(Approved by the 8th State Council Full-Member Meeting on February 17, 1995 and made public on March 25, 1995)
Article 1
These Regulations are formulated, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, with a view to rationalizing the employees' working and resting hours, safeguarding their legitimate right of respite, enhancing their working enthusiasm and promoting the progress of socialist modernization drive.
Article 2
These Regulations are applicable to the employees of government departments, social organizations, enterprises and institutions as well as other organizations that are within the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China.
Article 3
All employees should work 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week.
Article 4
For those employees working under special circumstances and on special assignments, their working hours can be duly shortened according to relevant State regulations.
Article 5
For employees working on such jobs, the particular nature and responsibility of which make it impossible to follow the standard working system of 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, other specific working and resting procedure can be implemented according to relevant State regulations.
Article 6
No work unit or individual is allowed to prolong the working hours of employees without official approval. Only under special circumstances and emergency needs, can the employees' working hours be prolonged according to relevant State regulations.
Article 7
Government departments and institutions should implement a unified schedule of working hours that specified Saturdays and Sundays as weekly days of rest.
Enterprises and institutions, which can not implement the unified schedule of working hours as stipulated in the preceding article, can arrange a flexible schedule of weekly days of rest according to their own circumstances.
Article 8
The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Personnel are responsible for the interpretation of these Regulations. The implementation measures of these Regulations will be formulated by the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Personnel.
Article 9
These Regulations come into effect as of May 1, 1995. When and if certain enterprises and institutions find themselves have genuine difficulty in implementing the new working hours beginning from May 1, 1995, they are allowed to appropriately postpone its beginning date of implementation. However, all institutions, shall begin to implement the new working hours not later than January 1, 1996, and all enterprises shall begin to implement it not later than May 1, 1997.
