to ratify the other fundamental ILO Conventions if it has not yet done so. The Parties shall exchange information on their respective situations and advances regarding the ratification of the fundamental ILO Conventions at the request of one of the Parties.
3. For the purposes of this Article:
(a) elimination of discrimination includes the elimination of discrimination based on sex, pregnancy, possibility of pregnancy, maternity, gender and gender identity, and sexual orientation;
(b) acceptable minimum employment standards include job-protected maternity and parental leave; and
1 To establish a violation of an obligation under this Section, a Party must demonstrate that the other Party has failed to meet its obligation in a matter related to trade or investment.
2 For the purposes of dispute settlement, a panel shall presume that a failure is related to trade or investment, unless the responding Party demonstrates otherwise.
3 For greater certainty, the right to freedom of association includes protection of the right to organize and the right to strike.
4 For greater certainty, non-discrimination in respect of working conditions for migrant workers means providing migrant workers in a Party’s territory with the same legal protection as the Party’s nationals in respect of working conditions.
(c) a safe and healthy working environment includes the prevention of occupational injuries and illnesses related to pregnancy and breastfeeding.
4. Each Party shall consider the psychological impacts of harassment and bullying in the workplace, including gender-based harassment and bullying, in the promotion of a safe and healthy working environment.
Article 13.4: Fair and Balanced Labour Laws
1. Each Party shall ensure that its labour laws provide for high labour standards and shall endeavour to continue to improve those standards.
2. Each Party shall:
(a) ensure that its labour laws promote best practices in labour relations and shall endeavour to improve those practices;
(b) ensure that its labour laws do not undermine or erode the ability of employers and workers to meaningfully bargain collectively;
(c) ensure that its labour laws do not prevent workers’ organizations from negotiating collective agreements that include a requirement for workers covered by the collective agreement to pay a reasonable fee to the
workers’ organization;
(d) adopt and maintain measures to prohibit and effectively deter employer interference with the organization of workers, including any exercise of undue influence, coercion or intimidation by employers and any form of retaliation against a person involved in the organization of workers;5
(e) adopt and maintain measures to ensure that workers’ organizations are:
(i) representative of, and accountable to, their members; and
(ii) independent of the employer and the Party, including requirements that:
(A) leaders of workers’ organizations are duly elected by the worker members they represent;
(B) workers have timely access to by-laws of the workers’ organizations representing them and to collective agreements applicable to them; and
(C) workers’ organizations have a duty to represent their members.
5 For greater certainty, those measures shall ensure that employees are not required, as a condition of employment or in order to avoid any employment sanction, to listen or otherwise attend to communications by the employer intended to persuade the employee not to be represented by a workers’ organization.
3. A Party shall not provide special legal recognition to agreements of a collective nature between employers and workers unless those agreements are negotiated through workers’ organizations that are:
(a) representative of, and accountable to, their members; and
(b) independent of the employer and the Party.
Article 13.5: Levels of Protection
1. A Party shall not weaken or reduce the protections afforded in its labour laws.
2. A Party shall not waive or otherwise derogate from, or offer to waive or otherwise derogate from, its labour laws if the waiver or derogation weakens or reduces adherence to the rights set out in this Section.
Article 13.6: Enforcement of Labour Laws
1. A Party shall not fail to effectively enforce its labour laws through a sustained or recurring course of action or inaction6 in a matter related to trade or investment after the date of entry into force of this Agreement.
2. Each Party shall ensure compliance with its labour laws through appropriate government action, including by:
(a) appointing and training inspectors;
(b) monitoring compliance and investigating suspected violations, including through on-site inspections;
(c) seeking assurances of voluntary compliance;
(d) requiring record keeping and reporting;
(e) encouraging the establishment of worker-management committees to address labour regulation of the workplace;
(f) providing or encouraging mediation, conciliation, and arbitration services;
(g) initiating, in a timely manner, proceedings to seek appropriate sanctions or remedies for violations of its labour laws; and
(h) ensuring remedies and sanctions imposed for violations of its labour laws are effective and appropriate, and implemented completely and in a timely manner, including by ensuring the timely collection of monetary penalties and the timely reinstatement of an affected worker.
6 For greater certainty, a “sustained or recurring course of action or inaction” is “sustained” if the course of action or inaction is consistent or ongoing, and is “recurring” if the course of action or inaction occurs periodically or repeatedly and when the occurrences are related or the same in nature. A course of action or inaction does not include an isolated instance or case.
