1625-0118 Maritime Labour Convention 2006

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE

MARITIME
LABOUR CONVENTION, 2006

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE

MARITIME
LABOUR CONVENTION, 2006

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE

Contents
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Preamble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
General obligations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Definitions and scope of application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fundamental rights and principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Seafarers’ employment and social rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Implementation and enforcement responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulations and Parts A and B of the Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Consultation with shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article VII . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Entry into force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article VIII . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Denunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article IX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Effect of entry into force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Depositary functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article XI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article XII . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Special Tripartite Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article XIII . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Amendment of this Convention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article XIV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Amendments to the Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article XV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Authoritative languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Article XVI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Explanatory note to the Regulations and Code of the Maritime Labour Convention . . . . .

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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006
Title 1. Minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 1.1 – Minimum age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 1.2 – Medical certificate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 1.3 – Training and qualifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 1.4 – Recruitment and placement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Title 2. Conditions of employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 2.1 – Seafarers’ employment agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 2.2 – Wages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 2.3 – Hours of work and hours of rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 2.4 – Entitlement to leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 2.5 – Repatriation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 2.6 – Seafarer compensation for the ship’s loss or foundering . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 2.7 – Manning levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 2.8 – Career and skill development and opportunities for seafarers’
employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Title 3. Accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 3.1 – Accommodation and recreational facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 3.2 – Food and catering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Title 4. Health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection . . . . . . .
Regulation 4.1 – Medical care on board ship and ashore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 4.2 – Shipowners’ liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 4.3 – Health and safety protection and accident prevention . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 4.4 – Access to shore-based welfare facilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 4.5 – Social security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Title 5. Compliance and enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 5.1 – Flag State responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 5.1.1 – General principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 5.1.2 – Authorization of recognized organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 5.1.3 – Maritime labour certificate and declaration of maritime
labour compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 5.1.4 – Inspection and enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 5.1.5 – On-board complaint procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 5.1.6 – Marine casualties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 5.2 – Port State responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 5.2.1 – Inspections in port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 5.2.2 – Onshore seafarer complaint-handling procedures . . . . . . . . . .
Regulation 5.3 – Labour-supplying responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Appendix A5-I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Appendix A5-II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Appendix A5-III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Appendix B5-I – EXAMPLE of a national Declaration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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MARITIME LABOUR CONVENTION, 2006
PREAMBLE
Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

The General Conference of the International Labour Organization,
Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Ninety-fourth Session on 7 February 2006, and
Desiring to create a single, coherent instrument embodying as far as possible all up-to-date standards of existing international maritime labour Conventions and Recommendations, as well as the fundamental principles to be found in
other international labour Conventions, in particular:
–
the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29);
–
the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise
Convention, 1948 (No. 87);
–
the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949
(No. 98);
–
the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100);
–
the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105);
–
the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958
(No. 111);
–
the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138);
–
the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182); and
Mindful of the core mandate of the Organization, which is to promote decent
conditions of work, and
Recalling the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at
Work, 1998, and
Mindful also that seafarers are covered by the provisions of other ILO
instruments and have other rights which are established as fundamental rights
and freedoms applicable to all persons, and
Considering that, given the global nature of the shipping industry, seafarers
need special protection, and
Mindful also of the international standards on ship safety, human security
and quality ship management in the International Convention for the Safety of
Life at Sea, 1974, as amended, the Convention on the International Regulations
for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972, as amended, and the seafarer training and
competency requirements in the International Convention on Standards of
Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, as amended, and
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Recalling that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982,
sets out a general legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and
seas must be carried out and is of strategic importance as the basis for national,
regional and global action and cooperation in the marine sector, and that its
integrity needs to be maintained, and
Recalling that Article 94 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea, 1982, establishes the duties and obligations of a flag State with regard to,
inter alia, labour conditions, crewing and social matters on ships that fly its flag,
and
Recalling paragraph 8 of article 19 of the Constitution of the International
Labour Organisation which provides that in no case shall the adoption of any Convention or Recommendation by the Conference or the ratification of any Convention by any Member be deemed to affect any law, award, custom or agreement
which ensures more favourable conditions to the workers concerned than those
provided for in the Convention or Recommendation, and
Determined that this new instrument should be designed to secure the widest
possible acceptability among governments, shipowners and seafarers committed to
the principles of decent work, that it should be readily updateable and that it
should lend itself to effective implementation and enforcement, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals for the realization
of such an instrument, which is the only item on the agenda of the session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention;
adopts this twenty-third day of February of the year two thousand and six the following
Convention, which may be cited as the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006.

GENERAL

OBLIGATIONS

Article I
1. Each Member which ratifies this Convention undertakes to give complete
effect to its provisions in the manner set out in Article VI in order to secure the right
of all seafarers to decent employment.
2. Members shall cooperate with each other for the purpose of ensuring the
effective implementation and enforcement of this Convention.
DEFINITIONS

AND SCOPE OF APPLICATION

Article II
1. For the purpose of this Convention and unless provided otherwise in particular provisions, the term:
(a) competent authority means the minister, government department or other authority having power to issue and enforce regulations, orders or other instructions having the force of law in respect of the subject matter of the provision concerned;
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(b)
(c)

(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)

(i)
(j)

declaration of maritime labour compliance means the declaration referred to in
Regulation 5.1.3;
gross tonnage means the gross tonnage calculated in accordance with the tonnage
measurement regulations contained in Annex I to the International Convention
on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969, or any successor Convention; for
ships covered by the tonnage measurement interim scheme adopted by the International Maritime Organization, the gross tonnage is that which is included in
the REMARKS column of the International Tonnage Certificate (1969);
maritime labour certificate means the certificate referred to in Regulation 5.1.3;
requirements of this Convention refers to the requirements in these Articles and
in the Regulations and Part A of the Code of this Convention;
seafarer means any person who is employed or engaged or works in any capacity
on board a ship to which this Convention applies;
seafarers’ employment agreement includes both a contract of employment and
articles of agreement;
seafarer recruitment and placement service means any person, company, institution, agency or other organization, in the public or the private sector, which is engaged in recruiting seafarers on behalf of shipowners or placing seafarers with
shipowners;
ship means a ship other than one which navigates exclusively in inland waters or
waters within, or closely adjacent to, sheltered waters or areas where port regulations apply;
shipowner means the owner of the ship or another organization or person, such
as the manager, agent or bareboat charterer, who has assumed the responsibility
for the operation of the ship from the owner and who, on assuming such responsibility, has agreed to take over the duties and responsibilities imposed on shipowners in accordance with this Convention, regardless of whether any other organization or persons fulfil certain of the duties or responsibilities on behalf of the
shipowner.
2. Except as expressly provided otherwise, this Convention applies to all seafarers.

3. In the event of doubt as to whether any categories of persons are to be
regarded as seafarers for the purpose of this Convention, the question shall be determined by the competent authority in each Member after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned with this question.
4. Except as expressly provided otherwise, this Convention applies to all ships,
whether publicly or privately owned, ordinarily engaged in commercial activities, other
than ships engaged in fishing or in similar pursuits and ships of traditional build such
as dhows and junks. This Convention does not apply to warships or naval auxiliaries.
5. In the event of doubt as to whether this Convention applies to a ship or particular category of ships, the question shall be determined by the competent authority
in each Member after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations
concerned.
6. Where the competent authority determines that it would not be reasonable
or practicable at the present time to apply certain details of the Code referred to in
Article VI, paragraph 1, to a ship or particular categories of ships flying the flag of the
Member, the relevant provisions of the Code shall not apply to the extent that the
subject matter is dealt with differently by national laws or regulations or collective
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bargaining agreements or other measures. Such a determination may only be made
in consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned and may
only be made with respect to ships of less than 200 gross tonnage not engaged in international voyages.
7. Any determinations made by a Member under paragraph 3 or 5 or 6 of this
Article shall be communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour
Office, who shall notify the Members of the Organization.
8. Unless expressly provided otherwise, a reference to this Convention constitutes at the same time a reference to the Regulations and the Code.
FUNDAMENTAL

RIGHTS AND PRINCIPLES

Article III
Each Member shall satisfy itself that the provisions of its law and regulations
respect, in the context of this Convention, the fundamental rights to:
(a) freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective
bargaining;
(b) the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour;
(c) the effective abolition of child labour; and
(d) the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
SEAFARERS’

EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL RIGHTS

Article IV
1. Every seafarer has the right to a safe and secure workplace that complies
with safety standards.
2.

Every seafarer has a right to fair terms of employment.

3.

Every seafarer has a right to decent working and living conditions on board

ship.
4. Every seafarer has a right to health protection, medical care, welfare measures and other forms of social protection.
5. Each Member shall ensure, within the limits of its jurisdiction, that the seafarers’ employment and social rights set out in the preceding paragraphs of this Article
are fully implemented in accordance with the requirements of this Convention. Unless
specified otherwise in the Convention, such implementation may be achieved through
national laws or regulations, through applicable collective bargaining agreements or
through other measures or in practice.
IMPLEMENTATION

AND ENFORCEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES

Article V
1. Each Member shall implement and enforce laws or regulations or other
measures that it has adopted to fulfil its commitments under this Convention with
respect to ships and seafarers under its jurisdiction.
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2. Each Member shall effectively exercise its jurisdiction and control over ships
that fly its flag by establishing a system for ensuring compliance with the requirements
of this Convention, including regular inspections, reporting, monitoring and legal proceedings under the applicable laws.
3. Each Member shall ensure that ships that fly its flag carry a maritime labour
certificate and a declaration of maritime labour compliance as required by this
Convention.
4. A ship to which this Convention applies may, in accordance with international law, be inspected by a Member other than the flag State, when the ship is in
one of its ports, to determine whether the ship is in compliance with the requirements
of this Convention.
5. Each Member shall effectively exercise its jurisdiction and control over seafarer recruitment and placement services, if these are established in its territory.
6. Each Member shall prohibit violations of the requirements of this Convention and shall, in accordance with international law, establish sanctions or require the
adoption of corrective measures under its laws which are adequate to discourage such
violations.
7. Each Member shall implement its responsibilities under this Convention in
such a way as to ensure that the ships that fly the flag of any State that has not ratified
this Convention do not receive more favourable treatment than the ships that fly the
flag of any State that has ratified it.
REGULATIONS

AND

PARTS A

AND

B

OF THE

CODE

Article VI
1. The Regulations and the provisions of Part A of the Code are mandatory.
The provisions of Part B of the Code are not mandatory.
2. Each Member undertakes to respect the rights and principles set out in the
Regulations and to implement each Regulation in the manner set out in the corresponding provisions of Part A of the Code. In addition, the Member shall give due
consideration to implementing its responsibilities in the manner provided for in Part B
of the Code.
3. A Member which is not in a position to implement the rights and principles
in the manner set out in Part A of the Code may, unless expressly provided otherwise
in this Convention, implement Part A through provisions in its laws and regulations or
other measures which are substantially equivalent to the provisions of Part A.
4. For the sole purpose of paragraph 3 of this Article, any law, regulation, collective agreement or other implementing measure shall be considered to be substantially equivalent, in the context of this Convention, if the Member satisfies itself
that:
(a) it is conducive to the full achievement of the general object and purpose of the
provision or provisions of Part A of the Code concerned; and
(b) it gives effect to the provision or provisions of Part A of the Code concerned.
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CONSULTATION

WITH SHIPOWNERS’ AND SEAFARERS’ ORGANIZATIONS

Article VII
Any derogation, exemption or other flexible application of this Convention for
which the Convention requires consultation with shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations may, in cases where representative organizations of shipowners or of seafarers do
not exist within a Member, only be decided by that Member through consultation with
the Committee referred to in Article XIII.
ENTRY

INTO FORCE

Article VIII
1. The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the
Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration.
2. This Convention shall be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour Organization whose ratifications have been registered by the DirectorGeneral.
3. This Convention shall come into force 12 months after the date on which
there have been registered ratifications by at least 30 Members with a total share in the
world gross tonnage of ships of at least 33 per cent.
4. Thereafter, this Convention shall come into force for any Member 12 months
after the date on which its ratification has been registered.
DENUNCIATION
Article IX
1. A Member which has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by
an act communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for
registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the date on
which it is registered.
2. Each Member which does not, within the year following the expiration of the
period of ten years mentioned in paragraph 1 of this Article, exercise the right of
denunciation provided for in this Article, shall be bound for another period of ten
years and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each new
period of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article.
EFFECT

