The International Labour Organization (ILO) has made labour inspection one of its priorities since its beginnings. The question of labour inspection was one of the general principles under Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles setting up the ILO, which stipulated that “Each State should make provision for a system of inspection, in which women will take part, in order to ensure the enforcement of laws and regulations for the protection of the employed”. Reference was also made to the obligation of the ILO to assist Member states in strengthening labour inspection systems.

The 2008 ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization reaffirmed the need to invest in the ILO’s capacity to assist its Members´ efforts to reach the ILO’s objectives by strengthening labour inspection systems. The Declaration recognized the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) and the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) among the most relevant standards from the viewpoint of governance. More recently, the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work, adopted in 2019 and the 2021 ILO Global Call to action for a human-centred recovery from the COVID-19 crisis that is inclusive, sustainable and resilient highlight the importance of strengthening the institutions of work to ensure adequate protection of all workers, specifically referring to labour administration and labour inspection institutions.

As a core function of labour administration systems, labour inspection plays an important role in the implementation of national labour policies, and in the provision of information and advice to employers and workers on applicable labour legislation, as well as securing its enforcement. Conventions No. 81 and 129 are two of four governance Conventions which provide the international legal framework and benchmark for the development of strong and resilient national systems of labour inspection. The high number of ratifications of Convention No. 81 demonstrates the relevance of this public function for the efficacy of national legislation, and indirectly for giving practice to international labour standards.

The objective of the International Labour Organization’s Guidelines on general principles of labour inspection is to provide governments, employers, workers, and their organizations with detailed tripartite technical guidance on key principles contained in Conventions Nos 81 and 129 in the context of contemporary practices and challenges.

Through the dissemination and promotion of these guidelines, the ILO is committed to continuing to respond to its constitutional objective of assisting national labour inspection systems with a view to improving compliance with national legal provisions and ultimately advancing decent work.