Article 13.7: Forced or Compulsory Labour
1. The Parties recognize the goal of eliminating all forms of forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory child labour.
2. Accordingly, each Party shall adopt or maintain laws or regulations it considers appropriate to address forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory child labour, in supply chains.
Article 13.8: Violence Against Workers
1. The Parties recognize that workers and labour organizations must be able to exercise the rights set out in Article 13.3 in a climate that is free from violence, threats, and intimidation, and the imperative of governments to effectively address incidents of violence, threats and intimidation against workers.
2. Accordingly, a Party shall not fail to address violence or threats of violence against workers, directly related to exercising or attempting to exercise the rights set out in Article 13.3, in a matter related to trade or investment.7
Article 13.9: Public Awareness and Procedural Guarantees
1. Each Party shall promote public awareness of its labour laws, including by ensuring that information related to its labour laws and enforcement and compliance procedures is publicly available.
2. Each Party shall ensure that a person with a recognized interest under its law in a particular matter has appropriate access to administrative, quasi-judicial or judicial
proceedings for the enforcement of the Party’s labour laws.
3. Each Party shall ensure that proceedings before administrative, quasi-judicial, or judicial bodies for the enforcement of its labour laws:
(a) are fair, equitable and transparent;
(b) are conducted by impartial decision-makers who meet appropriate guarantees of independence and impartiality, including not having an interest in the outcome of the matter;
(c) comply with due process of law;
(d) do not entail unreasonable fees or time limits, and are not subject to unwarranted delay; and
(e) are open to the public, unless the law or the administration of justice requires otherwise.
7 For purposes of dispute settlement, a panel shall presume that a failure is in a matter related to trade or investment, unless the responding Party demonstrates otherwise.
4. Each Party shall ensure that:
(a) the parties to these proceedings are entitled to support or defend their respective positions, including by presenting information or evidence; and
(b) final decisions on the merits of the case:
(i) are based on information or evidence in respect of which the parties were offered the opportunity to be heard;
(ii) state the reasons on which they are based; and
(iii) are available in writing without undue delay to the parties to the proceedings and, consistent with its law, to the public.
5. Each Party shall provide that parties to these proceedings have the right, under its law, to seek review of the decisions and, if warranted, the correction of decisions issued in these proceedings, in accordance with due process.
6. Each Party shall ensure that the parties to these proceedings have access to
remedies under its law for the effective enforcement of their rights under the Party’s labour laws and that these remedies are executed in a timely manner.
7. Each Party shall provide procedures to effectively enforce the final decisions in these proceedings.
8. Each Party shall ensure that its competent authorities give due consideration, in accordance with its law, to a request by an employer, worker, or their representatives, or another interested person, to investigate an alleged violation of that Party’s labour laws.
9. Each Party shall ensure that investigations into alleged violations of its labour laws:
(a) are fair, equitable and transparent;
(b) are conducted by investigators who meet appropriate guarantees of impartiality, including not having an interest in the outcome of the matter;
(c) do not entail unreasonable fees or time limits or unwarranted delay;
(d) provide a person directly affected by the alleged violation of the labour laws with a reasonable opportunity to present and respond to relevant information and evidence during the investigation; and
(e) document and communicate decisions made in the investigation and the reasons upon which they were based to a person directly affected by the alleged violation of the labour laws.
Section C: Institutional Mechanisms
Article 13.10: Labour Council
1. The Parties establish a Labour Council (the “Council”) composed of senior governmental representatives at the ministerial or other level from trade and labour ministries, as designated by each Party.
2. The Council shall meet within one year of the date of entry into force of this Agreement and thereafter as often as it considers necessary to discuss matters of common interest, and to oversee the implementation of, and review progress under, this Chapter.
3. In conducting its activities, including meetings, the Council shall provide a means for receiving and considering the views of an interested person on matters related to this Chapter. If practicable, meetings must include a public session or other means for Council members to meet with the public to discuss matters relating to the implementation of this Chapter.
4. The Council may consider any matter within the scope of this Chapter and take any other action in the exercise of its functions.
5. The Council shall review the operation and effectiveness of this Chapter within five years of the date of entry into force of this Agreement and thereafter as may be decided by the Council.