OF ENTRY INTO FORCE

Article X
This Convention revises the following Conventions:
Minimum Age (Sea) Convention, 1920 (No. 7)
Unemployment Indemnity (Shipwreck) Convention, 1920 (No. 8)
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Placing of Seamen Convention, 1920 (No. 9)
Medical Examination of Young Persons (Sea) Convention, 1921 (No. 16)
Seamen’s Articles of Agreement Convention, 1926 (No. 22)
Repatriation of Seamen Convention, 1926 (No. 23)
Officers’ Competency Certificates Convention, 1936 (No. 53)
Holidays with Pay (Sea) Convention, 1936 (No. 54)
Shipowners’ Liability (Sick and Injured Seamen) Convention, 1936 (No. 55)
Sickness Insurance (Sea) Convention, 1936 (No. 56)
Hours of Work and Manning (Sea) Convention, 1936 (No. 57)
Minimum Age (Sea) Convention (Revised), 1936 (No. 58)
Food and Catering (Ships’ Crews) Convention, 1946 (No. 68)
Certification of Ships’ Cooks Convention, 1946 (No. 69)
Social Security (Seafarers) Convention, 1946 (No. 70)
Paid Vacations (Seafarers) Convention, 1946 (No. 72)
Medical Examination (Seafarers) Convention, 1946 (No. 73)
Certification of Able Seamen Convention, 1946 (No. 74)
Accommodation of Crews Convention, 1946 (No. 75)
Wages, Hours of Work and Manning (Sea) Convention, 1946 (No. 76)
Paid Vacations (Seafarers) Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 91)
Accommodation of Crews Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 92)
Wages, Hours of Work and Manning (Sea) Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 93)
Wages, Hours of Work and Manning (Sea) Convention (Revised), 1958 (No. 109)
Accommodation of Crews (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1970 (No. 133)
Prevention of Accidents (Seafarers) Convention, 1970 (No. 134)
Continuity of Employment (Seafarers) Convention, 1976 (No. 145)
Seafarers’ Annual Leave with Pay Convention, 1976 (No. 146)
Merchant Shipping (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 147)
Protocol of 1996 to the Merchant Shipping (Minimum Standards) Convention,
1976 (No. 147)
Seafarers’ Welfare Convention, 1987 (No. 163)
Health Protection and Medical Care (Seafarers) Convention, 1987 (No. 164)
Social Security (Seafarers) Convention (Revised), 1987 (No. 165)
Repatriation of Seafarers Convention (Revised), 1987 (No. 166)
Labour Inspection (Seafarers) Convention, 1996 (No. 178)
Recruitment and Placement of Seafarers Convention, 1996 (No. 179)
Seafarers’ Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships Convention, 1996 (No. 180).
7

Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

DEPOSITARY

FUNCTIONS

Article XI
1. The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all
Members of the International Labour Organization of the registration of all ratifications, acceptances and denunciations under this Convention.
2. When the conditions provided for in paragraph 3 of Article VIII have been
fulfilled, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the Members of the Organization to the date upon which the Convention will come into force.
Article XII
The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to
the Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations full particulars of all ratifications, acceptances and denunciations registered under this Convention.
SPECIAL TRIPARTITE COMMITTEE
Article XIII
1. The Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall keep the working of this Convention under continuous review through a committee established by it
with special competence in the area of maritime labour standards.
2. For matters dealt with in accordance with this Convention, the Committee
shall consist of two representatives nominated by the Government of each Member
which has ratified this Convention, and the representatives of Shipowners and Seafarers appointed by the Governing Body after consultation with the Joint Maritime
Commission.
3. The Government representatives of Members which have not yet ratified
this Convention may participate in the Committee but shall have no right to vote on
any matter dealt with in accordance with this Convention. The Governing Body may
invite other organizations or entities to be represented on the Committee by observers.
4. The votes of each Shipowner and Seafarer representative in the Committee
shall be weighted so as to ensure that the Shipowners’ group and the Seafarers’ group
each have half the voting power of the total number of governments which are represented at the meeting concerned and entitled to vote.
AMENDMENT

OF THIS

CONVENTION

Article XIV
1. Amendments to any of the provisions of this Convention may be adopted by
the General Conference of the International Labour Organization in the framework
of article 19 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation and the rules
and procedures of the Organization for the adoption of Conventions. Amendments to
the Code may also be adopted following the procedures in Article XV.
8

Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

2. In the case of Members whose ratifications of this Convention were registered before the adoption of the amendment, the text of the amendment shall be communicated to them for ratification.
3. In the case of other Members of the Organization, the text of the Convention
as amended shall be communicated to them for ratification in accordance with article 19 of the Constitution.
4. An amendment shall be deemed to have been accepted on the date when
there have been registered ratifications, of the amendment or of the Convention as
amended, as the case may be, by at least 30 Members with a total share in the world
gross tonnage of ships of at least 33 per cent.
5. An amendment adopted in the framework of article 19 of the Constitution
shall be binding only upon those Members of the Organization whose ratifications
have been registered by the Director-General of the International Labour Office.
6. For any Member referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, an amendment
shall come into force 12 months after the date of acceptance referred to in paragraph
4 of this Article or 12 months after the date on which its ratification of the amendment
has been registered, whichever date is later.
7. Subject to paragraph 9 of this Article, for Members referred to in paragraph
3 of this Article, the Convention as amended shall come into force 12 months after the
date of acceptance referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article or 12 months after the date
on which their ratifications of the Convention have been registered, whichever date is
later.
8. For those Members whose ratification of this Convention was registered
before the adoption of an amendment but which have not ratified the amendment, this
Convention shall remain in force without the amendment concerned.
9. Any Member whose ratification of this Convention is registered after the
adoption of the amendment but before the date referred to in paragraph 4 of this
Article may, in a declaration accompanying the instrument of ratification, specify that
its ratification relates to the Convention without the amendment concerned. In the
case of a ratification with such a declaration, the Convention shall come into force for
the Member concerned 12 months after the date on which the ratification was registered. Where an instrument of ratification is not accompanied by such a declaration, or
where the ratification is registered on or after the date referred to in paragraph 4, the
Convention shall come into force for the Member concerned 12 months after the date
on which the ratification was registered and, upon its entry into force in accordance
with paragraph 7 of this Article, the amendment shall be binding on the Member concerned unless the amendment provides otherwise.
AMENDMENTS

TO THE

CODE

Article XV
1. The Code may be amended either by the procedure set out in Article XIV
or, unless expressly provided otherwise, in accordance with the procedure set out in the
present Article.
9

Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

2. An amendment to the Code may be proposed to the Director-General of the
International Labour Office by the government of any Member of the Organization or
by the group of Shipowner representatives or the group of Seafarer representatives
who have been appointed to the Committee referred to in Article XIII. An amendment proposed by a government must have been proposed by, or be supported by, at
least five governments of Members that have ratified the Convention or by the group
of Shipowner or Seafarer representatives referred to in this paragraph.
3. Having verified that the proposal for amendment meets the requirements of
paragraph 2 of this Article, the Director-General shall promptly communicate the proposal, accompanied by any comments or suggestions deemed appropriate, to all Members of the Organization, with an invitation to them to transmit their observations or
suggestions concerning the proposal within a period of six months or such other period
(which shall not be less than three months nor more than nine months) prescribed by
the Governing Body.
4. At the end of the period referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article, the proposal, accompanied by a summary of any observations or suggestions made under that
paragraph, shall be transmitted to the Committee for consideration at a meeting. An
amendment shall be considered adopted by the Committee if:
(a) at least half the governments of Members that have ratified this Convention are
represented in the meeting at which the proposal is considered; and
(b) a majority of at least two-thirds of the Committee members vote in favour of the
amendment; and
(c) this majority comprises the votes in favour of at least half the government voting
power, half the Shipowner voting power and half the Seafarer voting power of
the Committee members registered at the meeting when the proposal is put to
the vote.
5. Amendments adopted in accordance with paragraph 4 of this Article shall be
submitted to the next session of the Conference for approval. Such approval shall require a majority of two-thirds of the votes cast by the delegates present. If such majority is not obtained, the proposed amendment shall be referred back to the Committee
for reconsideration should the Committee so wish.
6. Amendments approved by the Conference shall be notified by the DirectorGeneral to each of the Members whose ratifications of this Convention were registered
before the date of such approval by the Conference. These Members are referred to
below as “the ratifying Members”. The notification shall contain a reference to the
present Article and shall prescribe the period for the communication of any formal disagreement. This period shall be two years from the date of the notification unless, at
the time of approval, the Conference has set a different period, which shall be a period
of at least one year. A copy of the notification shall be communicated to the other
Members of the Organization for their information.
7. An amendment approved by the Conference shall be deemed to have been
accepted unless, by the end of the prescribed period, formal expressions of disagreement
have been received by the Director-General from more than 40 per cent of the Members
which have ratified the Convention and which represent not less than 40 per cent of the
gross tonnage of the ships of the Members which have ratified the Convention.
8. An amendment deemed to have been accepted shall come into force six
months after the end of the prescribed period for all the ratifying Members except those
10

Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

which had formally expressed their disagreement in accordance with paragraph 7 of this
Article and have not withdrawn such disagreement in accordance with paragraph 11.
However:
(a) before the end of the prescribed period, any ratifying Member may give notice to
the Director-General that it shall be bound by the amendment only after a subsequent express notification of its acceptance; and
(b) before the date of entry into force of the amendment, any ratifying Member may
give notice to the Director-General that it will not give effect to that amendment
for a specified period.
9. An amendment which is the subject of a notice referred to in paragraph 8(a)
of this Article shall enter into force for the Member giving such notice six months after
the Member has notified the Director-General of its acceptance of the amendment or
on the date on which the amendment first comes into force, whichever date is later.
10. The period referred to in paragraph 8(b) of this Article shall not go beyond
one year from the date of entry into force of the amendment or beyond any longer
period determined by the Conference at the time of approval of the amendment.
11. A Member that has formally expressed disagreement with an amendment
may withdraw its disagreement at any time. If notice of such withdrawal is received by
the Director-General after the amendment has entered into force, the amendment
shall enter into force for the Member six months after the date on which the notice was
registered.
12. After entry into force of an amendment, the Convention may only be ratified in its amended form.
13. To the extent that a maritime labour certificate relates to matters covered
by an amendment to the Convention which has entered into force:
(a) a Member that has accepted that amendment shall not be obliged to extend the
benefit of the Convention in respect of the maritime labour certificates issued to
ships flying the flag of another Member which:
(i) pursuant to paragraph 7 of this Article, has formally expressed disagreement to the amendment and has not withdrawn such disagreement; or
(ii) pursuant to paragraph 8(a) of this Article, has given notice that its acceptance is subject to its subsequent express notification and has not accepted
the amendment; and
(b) a Member that has accepted the amendment shall extend the benefit of the Convention in respect of the maritime labour certificates issued to ships flying the
flag of another Member that has given notice, pursuant to paragraph 8(b) of this
Article, that it will not give effect to that amendment for the period specified in
accordance with paragraph 10 of this Article.
AUTHORITATIVE

LANGUAGES

Article XVI
The English and French versions of the text of this Convention are equally
authoritative.

11

EXPLANATORY NOTE TO THE REGULATIONS AND CODE
OF THE MARITIME LABOUR CONVENTION
1. This explanatory note, which does not form part of the Maritime Labour
Convention, is intended as a general guide to the Convention.
2. The Convention comprises three different but related parts: the Articles, the
Regulations and the Code.
3. The Articles and Regulations set out the core rights and principles and the
basic obligations of Members ratifying the Convention. The Articles and Regulations
can only be changed by the Conference in the framework of article 19 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation (see Article XIV of the Convention).
4. The Code contains the details for the implementation of the Regulations. It
comprises Part A (mandatory Standards) and Part B (non-mandatory Guidelines).
The Code can be amended through the simplified procedure set out in Article XV of
the Convention. Since the Code relates to detailed implementation, amendments to it
must remain within the general scope of the Articles and Regulations.
5.
Titles:

The Regulations and the Code are organized into general areas under five

Title 1: Minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship
Title 2: Conditions of employment
Title 3: Accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering
Title 4: Health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection
Title 5: Compliance and enforcement
6. Each Title contains groups of provisions relating to a particular right or principle (or enforcement measure in Title 5), with connected numbering. The first group
in Title 1, for example, consists of Regulation 1.1, Standard A1.1 and Guideline B1.1,
relating to minimum age.
(a)
(b)
(c)

7. The Convention has three underlying purposes:
to lay down, in its Articles and Regulations, a firm set of rights and principles;
to allow, through the Code, a considerable degree of flexibility in the way Members implement those rights and principles; and
to ensure, through Title 5, that the rights and principles are properly complied with
and enforced.

8. There are two main areas for flexibility in implementation: one is the possibility for a Member, where necessary (see Article VI, paragraph 3), to give effect to the
detailed requirements of Part A of the Code through substantial equivalence (as defined
in Article VI, paragraph 4).
12

Explanatory note to the Regulations and Code

9. The second area of flexibility in implementation is provided by formulating
the mandatory requirements of many provisions in Part A in a more general way,
thus leaving a wider scope for discretion as to the precise action to be provided for
at the national level. In such cases, guidance on implementation is given in the nonmandatory Part B of the Code. In this way, Members which have ratified this Convention can ascertain the kind of action that might be expected of them under the
corresponding general obligation in Part A, as well as action that would not necessarily be required. For example, Standard A4.1 requires all ships to provide prompt
access to the necessary medicines for medical care on board ship (paragraph 1(b))
and to “carry a medicine chest” (paragraph 4(a)). The fulfilment in good faith of this
latter obligation clearly means something more than simply having a medicine chest
on board each ship. A more precise indication of what is involved is provided in the
corresponding Guideline B4.1.1 (paragraph 4) so as to ensure that the contents of
the chest are properly stored, used and maintained.
10. Members which have ratified this Convention are not bound by the guidance concerned and, as indicated in the provisions in Title 5 on port State control, inspections would deal only with the relevant requirements of this Convention (Articles,
Regulations and the Standards in Part A). However, Members are required under
paragraph 2 of Article VI to give due consideration to implementing their responsibilities under Part A of the Code in the manner provided for in Part B. If, having duly
considered the relevant Guidelines, a Member decides to provide for different
arrangements which ensure the proper storage, use and maintenance of the contents
of the medicine chest, to take the example given above, as required by the Standard
in Part A, then that is acceptable. On the other hand, by following the guidance provided in Part B, the Member concerned, as well as the ILO bodies responsible for
reviewing implementation of international labour Conventions, can be sure without
further consideration that the arrangements the Member has provided for are adequate to implement the responsibilities under Part A to which the Guideline relates.
Explanatory note to the Regulations and Code

13

THE REGULATIONS AND THE CODE

TITLE 1. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR SEAFARERS TO WORK ON A SHIP
Minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship

Regulation 1.1 – Minimum age
Purpose: To ensure that no under-age persons work on a ship
1.
a ship.

