How are ILO Conventions ratified?
The first step states take towards ratifying a convention is to sign it. This constitutes a promise to adhere to the principles and norms contained in the treaty and to honor its spirit, but there are no legal obligations for the state to comply with them at this stage. Under article 19 1 of the ILO Constitution, once a convention has been signed in the ILO by the President of the Conference and by the Director General, member States are required to submit the convention to the appropriate body (generally the Parliament or National Assembly). Then the convention must be compared to national law. If national law and practice are already in conformity with the requirements of the convention, the Parliament should authorize its ratification. Ratification is a formal procedure whereby a state accepts a convention as a legally binding instrument and commits to making it part of its own domestic law and to implementing it. Ratification has effects on the international level, but the conditio