Article 13.11: National Administrative Office
1. Each Party shall designate a National Administrative Office for this Chapter and shall notify the other Party of its contact details within 30 days of the date of entry into force of this Agreement.
2. Each Party shall notify the other Party promptly in the event of any change to its National Administrative Office.
3. The National Administrative Office of each Party shall serve as a point of contact with the other Party to:
(a) facilitate regular communication and coordination between the Parties, including responding to requests for information and providing sufficient information to enable a full examination of matters related to this Chapter;
(b) assist the Council;
(c) report to the Council, as appropriate;
(d) receive and independently review public submissions in accordance with Article 13.13;
(e) act as a channel for communication with the public in their respective territories; and
(f) work together, including with other appropriate agencies of their governments, to develop and implement cooperative activities, guided by the priorities of the Council, areas of cooperation identified in Article 13.14, and the needs of the Parties.
4. The National Administrative Office of a Party may develop and implement specific cooperative activities with the National Administrative Office of the other Party.
5. The National Administrative Offices of the Parties may communicate and coordinate activities in person or through electronic or other means of communication.
Article 13.12: Public Engagement
Each Party shall establish or maintain a national labour consultative or advisory body or similar mechanism, for members of its public, including representatives of its labour and business organizations, to consult with, and provide views to, on matters regarding this Chapter.
Article 13.13: Public Submissions
1. Each Party, through its National Administrative Office designated under
Article 13.11, shall provide for the receipt and consideration of written submissions from a person of a Party on matters related to this Chapter in accordance with its domestic procedures. Each Party shall make readily accessible and publicly available its procedures, including timelines, for the receipt and consideration of written submissions.
2. Each Party shall:
(a) consider matters raised by the submission and provide a timely response to the submitter, including in writing, as appropriate; and
(b) make the submission and the results of its consideration available to the other Party and the public, as appropriate, in a timely manner.
3. A Party may request from the person or organization that made the submission additional information that is necessary to consider the substance of the submission.
Article 13.14: Cooperation
1. The Parties may develop a plan of action for cooperative labour activities between the Parties to promote the objectives of this Chapter.
2. In carrying out the plan of action, the Parties may, commensurate with the availability of resources, cooperate through:
(a) seminars, training sessions, working groups and conferences;
(b) joint research projects, including sector studies; and
(c) other means to which the Parties may decide.
3. The Parties may develop cooperative activities in the following areas:
(a) information sharing: exchanging of information and sharing of best practices on issues of common interest and on relevant events, activities, and initiatives organized in their respective territories;
(b) international forums: cooperation within international and regional forums, such as the ILO, on labour-related issues;
(c) fundamental rights and their effective application: laws and regulations, and practice related to the core elements of the ILO Declaration, namely, freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining, elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour, the effective abolition of child labour, the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation, and a safe and healthy working environment;
(d) worst forms of child labour: laws and regulations, and practice related to compliance with ILO Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, done at Geneva, 17 June 1999;
(e) forced labour or compulsory labour: laws and regulations, and practice related to addressing forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory child labour in supply chains;
(f) labour administration: institutional capacity of labour administrations and administrative, quasi-judicial and judicial bodies;
(g) labour inspectorates and inspection systems: methods and training to improve the level and efficiency of labour law enforcement, strengthen labour inspection systems, and help ensure compliance with labour laws and regulations;
(h) labour relations: forms of cooperation and dispute resolution to ensure productive labour relations among workers, employers and governments;
(i) working conditions: mechanisms for supervising compliance with laws and regulations pertaining to hours of work, minimum wages and overtime, and employment conditions;
(j) occupational safety and health: prevention of occupational injuries and illnesses;
(k) union-based apprenticeship programs: creation and operation of union-based skills training programs for new and transitioning workers; and
(l) any other area that the Parties may decide.
4. The Parties may also develop cooperative activities in the following areas to further gender equity in the field of labour and employment:
(a) non-discrimination: eliminating discrimination in respect of employment and occupation including by engaging men and youth in addressing gender inequality in the workplace;
(b) pay equity: developing analytical and enforcement tools related to the realization of equal pay for work of equal value;
(c) capacity-building: building capacity and enhancing skills of women workers and union leaders;
(d) occupational health and safety: mainstreaming of gender considerations in the prevention and compensation of occupational injuries and illnesses;