No person below the minimum age shall be employed or engaged or work on

2. The minimum age at the time of the initial entry into force of this Convention
is 16 years.
3.
Code.

A higher minimum age shall be required in the circumstances set out in the

Standard A1.1 – Minimum age
1. The employment, engagement or work on board a ship of any person under
the age of 16 shall be prohibited.
2. Night work of seafarers under the age of 18 shall be prohibited. For the purposes of this Standard, “night” shall be defined in accordance with national law and
practice. It shall cover a period of at least nine hours starting no later than midnight
and ending no earlier than 5 a.m.
3. An exception to strict compliance with the night work restriction may be
made by the competent authority when:
(a)

the effective training of the seafarers concerned, in accordance with established
programmes and schedules, would be impaired; or

(b)

the specific nature of the duty or a recognized training programme requires that
the seafarers covered by the exception perform duties at night and the authority
determines, after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations
concerned, that the work will not be detrimental to their health or well-being.

4. The employment, engagement or work of seafarers under the age of 18 shall
be prohibited where the work is likely to jeopardize their health or safety. The types of
such work shall be determined by national laws or regulations or by the competent
authority, after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned, in accordance with relevant international standards.
Guideline B1.1 – Minimum age
1. When regulating working and living conditions, Members should give special
attention to the needs of young persons under the age of 18.
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

Regulation 1.2 – Medical certificate
Purpose: To ensure that all seafarers are medically fit to perform their duties at sea
1. Seafarers shall not work on a ship unless they are certified as medically fit to
perform their duties.
2.

Exceptions can only be permitted as prescribed in the Code.
Standard A1.2 – Medical certificate

1. The competent authority shall require that, prior to beginning work on a
ship, seafarers hold a valid medical certificate attesting that they are medically fit to
perform the duties they are to carry out at sea.
2. In order to ensure that medical certificates genuinely reflect seafarers’ state
of health, in light of the duties they are to perform, the competent authority shall, after
consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned, and giving
due consideration to applicable international guidelines referred to in Part B of this
Code, prescribe the nature of the medical examination and certificate.
3. This Standard is without prejudice to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, as amended
(“STCW”). A medical certificate issued in accordance with the requirements of STCW
shall be accepted by the competent authority, for the purpose of Regulation 1.2. A
medical certificate meeting the substance of those requirements, in the case of seafarers not covered by STCW, shall similarly be accepted.
4. The medical certificate shall be issued by a duly qualified medical practitioner or, in the case of a certificate solely concerning eyesight, by a person recognized
by the competent authority as qualified to issue such a certificate. Practitioners must
enjoy full professional independence in exercising their medical judgement in undertaking medical examination procedures.
5. Seafarers that have been refused a certificate or have had a limitation imposed on their ability to work, in particular with respect to time, field of work or trading area, shall be given the opportunity to have a further examination by another independent medical practitioner or by an independent medical referee.
(a)

(b)

6. Each medical certificate shall state in particular that:
the hearing and sight of the seafarer concerned, and the colour vision in the case
of a seafarer to be employed in capacities where fitness for the work to be performed is liable to be affected by defective colour vision, are all satisfactory; and
the seafarer concerned is not suffering from any medical condition likely to be
aggravated by service at sea or to render the seafarer unfit for such service or to
endanger the health of other persons on board.

7. Unless a shorter period is required by reason of the specific duties to be performed by the seafarer concerned or is required under STCW:
(a) a medical certificate shall be valid for a maximum period of two years unless the
seafarer is under the age of 18, in which case the maximum period of validity shall
be one year;
(b) a certification of colour vision shall be valid for a maximum period of six years.
18

Minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship

8. In urgent cases the competent authority may permit a seafarer to work without a valid medical certificate until the next port of call where the seafarer can obtain
a medical certificate from a qualified medical practitioner, provided that:
(a) the period of such permission does not exceed three months; and
(b) the seafarer concerned is in possession of an expired medical certificate of recent
date.
9. If the period of validity of a certificate expires in the course of a voyage, the
certificate shall continue in force until the next port of call where the seafarer can
obtain a medical certificate from a qualified medical practitioner, provided that the
period shall not exceed three months.
10. The medical certificates for seafarers working on ships ordinarily engaged on
international voyages must as a minimum be provided in English.
Guideline B1.2 – Medical certificate
Guideline B1.2.1 – International guidelines
1. The competent authority, medical practitioners, examiners, shipowners, seafarers’ representatives and all other persons concerned with the conduct of medical fitness examinations of seafarer candidates and serving seafarers should follow the ILO/
WHO Guidelines for Conducting Pre-sea and Periodic Medical Fitness Examinations
for Seafarers, including any subsequent versions, and any other applicable international
guidelines published by the International Labour Organization, the International Maritime Organization or the World Health Organization.

Regulation 1.3 – Training and qualifications
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers are trained or qualified to carry out
their duties on board ship
1. Seafarers shall not work on a ship unless they are trained or certified as competent or otherwise qualified to perform their duties.
2. Seafarers shall not be permitted to work on a ship unless they have successfully completed training for personal safety on board ship.
3. Training and certification in accordance with the mandatory instruments
adopted by the International Maritime Organization shall be considered as meeting
the requirements of paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Regulation.
4. Any Member which, at the time of its ratification of this Convention, was
bound by the Certification of Able Seamen Convention, 1946 (No. 74), shall continue
to carry out the obligations under that Convention unless and until mandatory provisions covering its subject matter have been adopted by the International Maritime
Organization and entered into force, or until five years have elapsed since the entry
into force of this Convention in accordance with paragraph 3 of Article VIII, whichever date is earlier.
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

Regulation 1.4 – Recruitment and placement
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers have access to an efficient and well-regulated
seafarer recruitment and placement system
1. All seafarers shall have access to an efficient, adequate and accountable system for finding employment on board ship without charge to the seafarer.
2. Seafarer recruitment and placement services operating in a Member’s territory shall conform to the standards set out in the Code.
3. Each Member shall require, in respect of seafarers who work on ships that fly
its flag, that shipowners who use seafarer recruitment and placement services that are
based in countries or territories in which this Convention does not apply, ensure that
those services conform to the requirements set out in the Code.
Standard A1.4 – Recruitment and placement
1. Each Member that operates a public seafarer recruitment and placement
service shall ensure that the service is operated in an orderly manner that protects and
promotes seafarers’ employment rights as provided in this Convention.
2. Where a Member has private seafarer recruitment and placement services
operating in its territory whose primary purpose is the recruitment and placement of
seafarers or which recruit and place a significant number of seafarers, they shall be
operated only in conformity with a standardized system of licensing or certification or
other form of regulation. This system shall be established, modified or changed only
after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned. In the
event of doubt as to whether this Convention applies to a private recruitment and
placement service, the question shall be determined by the competent authority in
each Member after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned. Undue proliferation of private seafarer recruitment and placement services
shall not be encouraged.
3. The provisions of paragraph 2 of this Standard shall also apply – to the extent
that they are determined by the competent authority, in consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned, to be appropriate – in the context of
recruitment and placement services operated by a seafarers’ organization in the territory of the Member for the supply of seafarers who are nationals of that Member to
ships which fly its flag. The services covered by this paragraph are those fulfilling the
following conditions:
(a) the recruitment and placement service is operated pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement between that organization and a shipowner;
(b) both the seafarers’ organization and the shipowner are based in the territory of
the Member;
(c) the Member has national laws or regulations or a procedure to authorize or register the collective bargaining agreement permitting the operation of the recruitment and placement service; and
(d) the recruitment and placement service is operated in an orderly manner and
measures are in place to protect and promote seafarers’ employment rights comparable to those provided in paragraph 5 of this Standard.
4.
20

Nothing in this Standard or Regulation 1.4 shall be deemed to:

Minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship

(a)

(b)

prevent a Member from maintaining a free public seafarer recruitment and
placement service for seafarers in the framework of a policy to meet the needs of
seafarers and shipowners, whether the service forms part of or is coordinated
with a public employment service for all workers and employers; or
impose on a Member the obligation to establish a system for the operation of private seafarer recruitment or placement services in its territory.

5. A Member adopting a system referred to in paragraph 2 of this Standard
shall, in its laws and regulations or other measures, at a minimum:
(a) prohibit seafarer recruitment and placement services from using means, mechanisms or lists intended to prevent or deter seafarers from gaining employment
for which they are qualified;
(b) require that no fees or other charges for seafarer recruitment or placement or for
providing employment to seafarers are borne directly or indirectly, in whole or in
part, by the seafarer, other than the cost of the seafarer obtaining a national
statutory medical certificate, the national seafarer’s book and a passport or other
similar personal travel documents, not including, however, the cost of visas,
which shall be borne by the shipowner; and
(c) ensure that seafarer recruitment and placement services operating in its territory:
(i) maintain an up-to-date register of all seafarers recruited or placed through
them, to be available for inspection by the competent authority;
(ii) make sure that seafarers are informed of their rights and duties under their
employment agreements prior to or in the process of engagement and that
proper arrangements are made for seafarers to examine their employment
agreements before and after they are signed and for them to receive a copy
of the agreements;
(iii) verify that seafarers recruited or placed by them are qualified and hold the
documents necessary for the job concerned, and that the seafarers’ employment agreements are in accordance with applicable laws and regulations
and any collective bargaining agreement that forms part of the employment
agreement;
(iv) make sure, as far as practicable, that the shipowner has the means to protect
seafarers from being stranded in a foreign port;
(v) examine and respond to any complaint concerning their activities and advise the competent authority of any unresolved complaint;
(vi) establish a system of protection, by way of insurance or an equivalent appropriate measure, to compensate seafarers for monetary loss that they
may incur as a result of the failure of a recruitment and placement service
or the relevant shipowner under the seafarers’ employment agreement to
meet its obligations to them.
6. The competent authority shall closely supervise and control all seafarer recruitment and placement services operating in the territory of the Member concerned.
Any licences or certificates or similar authorizations for the operation of private services in the territory are granted or renewed only after verification that the seafarer recruitment and placement service concerned meets the requirements of national laws
and regulations.
7. The competent authority shall ensure that adequate machinery and procedures exist for the investigation, if necessary, of complaints concerning the activities of
21

Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

seafarer recruitment and placement services, involving, as appropriate, representatives
of shipowners and seafarers.
8. Each Member which has ratified this Convention shall, in so far as practicable, advise its nationals on the possible problems of signing on a ship that flies the flag
of a State which has not ratified the Convention, until it is satisfied that standards equivalent to those fixed by this Convention are being applied. Measures taken to this effect by the Member that has ratified this Convention shall not be in contradiction with
the principle of free movement of workers stipulated by the treaties to which the two
States concerned may be parties.
9. Each Member which has ratified this Convention shall require that shipowners of ships that fly its flag, who use seafarer recruitment and placement services
based in countries or territories in which this Convention does not apply, ensure, as far
as practicable, that those services meet the requirements of this Standard.
10. Nothing in this Standard shall be understood as diminishing the obligations
and responsibilities of shipowners or of a Member with respect to ships that fly its flag.
Guideline B1.4 – Recruitment and placement
Guideline B1.4.1 – Organizational and operational guidelines
1. When fulfilling its obligations under Standard A1.4, paragraph 1, the competent authority should consider:
(a) taking the necessary measures to promote effective cooperation among seafarer
recruitment and placement services, whether public or private;
(b) the needs of the maritime industry at both the national and international levels,
when developing training programmes for seafarers that form the part of the
ship’s crew that is responsible for the ship’s safe navigation and pollution prevention operations, with the participation of shipowners, seafarers and the relevant
training institutions;
(c) making suitable arrangements for the cooperation of representative shipowners’
and seafarers’ organizations in the organization and operation of the public seafarer recruitment and placement services, where they exist;
(d) determining, with due regard to the right to privacy and the need to protect confidentiality, the conditions under which seafarers’ personal data may be processed by seafarer recruitment and placement services, including the collection,
storage, combination and communication of such data to third parties;
(e) maintaining an arrangement for the collection and analysis of all relevant information on the maritime labour market, including the current and prospective supply of seafarers that work as crew classified by age, sex, rank and qualifications,
and the industry’s requirements, the collection of data on age or sex being admissible only for statistical purposes or if used in the framework of a programme to
prevent discrimination based on age or sex;
(f) ensuring that the staff responsible for the supervision of public and private seafarer recruitment and placement services for ship’s crew with responsibility for
the ship’s safe navigation and pollution prevention operations have had adequate
training, including approved sea-service experience, and have relevant knowledge of the maritime industry, including the relevant maritime international instruments on training, certification and labour standards;
22

Minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship

(g)
(h)

prescribing operational standards and adopting codes of conduct and ethical
practices for seafarer recruitment and placement services; and
exercising supervision of the licensing or certification system on the basis of a system of quality standards.

