The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 (“IRC 2020”) was passed by the Parliament on September 23, 2020. It received Presidential assent on September 28, 2020 and was published in the Official Gazette on September 29, 2020, along with two other Labour Codes, namely, the Code on Social Security 2020 (“CSS 2020”) and the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions, 2020 (“OSH Code”). The Code on Wages 2019 (“CoW 2019”) was earlier passed and notified in the gazette on August 08, 2019. However, all of these Codes are yet to be notified to come into force. The Industrial Relations Code, 2019 (“IRC 2019”) which was introduced in Lok Sabha in 2019, was withdrawn on September 19, 2020.

The IRC 2020 subsumes 3 labour laws namely Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (“ID Act”), Trade Unions Act, 1926 (“Trade Union Act”), and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 (“SO Act”). The IRC 2020 aims to: (a) provide a framework in order to protect the rights of workers; (b) minimise the resistance between the employers and workers; and (c) provide provisions for settlement of industrial disputes. 

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