Practical application of copyright protection suffers the same systemic challenges as trademark protection. In October 1993 the Paraguayan Congress approved a new Labor Code that met International Labor Organization standards. The Constitution allows both private and public sector workers, except the armed forces and police, to form and join unions without government interference. It also protects the right to strike and bans binding arbitration. Strikers and leaders are protected by the Constitution against retribution.
Unions are free to maintain contact with regional and international labor organizations.
When wages are not set in free negotiations between unions and employers, they are made a condition of individual employment offered to employees. Domestics, children, and foreign workers are not forced to remain in situations amounting to coerced or bonded labor. Children between 12 and 15 years of age may be employed only in family enterprises, apprenticeships, or in agriculture. The Labor Code prohibits work by children under 12 years of age, and all children are required to attend elementary school. In practice, however, many thousands of children, many under the age of 12, work in urban streets in informal employment.