2. In establishing the system referred to in Standard A1.4, paragraph 2, each
Member should consider requiring seafarer recruitment and placement services, established in its territory, to develop and maintain verifiable operational practices. These
operational practices for private seafarer recruitment and placement services and, to
the extent that they are applicable, for public seafarer recruitment and placement services should address the following matters:
(a) medical examinations, seafarers’ identity documents and such other items as may
be required for the seafarer to gain employment;
(b) maintaining, with due regard to the right to privacy and the need to protect confidentiality, full and complete records of the seafarers covered by their recruitment and placement system, which should include but not be limited to:
(i) the seafarers’ qualifications;
(ii) record of employment;
(iii) personal data relevant to employment; and
(iv) medical data relevant to employment;
(c) maintaining up-to-date lists of the ships for which the seafarer recruitment and
placement services provide seafarers and ensuring that there is a means by which
the services can be contacted in an emergency at all hours;
(d) procedures to ensure that seafarers are not subject to exploitation by the seafarer
recruitment and placement services or their personnel with regard to the offer of
engagement on particular ships or by particular companies;
(e) procedures to prevent the opportunities for exploitation of seafarers arising from
the issue of joining advances or any other financial transaction between the shipowner and the seafarers which are handled by the seafarer recruitment and placement services;
(f) clearly publicizing costs, if any, which the seafarer will be expected to bear in the
recruitment process;
(g) ensuring that seafarers are advised of any particular conditions applicable to the
job for which they are to be engaged and of the particular shipowner’s policies
relating to their employment;
(h) procedures which are in accordance with the principles of natural justice for dealing with cases of incompetence or indiscipline consistent with national laws and
practice and, where applicable, with collective agreements;
(i) procedures to ensure, as far as practicable, that all mandatory certificates and
documents submitted for employment are up to date and have not been fraudulently obtained and that employment references are verified;
(j) procedures to ensure that requests for information or advice by families of seafarers while the seafarers are at sea are dealt with promptly and sympathetically
and at no cost; and
(k) verifying that labour conditions on ships where seafarers are placed are in conformity with applicable collective bargaining agreements concluded between a
shipowner and a representative seafarers’ organization and, as a matter of policy,
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

supplying seafarers only to shipowners that offer terms and conditions of employment to seafarers which comply with applicable laws or regulations or collective agreements.
3. Consideration should be given to encouraging international cooperation
between Members and relevant organizations, such as:
(a) the systematic exchange of information on the maritime industry and labour market on a bilateral, regional and multilateral basis;
(b) the exchange of information on maritime labour legislation;
(c) the harmonization of policies, working methods and legislation governing recruitment and placement of seafarers;
(d) the improvement of procedures and conditions for the international recruitment
and placement of seafarers; and
(e) workforce planning, taking account of the supply of and demand for seafarers
and the requirements of the maritime industry.

24

TITLE 2. CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
Conditions of employment

Regulation 2.1 – Seafarers’ employment agreements
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers have a fair employment agreement
1. The terms and conditions for employment of a seafarer shall be set out or referred to in a clear written legally enforceable agreement and shall be consistent with
the standards set out in the Code.
2. Seafarers’ employment agreements shall be agreed to by the seafarer under
conditions which ensure that the seafarer has an opportunity to review and seek advice
on the terms and conditions in the agreement and freely accepts them before signing.
3. To the extent compatible with the Member’s national law and practice, seafarers’ employment agreements shall be understood to incorporate any applicable collective bargaining agreements.
Standard A2.1 – Seafarers’ employment agreements
1. Each Member shall adopt laws or regulations requiring that ships that fly its
flag comply with the following requirements:
(a) seafarers working on ships that fly its flag shall have a seafarers’ employment
agreement signed by both the seafarer and the shipowner or a representative of the
shipowner (or, where they are not employees, evidence of contractual or similar
arrangements) providing them with decent working and living conditions on board
the ship as required by this Convention;
(b) seafarers signing a seafarers’ employment agreement shall be given an opportunity to examine and seek advice on the agreement before signing, as well as such
other facilities as are necessary to ensure that they have freely entered into an
agreement with a sufficient understanding of their rights and responsibilities;
(c) the shipowner and seafarer concerned shall each have a signed original of the
seafarers’ employment agreement;
(d) measures shall be taken to ensure that clear information as to the conditions of
their employment can be easily obtained on board by seafarers, including the
ship’s master, and that such information, including a copy of the seafarers’ employment agreement, is also accessible for review by officers of a competent
authority, including those in ports to be visited; and
(e) seafarers shall be given a document containing a record of their employment on
board the ship.
2. Where a collective bargaining agreement forms all or part of a seafarers’ employment agreement, a copy of that agreement shall be available on board. Where the
language of the seafarers’ employment agreement and any applicable collective bargaining agreement is not in English, the following shall also be available in English
(except for ships engaged only in domestic voyages):
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

(a)
(b)

a copy of a standard form of the agreement; and
the portions of the collective bargaining agreement that are subject to a port
State inspection under Regulation 5.2.

3. The document referred to in paragraph 1(e) of this Standard shall not contain any statement as to the quality of the seafarers’ work or as to their wages. The form
of the document, the particulars to be recorded and the manner in which such particulars are to be entered, shall be determined by national law.
4. Each Member shall adopt laws and regulations specifying the matters that
are to be included in all seafarers’ employment agreements governed by its national
law. Seafarers’ employment agreements shall in all cases contain the following particulars:
(a) the seafarer’s full name, date of birth or age, and birthplace;
(b) the shipowner’s name and address;
(c) the place where and date when the seafarers’ employment agreement is entered
into;
(d) the capacity in which the seafarer is to be employed;
(e) the amount of the seafarer’s wages or, where applicable, the formula used for calculating them;
(f) the amount of paid annual leave or, where applicable, the formula used for calculating it;
(g) the termination of the agreement and the conditions thereof, including:
(i) if the agreement has been made for an indefinite period, the conditions entitling either party to terminate it, as well as the required notice period,
which shall not be less for the shipowner than for the seafarer;
(ii) if the agreement has been made for a definite period, the date fixed for its
expiry; and
(iii) if the agreement has been made for a voyage, the port of destination and
the time which has to expire after arrival before the seafarer should be discharged;
(h) the health and social security protection benefits to be provided to the seafarer
by the shipowner;
(i) the seafarer’s entitlement to repatriation;
(j) reference to the collective bargaining agreement, if applicable; and
(k) any other particulars which national law may require.
5. Each Member shall adopt laws or regulations establishing minimum notice
periods to be given by the seafarers and shipowners for the early termination of a seafarers’ employment agreement. The duration of these minimum periods shall be determined after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned,
but shall not be shorter than seven days.
6. A notice period shorter than the minimum may be given in circumstances
which are recognized under national law or regulations or applicable collective bargaining agreements as justifying termination of the employment agreement at shorter
notice or without notice. In determining those circumstances, each Member shall ensure that the need of the seafarer to terminate, without penalty, the employment agreement on shorter notice or without notice for compassionate or other urgent reasons is
taken into account.
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Conditions of employment

Guideline B2.1 – Seafarers’ employment agreements
Guideline B2.1.1 – Record of employment
1. In determining the particulars to be recorded in the record of employment
referred to in Standard A2.1, paragraph 1(e), each Member should ensure that this
document contains sufficient information, with a translation in English, to facilitate the
acquisition of further work or to satisfy the sea-service requirements for upgrading or
promotion. A seafarers’ discharge book may satisfy the requirements of paragraph
1(e) of that Standard.

Regulation 2.2 – Wages
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers are paid for their services
1. All seafarers shall be paid for their work regularly and in full in accordance
with their employment agreements.
Standard A2.2 – Wages
1. Each Member shall require that payments due to seafarers working on ships
that fly its flag are made at no greater than monthly intervals and in accordance with
any applicable collective agreement.
2. Seafarers shall be given a monthly account of the payments due and the
amounts paid, including wages, additional payments and the rate of exchange used
where payment has been made in a currency or at a rate different from the one agreed
to.
3. Each Member shall require that shipowners take measures, such as those set
out in paragraph 4 of this Standard, to provide seafarers with a means to transmit all
or part of their earnings to their families or dependants or legal beneficiaries.
4. Measures to ensure that seafarers are able to transmit their earnings to their
families include:
(a) a system for enabling seafarers, at the time of their entering employment or during it, to allot, if they so desire, a proportion of their wages for remittance at
regular intervals to their families by bank transfers or similar means; and
(b) a requirement that allotments should be remitted in due time and directly to the
person or persons nominated by the seafarers.
5. Any charge for the service under paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Standard shall be
reasonable in amount, and the rate of currency exchange, unless otherwise provided,
shall, in accordance with national laws or regulations, be at the prevailing market rate
or the official published rate and not unfavourable to the seafarer.
6. Each Member that adopts national laws or regulations governing seafarers’
wages shall give due consideration to the guidance provided in Part B of the Code.
Guideline B2.2 – Wages
Guideline B2.2.1 – Specific definitions
1.

For the purpose of this Guideline, the term:
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)
(e)

able seafarer means any seafarer who is deemed competent to perform any duty
which may be required of a rating serving in the deck department, other than the
duties of a supervisory or specialist rating, or who is defined as such by national
laws, regulations or practice, or by collective agreement;
basic pay or wages means the pay, however composed, for normal hours of work;
it does not include payments for overtime worked, bonuses, allowances, paid
leave or any other additional remuneration;
consolidated wage means a wage or salary which includes the basic pay and other
pay-related benefits; a consolidated wage may include compensation for all overtime hours which are worked and all other pay-related benefits, or it may include
only certain benefits in a partial consolidation;
hours of work means time during which seafarers are required to do work on account of the ship;
overtime means time worked in excess of the normal hours of work.

Guideline B2.2.2 – Calculation and payment
1. For seafarers whose remuneration includes separate compensation for overtime worked:
(a) for the purpose of calculating wages, the normal hours of work at sea and in port
should not exceed eight hours per day;
(b) for the purpose of calculating overtime, the number of normal hours per week
covered by the basic pay or wages should be prescribed by national laws or regulations, if not determined by collective agreements, but should not exceed
48 hours per week; collective agreements may provide for a different but not less
favourable treatment;
(c) the rate or rates of compensation for overtime, which should be not less than one
and one-quarter times the basic pay or wages per hour, should be prescribed by
national laws or regulations or by collective agreements, if applicable; and
(d) records of all overtime worked should be maintained by the master, or a person
assigned by the master, and endorsed by the seafarer at no greater than monthly
intervals.
(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

28

2. For seafarers whose wages are fully or partially consolidated:
the seafarers’ employment agreement should specify clearly, where appropriate,
the number of hours of work expected of the seafarer in return for this remuneration, and any additional allowances which might be due in addition to the consolidated wage, and in which circumstances;
where hourly overtime is payable for hours worked in excess of those covered by
the consolidated wage, the hourly rate should be not less than one and onequarter times the basic rate corresponding to the normal hours of work as defined in paragraph 1 of this Guideline; the same principle should be applied to the
overtime hours included in the consolidated wage;
remuneration for that portion of the fully or partially consolidated wage representing the normal hours of work as defined in paragraph 1(a) of this Guideline
should be no less than the applicable minimum wage; and
for seafarers whose wages are partially consolidated, records of all overtime
worked should be maintained and endorsed as provided for in paragraph 1(d) of
this Guideline.

Conditions of employment

3. National laws or regulations or collective agreements may provide for compensation for overtime or for work performed on the weekly day of rest and on public
holidays by at least equivalent time off duty and off the ship or additional leave in lieu
of remuneration or any other compensation so provided.
4. National laws and regulations adopted after consulting the representative
shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations or, as appropriate, collective agreements
should take into account the following principles:
(a) equal remuneration for work of equal value should apply to all seafarers employed on the same ship without discrimination based upon race, colour, sex,
religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin;
(b) the seafarers’ employment agreement specifying the applicable wages or wage
rates should be carried on board the ship; information on the amount of wages or
wage rates should be made available to each seafarer, either by providing at least
one signed copy of the relevant information to the seafarer in a language which
the seafarer understands, or by posting a copy of the agreement in a place accessible to seafarers or by some other appropriate means;
(c) wages should be paid in legal tender; where appropriate, they may be paid by
bank transfer, bank cheque, postal cheque or money order;
(d) on termination of engagement all remuneration due should be paid without undue delay;
(e) adequate penalties or other appropriate remedies should be imposed by the competent authority where shipowners unduly delay, or fail to make, payment of all
remuneration due;
(f) wages should be paid directly to seafarers’ designated bank accounts unless they
request otherwise in writing;
(g) subject to subparagraph (h) of this paragraph, the shipowner should impose no
limit on seafarers’ freedom to dispose of their remuneration;
(h) deduction from remuneration should be permitted only if:
(i) there is an express provision in national laws or regulations or in an applicable collective agreement and the seafarer has been informed, in the manner deemed most appropriate by the competent authority, of the conditions
for such deductions; and
(ii) the deductions do not in total exceed the limit that may have been established by national laws or regulations or collective agreements or court decisions for making such deductions;
(i) no deductions should be made from a seafarer’s remuneration in respect of obtaining or retaining employment;
(j) monetary fines against seafarers other than those authorized by national laws or
regulations, collective agreements or other measures should be prohibited;
(k) the competent authority should have the power to inspect stores and services
provided on board ship to ensure that fair and reasonable prices are applied for
the benefit of the seafarers concerned; and
(l) to the extent that seafarers’ claims for wages and other sums due in respect of
their employment are not secured in accordance with the provisions of the International Convention on Maritime Liens and Mortgages, 1993, such claims should
be protected in accordance with the Protection of Workers’ Claims (Employer’s
Insolvency) Convention, 1992 (No. 173).
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

5. Each Member should, after consulting with representative shipowners’ and
seafarers’ organizations, have procedures to investigate complaints relating to any matter contained in this Guideline.
Guideline B2.2.3 – Minimum wages
1. Without prejudice to the principle of free collective bargaining, each Member should, after consulting representative shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations,
establish procedures for determining minimum wages for seafarers. Representative
shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations should participate in the operation of such
procedures.
2. When establishing such procedures and in fixing minimum wages, due regard
should be given to international labour standards concerning minimum wage fixing, as
well as the following principles:
(a) the level of minimum wages should take into account the nature of maritime employment, crewing levels of ships, and seafarers’ normal hours of work; and
(b) the level of minimum wages should be adjusted to take into account changes in
the cost of living and in the needs of seafarers.
(a)
(b)

3. The competent authority should ensure:
by means of a system of supervision and sanctions, that wages are paid at not less
than the rate or rates fixed; and
that any seafarers who have been paid at a rate lower than the minimum wage are
enabled to recover, by an inexpensive and expeditious judicial or other procedure, the amount by which they have been underpaid.

