The International Standards Profile is not intended to replace any existing standards or laws relating to social compliance. Rather it was developed by our research staff as a benchmarking tool in helping our clients build comprehensive codes of conduct and responsible sourcing programs. There are no universally recognized social compliance standards, nor do laws from different countries always complement one another. Therefore, STR decided to compile and publish the most substantive and practical standards from a select number of credible sources: the ILO, the UN, and the international codes for buildings and fire safety.

What is the scope of the laws contained within this database?

STR tracks international labor and employment laws for over 140 different countries and regions. The labor and employment laws included in this library are those that are most applicable during the course of a social compliance assessment. Seventeen topics fundamental to labor are tracked and divided into the following subtopics to display legal requirements in a more focused and user friendly format:

Wages, including minimum wage, time of wage payment, form of wage payment, place of wage payment, overtime and premium pay, register of wages, and payslips

Work Hours, including time records, work hours, overtime hours, overtime exempt employees, night work, women’s work hours, meal break, rest break, and weekly rest

Deductions, including general legal deductions, disciplinary, taxes, and social security

Hiring & Termination, including hiring, employment contracts, probation period, medical exams and records, pregnant workers, discipline actions, termination, period of notice, severance pay, industrial home work, independent contractor, foreign workers, and part time workers

Benefits, including annual leave, casual and sick leave, maternity benefit, paternity benefit, medical benefits, childcare, bonuses/quota, time of benefit payment, transportation, canteen, meals, clothing, housing, personal storage, company store, and retirement

Legal Records, including requirements for business licenses and registration, and preservation of records

Legal Postings, including licenses, employment rules, employee rights, minimum wage rates, workweek, and health & safety

Child Labor, including restrictions on child employment, age verification records

Legal Youth Employment, including work hours for young persons, youth apprenticeships & training, wage for apprenticeships, and medical exams

Discrimination & Harassment, including equal pay for equal work, employment of the elderly, prohibitions on discrimination, sexual harassment, and abuse

Forced Labor, including prohibitions on forced labor, forced overtime, monetary deposits and document retention

Freedom of Association, including freedom of association and collective bargaining

Operational Safety, including accidents, canteen safety, daycare safety, EHS assessment, employee safety training, equipment/mechanical safety, noise levels, personnel, PPE, safety records

General Workplace Conditions, including break room, electrical safety, general H&S, lighting, sanitation, ventilation, work space

Fire Safety, including emergency exits, evacuation paths/plans, fire alarms, fire extinguishers, fire prevention, first aid

Health & Hygiene, including dormitories, drinking water, restrooms/toilets

Chemicals & Hazardous Materials, including chemicals and hazardous materials, MSDS sheets, storage tanks

While the 13 main topics of law tracked within this database encompass the vast majority of laws that are applicable during a social compliance assessment, not every law can fit cleanly into one of the subtopics above. Some regions have unique laws and, in some cases, laws outside of the labor realm may have collateral impact on labor issues. While STR makes every effort to categorize laws in an intuitive and user-friendly way, we maintain an “other” subcategory for these unusual instances.

Laws and regulations often have multiple interpretations and applications. While STR has a number of research experts devoted to ensuring the accuracy of translated legal text, STR is not a law firm. This database is a reference tool and the information contained within it should not be construed as legal advice. Subscribers are strongly encouraged to seek the advice of qualified legal professionals in interpreting or applying laws or regulations.

STR works with regional translators, law firms, international organizations, and our field experts to translate laws into English. However, this database was designed as a reference tool and while we make every reasonable effort to ensure the accuracy of the translated text, only the official language law text would be accepted in a court of law.

Click here to view a map of the countries available in the database, along with the number of laws accessible for each country [insert link to interactive map]

(list of other countries that we will provide country law profiles in the future for here)

Since the Labor and Employment Standards Library is integral to our day-to-day operations, it is updated regularly with new laws and amendments affecting social compliance assessments. Laws for major sourcing countries such as China, India and Bangladesh are updated frequently, while other countries undergo annual or biannual review. Should there be a major amendment, or a significant addition or strike in law, STR does its best to make prompt changes to the LESLi database.

As part of legal convention, the date a law is first enacted is the date that is cited in the law excerpts within this database. There may be a number of reasons, however, that an older law appears in the Recent Library Additions List: (1) an amendment was made to the original law, therefore the law database was updated accordingly, or (2) during the annual review process, STR’s research staff determined that a more accurate or a narrower law provision would benefit the scope of the country law profile.

Analytical data tools provide a convenient, at-a-glace comparison of legal requirements, eliminating the need to scan through full law profiles which can often be deeply technical and time consuming to sort through. It is best however, to use the analytical tools as a first step and then review relevant laws and regulations in their entirety.

Occasionally STR will offer special pricing for clients and subscribers based on volume or in conjunction with our other service offerings. Please contact a sales associate to see if you qualify.

Depending on the nature and scope of the request, a special rate may be negotiable for academic institutions and non-profit organizations. Please contact one of our sales associates to discuss your needs.

All subscriptions are annual, expiring one calendar year from the date your subscription becomes active. As the expiration date for the subscription approaches, the system will automatically set an indicator on your personal homepage and send an email message as a reminder to renew. Please contact your sales associate to inquire about renewal fees.

Pricing is based per log-in ID. Organizations that require multiple log-in IDs may qualify for group discounts. Please contact a sales associate for more details. Can search results be exported? In what file formats can search results be exported? Search results can be conveniently exported to Excel or Word formats.

We put our translations to the test, conducting nearly 20,000 social assessments a year throughout the world. We constantly receive feedback from our field professionals about our accuracy and we would love to hear from any client who would like to discuss a particular translation. Please contact our Research Deptartment so we can clarify and correct any discrepancies.