# 労働基準法 / Labor Standards Act — 第一条 (Article 1) This is the Markdown twin of https://japanlaw.org/en/labor-standards-act/art-1. Every law, and how to address a provision: https://japanlaw.org/llms.txt. The same laws as MCP tools (no sign-in): https://japanlaw.org/mcp. - Law: 労働基準法 (Labor Standards Act), 昭和二十二年法律第四十九号 - English title "Labor Standards Act": Ministry of Justice translation - Kind: Act — the distinction between 法律 (Act), 政令 (Cabinet Order), 省令 (Ministerial Order) and 条例 (local ordinance) decides who may issue it and what it may say. - Provision: 第一条 (Article 1)（労働条件の原則） — address `art-1` - Text in force since: 2026-07-17 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/labor-standards-act/art-1 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/322AC0000000049/art-1 - Every provision below carries its address and both URLs on the line under it. - Japanese text: e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁). English: as marked on each line below. Only the Japanese as published by the government has legal effect; the text below is a copy of it. Every English rendering below is a translation and says which kind: the Ministry of Justice's translation, or this site's machine translation, whose model and date the Sources list names. They are never merged and never substituted for one another. --- ### 第一条（労働条件の原則） — (Principles for Working Conditions) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/labor-standards-act/art-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/322AC0000000049/art-1 **第一項** 労働条件は、労働者が人たるに値する生活を営むための必要を充たすべきものでなければならない。 art-1/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/labor-standards-act/art-1/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/322AC0000000049/art-1/par-1 Working conditions must be conditions that meet the needs of workers to live a life worthy of a human being. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第二項** この法律で定める労働条件の基準は最低のものであるから、労働関係の当事者は、この基準を理由として労働条件を低下させてはならないことはもとより、その向上を図るように努めなければならない。 art-1/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/labor-standards-act/art-1/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/322AC0000000049/art-1/par-2 The standards for working conditions prescribed in this Act serve as minimum standards; a party to a labor relationship must not cause working conditions to deteriorate using these standards as the grounds for doing so, but instead must endeavor to improve them. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System ## Cited by 1 provision cites this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 労働基準法 第百十六条第一項（適用除外） — https://japanlaw.org/en/labor-standards-act/art-116/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/322AC0000000049/art-116/par-1 --- ## Sources - e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 労働基準法 — the text in force from 2026-07-17 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/322AC0000000049/20260717_508AC0000000060), retrieved 2026-09-27 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Labor Standards Act — Ministry of Justice translation (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4913/tb), retrieved 2026-09-27 - This site's parser, version 213 — 労働基準法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-09-27