Guideline B2.2.4 – Minimum monthly basic pay or wage figure for able seafarers
1. The basic pay or wages for a calendar month of service for an able seafarer
should be no less than the amount periodically set by the Joint Maritime Commission
or another body authorized by the Governing Body of the International Labour
Office. Upon a decision of the Governing Body, the Director-General shall notify any
revised amount to the Members of the Organization.
2. Nothing in this Guideline should be deemed to prejudice arrangements
agreed between shipowners or their organizations and seafarers’ organizations with regard to the regulation of standard minimum terms and conditions of employment, provided such terms and conditions are recognized by the competent authority.
Regulation 2.3 – Hours of work and hours of rest
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers have regulated hours of work or hours of rest
1. Each Member shall ensure that the hours of work or hours of rest for seafarers are regulated.
2. Each Member shall establish maximum hours of work or minimum hours of
rest over given periods that are consistent with the provisions in the Code.
Standard A2.3 – Hours of work and hours of rest
1.
30

For the purpose of this Standard, the term:

Conditions of employment

(a)
(b)

hours of work means time during which seafarers are required to do work on account of the ship;
hours of rest means time outside hours of work; this term does not include short
breaks.

2. Each Member shall within the limits set out in paragraphs 5 to 8 of this Standard fix either a maximum number of hours of work which shall not be exceeded in a
given period of time, or a minimum number of hours of rest which shall be provided in
a given period of time.
3. Each Member acknowledges that the normal working hours’ standard for
seafarers, like that for other workers, shall be based on an eight-hour day with one day
of rest per week and rest on public holidays. However, this shall not prevent the
Member from having procedures to authorize or register a collective agreement which
determines seafarers’ normal working hours on a basis no less favourable than this
standard.
4. In determining the national standards, each Member shall take account of the
danger posed by the fatigue of seafarers, especially those whose duties involve navigational safety and the safe and secure operation of the ship.
(a)

(b)

5. The limits on hours of work or rest shall be as follows:
maximum hours of work shall not exceed:
(i) 14 hours in any 24-hour period; and
(ii) 72 hours in any seven-day period;
or
minimum hours of rest shall not be less than:
(i) ten hours in any 24-hour period; and
(ii) 77 hours in any seven-day period.

6. Hours of rest may be divided into no more than two periods, one of which
shall be at least six hours in length, and the interval between consecutive periods of rest
shall not exceed 14 hours.
7. Musters, fire-fighting and lifeboat drills, and drills prescribed by national
laws and regulations and by international instruments, shall be conducted in a manner
that minimizes the disturbance of rest periods and does not induce fatigue.
8. When a seafarer is on call, such as when a machinery space is unattended, the
seafarer shall have an adequate compensatory rest period if the normal period of rest
is disturbed by call-outs to work.
9. If no collective agreement or arbitration award exists or if the competent
authority determines that the provisions in the agreement or award in respect of paragraph 7 or 8 of this Standard are inadequate, the competent authority shall determine
such provisions to ensure the seafarers concerned have sufficient rest.
10. Each Member shall require the posting, in an easily accessible place, of a
table with the shipboard working arrangements, which shall contain for every position
at least:
(a) the schedule of service at sea and service in port; and
(b) the maximum hours of work or the minimum hours of rest required by national
laws or regulations or applicable collective agreements.
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

11. The table referred to in paragraph 10 of this Standard shall be established in
a standardized format in the working language or languages of the ship and in English.
12. Each Member shall require that records of seafarers’ daily hours of work or
of their daily hours of rest be maintained to allow monitoring of compliance with paragraphs 5 to 11 inclusive of this Standard. The records shall be in a standardized format
established by the competent authority taking into account any available guidelines of
the International Labour Organization or shall be in any standard format prepared by
the Organization. They shall be in the languages required by paragraph 11 of this Standard. The seafarers shall receive a copy of the records pertaining to them which shall be
endorsed by the master, or a person authorized by the master, and by the seafarers.
13. Nothing in paragraphs 5 and 6 of this Standard shall prevent a Member from
having national laws or regulations or a procedure for the competent authority to
authorize or register collective agreements permitting exceptions to the limits set out.
Such exceptions shall, as far as possible, follow the provisions of this Standard but may
take account of more frequent or longer leave periods or the granting of compensatory
leave for watchkeeping seafarers or seafarers working on board ships on short voyages.
14. Nothing in this Standard shall be deemed to impair the right of the master
of a ship to require a seafarer to perform any hours of work necessary for the immediate safety of the ship, persons on board or cargo, or for the purpose of giving assistance
to other ships or persons in distress at sea. Accordingly, the master may suspend the
schedule of hours of work or hours of rest and require a seafarer to perform any hours
of work necessary until the normal situation has been restored. As soon as practicable
after the normal situation has been restored, the master shall ensure that any seafarers
who have performed work in a scheduled rest period are provided with an adequate
period of rest.
Guideline B2.3 – Hours of work and hours of rest
Guideline B2.3.1 – Young seafarers
1. At sea and in port the following provisions should apply to all young seafarers under the age of 18:
(a) working hours should not exceed eight hours per day and 40 hours per week and
overtime should be worked only where unavoidable for safety reasons;
(b) sufficient time should be allowed for all meals, and a break of at least one hour
for the main meal of the day should be assured; and
(c) a 15-minute rest period as soon as possible following each two hours of continuous work should be allowed.
2. Exceptionally, the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Guideline need not be
applied if:
(a) they are impracticable for young seafarers in the deck, engine room and catering
departments assigned to watchkeeping duties or working on a rostered shiftwork system; or
(b) the effective training of young seafarers in accordance with established programmes and schedules would be impaired.
3. Such exceptional situations should be recorded, with reasons, and signed by
the master.
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Conditions of employment

4. Paragraph 1 of this Guideline does not exempt young seafarers from the general obligation on all seafarers to work during any emergency as provided for in Standard A2.3, paragraph 14.

Regulation 2.4 – Entitlement to leave
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers have adequate leave
1. Each Member shall require that seafarers employed on ships that fly its flag
are given paid annual leave under appropriate conditions, in accordance with the provisions in the Code.
2. Seafarers shall be granted shore leave to benefit their health and well-being
and consistent with the operational requirements of their positions.
Standard A2.4 – Entitlement to leave
1. Each Member shall adopt laws and regulations determining the minimum
standards for annual leave for seafarers serving on ships that fly its flag, taking proper
account of the special needs of seafarers with respect to such leave.
2. Subject to any collective agreement or laws or regulations providing for an
appropriate method of calculation that takes account of the special needs of seafarers
in this respect, the annual leave with pay entitlement shall be calculated on the basis of
a minimum of 2.5 calendar days per month of employment. The manner in which the
length of service is calculated shall be determined by the competent authority or
through the appropriate machinery in each country. Justified absences from work shall
not be considered as annual leave.
3. Any agreement to forgo the minimum annual leave with pay prescribed in
this Standard, except in cases provided for by the competent authority, shall be
prohibited.
Guideline B2.4 – Entitlement to leave
Guideline B2.4.1 – Calculation of entitlement
1. Under conditions as determined by the competent authority or through the
appropriate machinery in each country, service off-articles should be counted as part
of the period of service.
2. Under conditions as determined by the competent authority or in an applicable collective agreement, absence from work to attend an approved maritime vocational training course or for such reasons as illness or injury or for maternity should be
counted as part of the period of service.
3. The level of pay during annual leave should be at the seafarer’s normal level
of remuneration provided for by national laws or regulations or in the applicable seafarers’ employment agreement. For seafarers employed for periods shorter than one
year or in the event of termination of the employment relationship, entitlement to
leave should be calculated on a pro-rata basis.
4.

The following should not be counted as part of annual leave with pay:
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

(a)
(b)

(c)
(d)

public and customary holidays recognized as such in the flag State, whether or
not they fall during the annual leave with pay;
periods of incapacity for work resulting from illness or injury or from maternity,
under conditions as determined by the competent authority or through the appropriate machinery in each country;
temporary shore leave granted to a seafarer while under an employment agreement; and
compensatory leave of any kind, under conditions as determined by the competent authority or through the appropriate machinery in each country.
Guideline B2.4.2 – Taking of annual leave

1. The time at which annual leave is to be taken should, unless it is fixed by
regulation, collective agreement, arbitration award or other means consistent with
national practice, be determined by the shipowner after consultation and, as far as possible, in agreement with the seafarers concerned or their representatives.
2. Seafarers should in principle have the right to take annual leave in the place
with which they have a substantial connection, which would normally be the same as the
place to which they are entitled to be repatriated. Seafarers should not be required without their consent to take annual leave due to them in another place except under the provisions of a seafarers’ employment agreement or of national laws or regulations.
3. If seafarers are required to take their annual leave from a place other than
that permitted by paragraph 2 of this Guideline, they should be entitled to free transportation to the place where they were engaged or recruited, whichever is nearer their
home; subsistence and other costs directly involved should be for the account of the
shipowner; the travel time involved should not be deducted from the annual leave with
pay due to the seafarer.
4. A seafarer taking annual leave should be recalled only in cases of extreme
emergency and with the seafarer’s consent.
Guideline B2.4.3 – Division and accumulation
1. The division of the annual leave with pay into parts, or the accumulation of
such annual leave due in respect of one year together with a subsequent period of leave,
may be authorized by the competent authority or through the appropriate machinery in
each country.
2. Subject to paragraph 1 of this Guideline and unless otherwise provided in an
agreement applicable to the shipowner and the seafarer concerned, the annual leave
with pay recommended in this Guideline should consist of an uninterrupted period.
Guideline B2.4.4 – Young seafarers
1. Special measures should be considered with respect to young seafarers under
the age of 18 who have served six months or any other shorter period of time under a collective agreement or seafarers’ employment agreement without leave on a foreign-going
ship which has not returned to their country of residence in that time, and will not return
in the subsequent three months of the voyage. Such measures could consist of their repatriation at no expense to themselves to the place of original engagement in their country of residence for the purpose of taking any leave earned during the voyage.
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Conditions of employment

Regulation 2.5 – Repatriation
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers are able to return home
1. Seafarers have a right to be repatriated at no cost to themselves in the circumstances and under the conditions specified in the Code.
2. Each Member shall require ships that fly its flag to provide financial security
to ensure that seafarers are duly repatriated in accordance with the Code.
Standard A2.5 – Repatriation
1. Each Member shall ensure that seafarers on ships that fly its flag are entitled
to repatriation in the following circumstances:
(a) if the seafarers’ employment agreement expires while they are abroad;
(b) when the seafarers’ employment agreement is terminated:
(i) by the shipowner; or
(ii) by the seafarer for justified reasons; and also
(c) when the seafarers are no longer able to carry out their duties under their
employment agreement or cannot be expected to carry them out in the specific
circumstances.
2. Each Member shall ensure that there are appropriate provisions in its laws
and regulations or other measures or in collective bargaining agreements, prescribing:
(a) the circumstances in which seafarers are entitled to repatriation in accordance
with paragraph 1(b) and (c) of this Standard;
(b) the maximum duration of service periods on board following which a seafarer is
entitled to repatriation – such periods to be less than 12 months; and
(c) the precise entitlements to be accorded by shipowners for repatriation, including
those relating to the destinations of repatriation, the mode of transport, the items
of expense to be covered and other arrangements to be made by shipowners.
3. Each Member shall prohibit shipowners from requiring that seafarers make an
advance payment towards the cost of repatriation at the beginning of their employment,
and also from recovering the cost of repatriation from the seafarers’ wages or other entitlements except where the seafarer has been found, in accordance with national laws or
regulations or other measures or applicable collective bargaining agreements, to be in
serious default of the seafarer’s employment obligations.
4. National laws and regulations shall not prejudice any right of the shipowner
to recover the cost of repatriation under third-party contractual arrangements.
5. If a shipowner fails to make arrangements for or to meet the cost of repatriation of seafarers who are entitled to be repatriated:
(a) the competent authority of the Member whose flag the ship flies shall arrange for
repatriation of the seafarers concerned; if it fails to do so, the State from which
the seafarers are to be repatriated or the State of which they are a national may
arrange for their repatriation and recover the cost from the Member whose flag
the ship flies;
(b) costs incurred in repatriating seafarers shall be recoverable from the shipowner
by the Member whose flag the ship flies;
(c) the expenses of repatriation shall in no case be a charge upon the seafarers, except as provided for in paragraph 3 of this Standard.
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

6. Taking into account applicable international instruments, including the International Convention on Arrest of Ships, 1999, a Member which has paid the cost of repatriation pursuant to this Code may detain, or request the detention of, the ships of
the shipowner concerned until the reimbursement has been made in accordance with
paragraph 5 of this Standard.
7. Each Member shall facilitate the repatriation of seafarers serving on ships
which call at its ports or pass through its territorial or internal waters, as well as their
replacement on board.
8. In particular, a Member shall not refuse the right of repatriation to any seafarer because of the financial circumstances of a shipowner or because of the shipowner’s inability or unwillingness to replace a seafarer.
9. Each Member shall require that ships that fly its flag carry and make available to seafarers a copy of the applicable national provisions regarding repatriation
written in an appropriate language.
Guideline B2.5 – Repatriation
Guideline B2.5.1 – Entitlement
(a)

(b)

1. Seafarers should be entitled to repatriation:
in the case covered by Standard A2.5, paragraph 1(a), upon the expiry of the
period of notice given in accordance with the provisions of the seafarers’ employment agreement;
in the cases covered by Standard A2.5, paragraph 1(b) and (c):
(i) in the event of illness or injury or other medical condition which requires
their repatriation when found medically fit to travel;
(ii) in the event of shipwreck;
(iii) in the event of the shipowner not being able to continue to fulfil their legal
or contractual obligations as an employer of the seafarers by reason of insolvency, sale of ship, change of ship’s registration or any other similar
reason;
(iv) in the event of a ship being bound for a war zone, as defined by national
laws or regulations or seafarers’ employment agreements, to which the seafarer does not consent to go; and
(v) in the event of termination or interruption of employment in accordance
with an industrial award or collective agreement, or termination of employment for any other similar reason.

2. In determining the maximum duration of service periods on board following
which a seafarer is entitled to repatriation, in accordance with this Code, account
should be taken of factors affecting the seafarers’ working environment. Each Member
should seek, wherever possible, to reduce these periods in the light of technological
changes and developments and might be guided by any recommendations made on the
matter by the Joint Maritime Commission.
3. The costs to be borne by the shipowner for repatriation under Standard A2.5
should include at least the following:
(a) passage to the destination selected for repatriation in accordance with paragraph 6 of this Guideline;
36

Conditions of employment

(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)

accommodation and food from the moment the seafarers leave the ship until they
reach the repatriation destination;
pay and allowances from the moment the seafarers leave the ship until they reach
the repatriation destination, if provided for by national laws or regulations or collective agreements;
transportation of 30 kg of the seafarers’ personal luggage to the repatriation
destination; and
medical treatment when necessary until the seafarers are medically fit to travel
to the repatriation destination.

4. Time spent awaiting repatriation and repatriation travel time should not be
deducted from paid leave accrued to the seafarers.
5. Shipowners should be required to continue to cover the costs of repatriation
until the seafarers concerned are landed at a destination prescribed pursuant to this
Code or are provided with suitable employment on board a ship proceeding to one of
those destinations.
6. Each Member should require that shipowners take responsibility for repatriation arrangements by appropriate and expeditious means. The normal mode of transport should be by air. The Member should prescribe the destinations to which seafarers
may be repatriated. The destinations should include the countries with which seafarers
may be deemed to have a substantial connection including:
(a) the place at which the seafarer agreed to enter into the engagement;
(b) the place stipulated by collective agreement;
(c) the seafarer’s country of residence; or
(d) such other place as may be mutually agreed at the time of engagement.
7. Seafarers should have the right to choose from among the prescribed destinations the place to which they are to be repatriated.
8. The entitlement to repatriation may lapse if the seafarers concerned do not
claim it within a reasonable period of time to be defined by national laws or regulations
or collective agreements.
Guideline B2.5.2 – Implementation by Members
1. Every possible practical assistance should be given to a seafarer stranded in
a foreign port pending repatriation and in the event of delay in the repatriation of the
seafarer, the competent authority in the foreign port should ensure that the consular
or local representative of the flag State and the seafarer’s State of nationality or State
of residence, as appropriate, is informed immediately.
(a)

2. Each Member should have regard to whether proper provision is made:
for the return of seafarers employed on a ship that flies the flag of a foreign country
who are put ashore in a foreign port for reasons for which they are not responsible:
(i) to the port at which the seafarer concerned was engaged; or
(ii) to a port in the seafarer’s State of nationality or State of residence, as appropriate; or
(iii) to another port agreed upon between the seafarer and the master or shipowner, with the approval of the competent authority or under other appropriate safeguards;
37

Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

(b)

for medical care and maintenance of seafarers employed on a ship that flies the
flag of a foreign country who are put ashore in a foreign port in consequence of
sickness or injury incurred in the service of the ship and not due to their own wilful misconduct.

3. If, after young seafarers under the age of 18 have served on a ship for at least
four months during their first foreign-going voyage, it becomes apparent that they are
unsuited to life at sea, they should be given the opportunity of being repatriated at no
expense to themselves from the first suitable port of call in which there are consular
services of the flag State, or the State of nationality or residence of the young seafarer.
Notification of any such repatriation, with the reasons therefor, should be given to the
authority which issued the papers enabling the young seafarers concerned to take up
seagoing employment.
Regulation 2.6 – Seafarer compensation for the ship’s loss or foundering
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers are compensated when a ship is lost
or has foundered
1. Seafarers are entitled to adequate compensation in the case of injury, loss or
unemployment arising from the ship’s loss or foundering.
Standard A2.6 – Seafarer compensation for the ship’s loss or foundering
1. Each Member shall make rules ensuring that, in every case of loss or foundering of any ship, the shipowner shall pay to each seafarer on board an indemnity
against unemployment resulting from such loss or foundering.
2. The rules referred to in paragraph 1 of this Standard shall be without prejudice to any other rights a seafarer may have under the national law of the Member concerned for losses or injuries arising from a ship’s loss or foundering.
Guideline B2.6 – Seafarer compensation for the ship’s loss or foundering
Guideline B2.6.1 – Calculation of indemnity against unemployment
1. The indemnity against unemployment resulting from a ship’s foundering or
loss should be paid for the days during which the seafarer remains in fact unemployed
at the same rate as the wages payable under the employment agreement, but the total
indemnity payable to any one seafarer may be limited to two months’ wages.
2. Each Member should ensure that seafarers have the same legal remedies for
recovering such indemnities as they have for recovering arrears of wages earned during
the service.
Regulation 2.7 – Manning levels
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers work on board ships with sufficient personnel
for the safe, efficient and secure operation of the ship
1. Each Member shall require that all ships that fly its flag have a sufficient
number of seafarers employed on board to ensure that ships are operated safely, effi38

Conditions of employment

ciently and with due regard to security under all conditions, taking into account concerns about seafarer fatigue and the particular nature and conditions of the voyage.
Standard A2.7 – Manning levels
1. Each Member shall require that all ships that fly its flag have a sufficient
number of seafarers on board to ensure that ships are operated safely, efficiently and
with due regard to security. Every ship shall be manned by a crew that is adequate, in
terms of size and qualifications, to ensure the safety and security of the ship and its personnel, under all operating conditions, in accordance with the minimum safe manning
document or an equivalent issued by the competent authority, and to comply with the
standards of this Convention.
2. When determining, approving or revising manning levels, the competent
authority shall take into account the need to avoid or minimize excessive hours of work
to ensure sufficient rest and to limit fatigue, as well as the principles in applicable
international instruments, especially those of the International Maritime Organization, on manning levels.
3. When determining manning levels, the competent authority shall take into
account all the requirements within Regulation 3.2 and Standard A3.2 concerning food
and catering.
Guideline B2.7 – Manning levels
Guideline B2.7.1 – Dispute settlement
1. Each Member should maintain, or satisfy itself that there is maintained, efficient machinery for the investigation and settlement of complaints or disputes concerning the manning levels on a ship.
2. Representatives of shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations should participate, with or without other persons or authorities, in the operation of such machinery.
Regulation 2.8 – Career and skill development and opportunities
for seafarers’ employment
Purpose: To promote career and skill development and employment opportunities
for seafarers
1. Each Member shall have national policies to promote employment in the
maritime sector and to encourage career and skill development and greater employment opportunities for seafarers domiciled in its territory.
Standard A2.8 – Career and skill development and employment opportunities
for seafarers
1. Each Member shall have national policies that encourage career and skill development and employment opportunities for seafarers, in order to provide the maritime sector with a stable and competent workforce.
2. The aim of the policies referred to in paragraph 1 of this Standard shall be to help
seafarers strengthen their competencies, qualifications and employment opportunities.
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

3. Each Member shall, after consulting the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned, establish clear objectives for the vocational guidance, education
and training of seafarers whose duties on board ship primarily relate to the safe operation and navigation of the ship, including ongoing training.
Guideline B2.8 – Career and skill development and employment opportunities
for seafarers
Guideline B2.8.1 – Measures to promote career and skill development and employment
opportunities for seafarers
(a)
(b)
(c)

1. Measures to achieve the objectives set out in Standard A2.8 might include:
agreements providing for career development and skills training with a shipowner or an organization of shipowners; or
arrangements for promoting employment through the establishment and maintenance of registers or lists, by categories, of qualified seafarers; or
promotion of opportunities, both on board and ashore, for further training and
education of seafarers to provide for skill development and portable competencies in order to secure and retain decent work, to improve individual employment
prospects and to meet the changing technology and labour market conditions of
the maritime industry.

Guideline B2.8.2 – Register of seafarers
1. Where registers or lists govern the employment of seafarers, these registers
or lists should include all occupational categories of seafarers in a manner determined
by national law or practice or by collective agreement.
2. Seafarers on such a register or list should have priority of engagement for
seafaring.
3. Seafarers on such a register or list should be required to be available for work
in a manner to be determined by national law or practice or by collective agreement.
4. To the extent that national laws or regulations permit, the number of seafarers on such registers or lists should be periodically reviewed so as to achieve levels
adapted to the needs of the maritime industry.
5. When a reduction in the number of seafarers on such a register or list
becomes necessary, all appropriate measures should be taken to prevent or minimize
detrimental effects on seafarers, account being taken of the economic and social situation of the country concerned.

40

TITLE 3. ACCOMMODATION, RECREATIONAL FACILITIES, FOOD AND CATERING
Accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering

Regulation 3.1 – Accommodation and recreational facilities
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers have decent accommodation and recreational
facilities on board
1. Each Member shall ensure that ships that fly its flag provide and maintain
decent accommodations and recreational facilities for seafarers working or living on
board, or both, consistent with promoting the seafarers’ health and well-being.
2. The requirements in the Code implementing this Regulation which relate to
ship construction and equipment apply only to ships constructed on or after the date
when this Convention comes into force for the Member concerned. For ships constructed before that date, the requirements relating to ship construction and equipment that are set out in the Accommodation of Crews Convention (Revised), 1949
(No. 92), and the Accommodation of Crews (Supplementary Provisions) Convention,
1970 (No. 133), shall continue to apply to the extent that they were applicable, prior to
that date, under the law or practice of the Member concerned. A ship shall be deemed
to have been constructed on the date when its keel is laid or when it is at a similar stage
of construction.
3. Unless expressly provided otherwise, any requirement under an amendment
to the Code relating to the provision of seafarer accommodation and recreational
facilities shall apply only to ships constructed on or after the amendment takes effect
for the Member concerned.
Standard A3.1 – Accommodation and recreational facilities
1. Each Member shall adopt laws and regulations requiring that ships that fly
its flag:
(a) meet minimum standards to ensure that any accommodation for seafarers, working or living on board, or both, is safe, decent and in accordance with the relevant
provisions of this Standard; and
(b) are inspected to ensure initial and ongoing compliance with those standards.
2. In developing and applying the laws and regulations to implement this Standard, the competent authority, after consulting the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned, shall:
(a) take into account Regulation 4.3 and the associated Code provisions on health
and safety protection and accident prevention, in light of the specific needs of
seafarers that both live and work on board ship, and
(b) give due consideration to the guidance contained in Part B of this Code.
(a)
(b)

3. The inspections required under Regulation 5.1.4 shall be carried out when:
a ship is registered or re-registered; or
the seafarer accommodation on a ship has been substantially altered.
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

4. The competent authority shall pay particular attention to ensuring implementation of the requirements of this Convention relating to:
(a) the size of rooms and other accommodation spaces;
(b) heating and ventilation;
(c) noise and vibration and other ambient factors;
(d) sanitary facilities;
(e) lighting; and
(f) hospital accommodation.
5. The competent authority of each Member shall require that ships that fly its
flag meet the minimum standards for on-board accommodation and recreational facilities that are set out in paragraphs 6 to 17 of this Standard.
(a)

(b)
(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)
(h)

42

6. With respect to general requirements for accommodation:
there shall be adequate headroom in all seafarer accommodation; the minimum
permitted headroom in all seafarer accommodation where full and free movement is necessary shall be not less than 203 centimetres; the competent authority
may permit some limited reduction in headroom in any space, or part of any
space, in such accommodation where it is satisfied that such reduction:
(i) is reasonable; and
(ii) will not result in discomfort to the seafarers;
the accommodation shall be adequately insulated;
in ships other than passenger ships, as defined in Regulation 2(e) and (f) of the
International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as amended (the
“SOLAS Convention”), sleeping rooms shall be situated above the load line
amidships or aft, except that in exceptional cases, where the size, type or intended
service of the ship renders any other location impracticable, sleeping rooms may
be located in the fore part of the ship, but in no case forward of the collision bulkhead;
in passenger ships, and in special ships constructed in compliance with the IMO
Code of Safety for Special Purpose Ships, 1983, and subsequent versions (hereinafter called “special purpose ships”), the competent authority may, on condition
that satisfactory arrangements are made for lighting and ventilation, permit the
location of sleeping rooms below the load line, but in no case shall they be located
immediately beneath working alleyways;
there shall be no direct openings into sleeping rooms from cargo and machinery
spaces or from galleys, storerooms, drying rooms or communal sanitary areas;
that part of a bulkhead separating such places from sleeping rooms and external
bulkheads shall be efficiently constructed of steel or other approved substance
and be watertight and gas-tight;
the materials used to construct internal bulkheads, panelling and sheeting, floors
and joinings shall be suitable for the purpose and conducive to ensuring a healthy
environment;
proper lighting and sufficient drainage shall be provided; and
accommodation and recreational and catering facilities shall meet the requirements in Regulation 4.3, and the related provisions in the Code, on health and
safety protection and accident prevention, with respect to preventing the risk of
exposure to hazardous levels of noise and vibration and other ambient factors

Accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering

and chemicals on board ships, and to provide an acceptable occupational and onboard living environment for seafarers.
(a)
(b)

(c)
(d)

7. With respect to requirements for ventilation and heating:
sleeping rooms and mess rooms shall be adequately ventilated;
ships, except those regularly engaged in trade where temperate climatic conditions do not require this, shall be equipped with air conditioning for seafarer
accommodation, for any separate radio room and for any centralized machinery
control room;
all sanitary spaces shall have ventilation to the open air, independently of any
other part of the accommodation; and
adequate heat through an appropriate heating system shall be provided, except
in ships exclusively on voyages in tropical climates.

8. With respect to requirements for lighting, subject to such special arrangements as may be permitted in passenger ships, sleeping rooms and mess rooms shall be
lit by natural light and provided with adequate artificial light.
9. When sleeping accommodation on board ships is required, the following requirements for sleeping rooms apply:
(a) in ships other than passenger ships, an individual sleeping room shall be provided
for each seafarer; in the case of ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage or special
purpose ships, exemptions from this requirement may be granted by the competent authority after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned;
(b) separate sleeping rooms shall be provided for men and for women;
(c) sleeping rooms shall be of adequate size and properly equipped so as to ensure
reasonable comfort and to facilitate tidiness;
(d) a separate berth for each seafarer shall in all circumstances be provided;
(e) the minimum inside dimensions of a berth shall be at least 198 centimetres by
80 centimetres;
(f) in single berth seafarers’ sleeping rooms the floor area shall not be less than:
(i) 4.5 square metres in ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage;
(ii) 5.5 square metres in ships of 3,000 gross tonnage or over but less than 10,000
gross tonnage;
(iii) 7 square metres in ships of 10,000 gross tonnage or over;
(g) however, in order to provide single berth sleeping rooms on ships of less than
3,000 gross tonnage, passenger ships and special purpose ships, the competent
authority may allow a reduced floor area;
(h) in ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage other than passenger ships and special
purpose ships, sleeping rooms may be occupied by a maximum of two seafarers;
the floor area of such sleeping rooms shall not be less than 7 square metres;
(i) on passenger ships and special purpose ships the floor area of sleeping rooms for
seafarers not performing the duties of ships’ officers shall not be less than:
(i) 7.5 square metres in rooms accommodating two persons;
(ii) 11.5 square metres in rooms accommodating three persons;
(iii) 14.5 square metres in rooms accommodating four persons;
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

(j)

on special purpose ships sleeping rooms may accommodate more than four persons; the floor area of such sleeping rooms shall not be less than 3.6 square metres
per person;
(k) on ships other than passenger ships and special purpose ships, sleeping rooms for
seafarers who perform the duties of ships’ officers, where no private sitting room
or day room is provided, the floor area per person shall not be less than:
(i) 7.5 square metres in ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage;
(ii) 8.5 square metres in ships of 3,000 gross tonnage or over but less than 10,000
gross tonnage;
(iii) 10 square metres in ships of 10,000 gross tonnage or over;
(l) on passenger ships and special purpose ships the floor area for seafarers performing the duties of ships’ officers where no private sitting room or day room is provided, the floor area per person for junior officers shall not be less than 7.5 square
metres and for senior officers not less than 8.5 square metres; junior officers are
understood to be at the operational level, and senior officers at the management
level;
(m) the master, the chief engineer and the chief navigating officer shall have, in addition to their sleeping rooms, an adjoining sitting room, day room or equivalent
additional space; ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage may be exempted by the
competent authority from this requirement after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned;
(n) for each occupant, the furniture shall include a clothes locker of ample space
(minimum 475 litres) and a drawer or equivalent space of not less than 56 litres;
if the drawer is incorporated in the clothes locker then the combined minimum
volume of the clothes locker shall be 500 litres; it shall be fitted with a shelf and
be able to be locked by the occupant so as to ensure privacy;
(o) each sleeping room shall be provided with a table or desk, which may be of the
fixed, drop-leaf or slide-out type, and with comfortable seating accommodation
as necessary.
(a)

(b)

(a)

(b)

44

10. With respect to requirements for mess rooms:
mess rooms shall be located apart from the sleeping rooms and as close as practicable to the galley; ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage may be exempted by the
competent authority from this requirement after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned; and
mess rooms shall be of adequate size and comfort and properly furnished and
equipped (including ongoing facilities for refreshment), taking account of the
number of seafarers likely to use them at any one time; provision shall be made
for separate or common mess room facilities as appropriate.
11. With respect to requirements for sanitary facilities:
all seafarers shall have convenient access on the ship to sanitary facilities meeting
minimum standards of health and hygiene and reasonable standards of comfort,
with separate sanitary facilities being provided for men and for women;
there shall be sanitary facilities within easy access of the navigating bridge and
the machinery space or near the engine room control centre; ships of less than
3,000 gross tonnage may be exempted by the competent authority from this requirement after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations
concerned;

Accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering

(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)

in all ships a minimum of one toilet, one wash basin and one tub or shower or
both for every six persons or less who do not have personal facilities shall be provided at a convenient location;
with the exception of passenger ships, each sleeping room shall be provided with
a washbasin having hot and cold running fresh water, except where such a washbasin is situated in the private bathroom provided;
in passenger ships normally engaged on voyages of not more than four hours’
duration, consideration may be given by the competent authority to special
arrangements or to a reduction in the number of facilities required; and
hot and cold running fresh water shall be available in all wash places.

12. With respect to requirements for hospital accommodation, ships carrying 15
or more seafarers and engaged in a voyage of more than three days’ duration shall provide separate hospital accommodation to be used exclusively for medical purposes; the
competent authority may relax this requirement for ships engaged in coastal trade; in
approving on-board hospital accommodation, the competent authority shall ensure
that the accommodation will, in all weathers, be easy of access, provide comfortable
housing for the occupants and be conducive to their receiving prompt and proper
attention.
13.

Appropriately situated and furnished laundry facilities shall be available.

14. All ships shall have a space or spaces on open deck to which the seafarers
can have access when off duty, which are of adequate area having regard to the size of
the ship and the number of seafarers on board.
15. All ships shall be provided with separate offices or a common ship’s office
for use by deck and engine departments; ships of less than 3,000 gross tonnage may be
exempted by the competent authority from this requirement after consultation with
the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned.
16. Ships regularly trading to mosquito-infested ports shall be fitted with appropriate devices as required by the competent authority.
17. Appropriate seafarers’ recreational facilities, amenities and services, as
adapted to meet the special needs of seafarers who must live and work on ships, shall
be provided on board for the benefit of all seafarers, taking into account Regulation
4.3 and the associated Code provisions on health and safety protection and accident
prevention.
18. The competent authority shall require frequent inspections to be carried
out on board ships, by or under the authority of the master, to ensure that seafarer accommodation is clean, decently habitable and maintained in a good state of repair. The
results of each such inspection shall be recorded and be available for review.
19. In the case of ships where there is need to take account, without discrimination, of the interests of seafarers having differing and distinctive religious and social
practices, the competent authority may, after consultation with the shipowners’ and
seafarers’ organizations concerned, permit fairly applied variations in respect of this
Standard on condition that such variations do not result in overall facilities less favourable than those which would result from the application of this Standard.
20. Each Member may, after consultation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’
organizations concerned, exempt ships of less than 200 gross tonnage where it is
reasonable to do so, taking account of the size of the ship and the number of persons
on board in relation to the requirements of the following provisions of this Standard:
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

(a)
(b)

paragraphs 7(b), 11(d) and 13; and
paragraph 9(f) and (h) to (l) inclusive, with respect to floor area only.

21. Any exemptions with respect to the requirements of this Standard may be
made only where they are expressly permitted in this Standard and only for particular
circumstances in which such exemptions can be clearly justified on strong grounds and
subject to protecting the seafarers’ health and safety.
Guideline B3.1 – Accommodation and recreational facilities
Guideline B3.1.1 – Design and construction
1. External bulkheads of sleeping rooms and mess rooms should be adequately
insulated. All machinery casings and all boundary bulkheads of galleys and other
spaces in which heat is produced should be adequately insulated where there is a possibility of resulting heat effects in adjoining accommodation or passageways. Measures
should also be taken to provide protection from heat effects of steam or hot-water
service pipes or both.
2. Sleeping rooms, mess rooms, recreation rooms and alleyways in the accommodation space should be adequately insulated to prevent condensation or overheating.
3. The bulkhead surfaces and deckheads should be of material with a surface
easily kept clean. No form of construction likely to harbour vermin should be used.
4. The bulkhead surfaces and deckheads in sleeping rooms and mess rooms
should be capable of being easily kept clean and light in colour with a durable, nontoxic finish.
5. The decks in all seafarer accommodation should be of approved material and
construction and should provide a non-slip surface impervious to damp and easily kept
clean.
6. Where the floorings are made of composite materials, the joints with the
sides should be profiled to avoid crevices.
Guideline B3.1.2 – Ventilation
1. The system of ventilation for sleeping rooms and mess rooms should be controlled so as to maintain the air in a satisfactory condition and to ensure a sufficiency
of air movement in all conditions of weather and climate.
2. Air-conditioning systems, whether of a centralized or individual unit type,
should be designed to:
(a) maintain the air at a satisfactory temperature and relative humidity as compared
to outside air conditions, ensure a sufficiency of air changes in all air-conditioned
spaces, take account of the particular characteristics of operations at sea and not
produce excessive noises or vibrations; and
(b) facilitate easy cleaning and disinfection to prevent or control the spread of
disease.
3. Power for the operation of the air conditioning and other aids to ventilation
required by the preceding paragraphs of this Guideline should be available at all times
46

Accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering

when seafarers are living or working on board and conditions so require. However, this
power need not be provided from an emergency source.
Guideline B3.1.3 – Heating
1. The system of heating the seafarer accommodation should be in operation at
all times when seafarers are living or working on board and conditions require its use.
2. In all ships in which a heating system is required, the heating should be by
means of hot water, warm air, electricity, steam or equivalent. However, within the accommodation area, steam should not be used as a medium for heat transmission. The
heating system should be capable of maintaining the temperature in seafarer accommodation at a satisfactory level under normal conditions of weather and climate likely
to be met within the trade in which the ship is engaged. The competent authority
should prescribe the standard to be provided.
3. Radiators and other heating apparatus should be placed and, where necessary, shielded so as to avoid risk of fire or danger or discomfort to the occupants.
Guideline B3.1.4 – Lighting
1. In all ships, electric light should be provided in the seafarer accommodation.
If there are not two independent sources of electricity for lighting, additional lighting
should be provided by properly constructed lamps or lighting apparatus for emergency
use.
2. In sleeping rooms an electric reading lamp should be installed at the head of
each berth.
3. Suitable standards of natural and artificial lighting should be fixed by the
competent authority.
Guideline B3.1.5 – Sleeping rooms
1. There should be adequate berth arrangements on board, making it as comfortable as possible for the seafarer and any partner who may accompany the seafarer.
2. Where the size of the ship, the activity in which it is to be engaged and its layout make it reasonable and practicable, sleeping rooms should be planned and
equipped with a private bathroom, including a toilet, so as to provide reasonable comfort for the occupants and to facilitate tidiness.
3. As far as practicable, sleeping rooms of seafarers should be so arranged that
watches are separated and that no seafarers working during the day share a room with
watchkeepers.
4. In the case of seafarers performing the duty of petty officers there should be
no more than two persons per sleeping room.
5. Consideration should be given to extending the facility referred to in Standard A3.1, paragraph 9(m), to the second engineer officer when practicable.
6. Space occupied by berths and lockers, chests of drawers and seats should be
included in the measurement of the floor area. Small or irregularly shaped spaces
which do not add effectively to the space available for free movement and cannot be
used for installing furniture should be excluded.
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

7. Berths should not be arranged in tiers of more than two; in the case of berths
placed along the ship’s side, there should be only a single tier where a sidelight is situated above a berth.
8. The lower berth in a double tier should be not less than 30 centimetres above
the floor; the upper berth should be placed approximately midway between the bottom
of the lower berth and the lower side of the deckhead beams.
9. The framework and the lee-board, if any, of a berth should be of approved
material, hard, smooth, and not likely to corrode or to harbour vermin.
10. If tubular frames are used for the construction of berths, they should be
completely sealed and without perforations which would give access to vermin.
11. Each berth should be fitted with a comfortable mattress with cushioning
bottom or a combined cushioning mattress, including a spring bottom or a spring mattress. The mattress and cushioning material used should be made of approved material.
Stuffing of material likely to harbour vermin should not be used.
12. When one berth is placed over another, a dust-proof bottom should be fitted beneath the bottom mattress or spring bottom of the upper berth.
13.
corrode.

The furniture should be of smooth, hard material not liable to warp or

14.
lights.

Sleeping rooms should be fitted with curtains or equivalent for the side-

15. Sleeping rooms should be fitted with a mirror, small cabinets for toilet
requisites, a book rack and a sufficient number of coat hooks.
Guideline B3.1.6 – Mess rooms
1. Mess room facilities may be either common or separate. The decision in this
respect should be taken after consultation with seafarers’ and shipowners’ representatives and subject to the approval of the competent authority. Account should be taken
of factors such as the size of the ship and the distinctive cultural, religious and social
needs of the seafarers.
2. Where separate mess room facilities are to be provided to seafarers, then separate mess rooms should be provided for:
(a) master and officers; and
(b) petty officers and other seafarers.
3. On ships other than passenger ships, the floor area of mess rooms for seafarers should be not less than 1.5 square metres per person of the planned seating
capacity.
4. In all ships, mess rooms should be equipped with tables and appropriate
seats, fixed or movable, sufficient to accommodate the greatest number of seafarers
likely to use them at any one time.
(a)

48

5. There should be available at all times when seafarers are on board:
a refrigerator, which should be conveniently situated and of sufficient capacity
for the number of persons using the mess room or mess rooms;

Accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering

(b)
(c)

facilities for hot beverages; and
cool water facilities.

6. Where available pantries are not accessible to mess rooms, adequate lockers
for mess utensils and proper facilities for washing utensils should be provided.
7.

The tops of tables and seats should be of damp-resistant material.

Guideline B3.1.7 – Sanitary accommodation
1. Washbasins and tub baths should be of adequate size and constructed of approved material with a smooth surface not liable to crack, flake or corrode.
2. All toilets should be of an approved pattern and provided with an ample
flush of water or with some other suitable flushing means, such as air, which are available at all times and independently controllable.
3. Sanitary accommodation intended for the use of more than one person
should comply with the following:
(a) floors should be of approved durable material, impervious to damp, and should
be properly drained;
(b) bulkheads should be of steel or other approved material and should be watertight
up to at least 23 centimetres above the level of the deck;
(c) the accommodation should be sufficiently lit, heated and ventilated;
(d) toilets should be situated convenient to, but separate from, sleeping rooms and
wash rooms, without direct access from the sleeping rooms or from a passage
between sleeping rooms and toilets to which there is no other access; this requirement does not apply where a toilet is located in a compartment between two
sleeping rooms having a total of not more than four seafarers; and
(e) where there is more than one toilet in a compartment, they should be sufficiently
screened to ensure privacy.
(a)
(b)
(c)

4. The laundry facilities provided for seafarers’ use should include:
washing machines;
drying machines or adequately heated and ventilated drying rooms; and
irons and ironing boards or their equivalent.

Guideline B3.1.8 – Hospital accommodation
1. The hospital accommodation should be designed so as to facilitate consultation and the giving of medical first aid and to help prevent the spread of infectious
diseases.
2. The arrangement of the entrance, berths, lighting, ventilation, heating and
water supply should be designed to ensure the comfort and facilitate the treatment of
the occupants.
3. The number of hospital berths required should be prescribed by the competent authority.
4. Sanitary accommodation should be provided for the exclusive use of the occupants of the hospital accommodation, either as part of the accommodation or in
close proximity thereto. Such sanitary accommodation should comprise a minimum of
one toilet, one washbasin and one tub or shower.
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

Guideline B3.1.9 – Other facilities
1. Where separate facilities for engine department personnel to change their
clothes are provided, they should be:
(a) located outside the machinery space but with easy access to it; and
(b) fitted with individual clothes lockers as well as with tubs or showers or both and
washbasins having hot and cold running fresh water.
Guideline B3.1.10 – Bedding, mess utensils and miscellaneous provisions
(a)

(b)
(c)

1. Each Member should consider applying the following principles:
clean bedding and mess utensils should be supplied by the shipowner to all seafarers for use on board during service on the ship, and such seafarers should be
responsible for their return at times specified by the master and on completion of
service in the ship;
bedding should be of good quality, and plates, cups and other mess utensils
should be of approved material which can be easily cleaned; and
towels, soap and toilet paper for all seafarers should be provided by the shipowner.

Guideline B3.1.11 – Recreational facilities, mail and ship visit arrangements
1. Recreational facilities and services should be reviewed frequently to ensure
that they are appropriate in the light of changes in the needs of seafarers resulting from
technical, operational and other developments in the shipping industry.
2. Furnishings for recreational facilities should as a minimum include a bookcase and facilities for reading, writing and, where practicable, games.
3. In connection with the planning of recreation facilities, the competent authority should give consideration to the provision of a canteen.
4. Consideration should also be given to including the following facilities at no
cost to the seafarer, where practicable:
(a) a smoking room;
(b) television viewing and the reception of radio broadcasts;
(c) showing of films, the stock of which should be adequate for the duration of the
voyage and, where necessary, changed at reasonable intervals;
(d) sports equipment including exercise equipment, table games and deck games;
(e) where possible, facilities for swimming;
(f) a library containing vocational and other books, the stock of which should be
adequate for the duration of the voyage and changed at reasonable intervals;
(g) facilities for recreational handicrafts;
(h) electronic equipment such as a radio, television, video recorders, DVD/CD
player, personal computer and software and cassette recorder/player;
(i) where appropriate, the provision of bars on board for seafarers unless these are
contrary to national, religious or social customs; and
(j) reasonable access to ship-to-shore telephone communications, and email and
Internet facilities, where available, with any charges for the use of these services
being reasonable in amount.
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Accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering

5. Every effort should be given to ensuring that the forwarding of seafarers’
mail is as reliable and expeditious as possible. Efforts should also be considered for
avoiding seafarers being required to pay additional postage when mail has to be readdressed owing to circumstances beyond their control.
6. Measures should be considered to ensure, subject to any applicable national
or international laws or regulations, that whenever possible and reasonable seafarers
are expeditiously granted permission to have their partners, relatives and friends as
visitors on board their ship when in port. Such measures should meet any concerns for
security clearances.
7. Consideration should be given to the possibility of allowing seafarers to be
accompanied by their partners on occasional voyages where this is practicable and
reasonable. Such partners should carry adequate insurance cover against accident
and illness; the shipowners should give every assistance to the seafarer to effect such
insurance.
Guideline B3.1.12 – Prevention of noise and vibration
1. Accommodation and recreational and catering facilities should be located as
far as practicable from the engines, steering gear rooms, deck winches, ventilation,
heating and air-conditioning equipment and other noisy machinery and apparatus.
2. Acoustic insulation or other appropriate sound-absorbing materials should
be used in the construction and finishing of bulkheads, deckheads and decks within the
sound-producing spaces as well as self-closing noise-isolating doors for machinery
spaces.
3. Engine rooms and other machinery spaces should be provided, wherever
practicable, with soundproof centralized control rooms for engine-room personnel.
Working spaces, such as the machine shop, should be insulated, as far as practicable,
from the general engine-room noise and measures should be taken to reduce noise in
the operation of machinery.
4. The limits for noise levels for working and living spaces should be in conformity with the ILO international guidelines on exposure levels, including those in the
ILO code of practice entitled Ambient factors in the workplace, 2001, and, where
applicable, the specific protection recommended by the International Maritime
Organization, and with any subsequent amending and supplementary instruments for
acceptable noise levels on board ships. A copy of the applicable instruments in English
or the working language of the ship should be carried on board and should be accessible to seafarers.
5. No accommodation or recreational or catering facilities should be exposed to
excessive vibration.
Regulation 3.2 – Food and catering
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers have access to good quality food and drinking water
provided under regulated hygienic conditions
1. Each Member shall ensure that ships that fly its flag carry on board and serve
food and drinking water of appropriate quality, nutritional value and quantity that
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

adequately covers the requirements of the ship and takes into account the differing cultural and religious backgrounds.
2. Seafarers on board a ship shall be provided with food free of charge during
the period of engagement.
3. Seafarers employed as ships’ cooks with responsibility for food preparation
must be trained and qualified for their position on board ship.
Standard A3.2 – Food and catering
1. Each Member shall adopt laws and regulations or other measures to provide
minimum standards for the quantity and quality of food and drinking water and for the
catering standards that apply to meals provided to seafarers on ships that fly its flag,
and shall undertake educational activities to promote awareness and implementation
of the standards referred to in this paragraph.
2. Each Member shall ensure that ships that fly its flag meet the following minimum standards:
(a) food and drinking water supplies, having regard to the number of seafarers on
board, their religious requirements and cultural practices as they pertain to food,
and the duration and nature of the voyage, shall be suitable in respect of quantity,
nutritional value, quality and variety;
(b) the organization and equipment of the catering department shall be such as to
permit the provision to the seafarers of adequate, varied and nutritious meals
prepared and served in hygienic conditions; and
(c) catering staff shall be properly trained or instructed for their positions.
3. Shipowners shall ensure that seafarers who are engaged as ships’ cooks are
trained, qualified and found competent for the position in accordance with requirements set out in the laws and regulations of the Member concerned.
4. The requirements under paragraph 3 of this Standard shall include a completion of a training course approved or recognized by the competent authority, which
covers practical cookery, food and personal hygiene, food storage, stock control, and
environmental protection and catering health and safety.
5. On ships operating with a prescribed manning of less than ten which, by virtue of the size of the crew or the trading pattern, may not be required by the competent
authority to carry a fully qualified cook, anyone processing food in the galley shall be
trained or instructed in areas including food and personal hygiene as well as handling
and storage of food on board ship.
6. In circumstances of exceptional necessity, the competent authority may issue
a dispensation permitting a non-fully qualified cook to serve in a specified ship for a
specified limited period, until the next convenient port of call or for a period not exceeding one month, provided that the person to whom the dispensation is issued is
trained or instructed in areas including food and personal hygiene as well as handling
and storage of food on board ship.
7. In accordance with the ongoing compliance procedures under Title 5, the
competent authority shall require that frequent documented inspections be carried out
on board ships, by or under the authority of the master, with respect to:
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Accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering

(a)
(b)
(c)

supplies of food and drinking water;
all spaces and equipment used for the storage and handling of food and drinking
water; and
galley and other equipment for the preparation and service of meals.

8. No seafarer under the age of 18 shall be employed or engaged or work as a
ship’s cook.
Guideline B3.2 – Food and catering
Guideline B3.2.1 – Inspection, education, research and publication
1. The competent authority should, in cooperation with other relevant agencies
and organizations, collect up-to-date information on nutrition and on methods of purchasing, storing, preserving, cooking and serving food, with special reference to the requirements of catering on board a ship. This information should be made available,
free of charge or at reasonable cost, to manufacturers of and traders in ships’ food supplies and equipment, masters, stewards and cooks, and to shipowners’ and seafarers’
organizations concerned. Appropriate forms of publicity, such as manuals, brochures,
posters, charts or advertisements in trade journals, should be used for this purpose.
2. The competent authority should issue recommendations to avoid wastage of
food, facilitate the maintenance of a proper standard of hygiene, and ensure the maximum practicable convenience in working arrangements.
3. The competent authority should work with relevant agencies and organizations to develop educational materials and on-board information concerning methods
of ensuring proper food supply and catering services.
4. The competent authority should work in close cooperation with the shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned and with national or local authorities
dealing with questions of food and health, and may where necessary utilize the services
of such authorities.
Guideline B3.2.2 – Ships’ cooks
(a)

(b)

1. Seafarers should only be qualified as ships’ cooks if they have:
served at sea for a minimum period to be prescribed by the competent authority,
which could be varied to take into account existing relevant qualifications or
experience;
passed an examination prescribed by the competent authority or passed an
equivalent examination at an approved training course for cooks.

2. The prescribed examination may be conducted and certificates granted either
directly by the competent authority or, subject to its control, by an approved school for
the training of cooks.
3. The competent authority should provide for the recognition, where appropriate, of certificates of qualification as ships’ cooks issued by other Members, which
have ratified this Convention or the Certification of Ships’ Cooks Convention, 1946
(No. 69), or other approved body.

53

TITLE 4. HEALTH PROTECTION, MEDICAL CARE, WELFARE
AND SOCIAL SECURITY PROTECTION
Health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection

Regulation 4.1 – Medical care on board ship and ashore
Purpose: To protect the health of seafarers and ensure their prompt access
to medical care on board ship and ashore
1. Each Member shall ensure that all seafarers on ships that fly its flag are
covered by adequate measures for the protection of their health and that they have access to prompt and adequate medical care whilst working on board.
2. The protection and care under paragraph 1 of this Regulation shall, in principle, be provided at no cost to the seafarers.
3. Each Member shall ensure that seafarers on board ships in its territory who
are in need of immediate medical care are given access to the Member’s medical facilities on shore.
4. The requirements for on-board health protection and medical care set out in
the Code include standards for measures aimed at providing seafarers with health protection and medical care as comparable as possible to that which is generally available
to workers ashore.
Standard A4.1 – Medical care on board ship and ashore
1. Each Member shall ensure that measures providing for health protection and
medical care, including essential dental care, for seafarers working on board a ship that
flies its flag are adopted which:
(a) ensure the application to seafarers of any general provisions on occupational
health protection and medical care relevant to their duties, as well as of special
provisions specific to work on board ship;
(b) ensure that seafarers are given health protection and medical care as comparable
as possible to that which is generally available to workers ashore, including
prompt access to the necessary medicines, medical equipment and facilities for
diagnosis and treatment and to medical information and expertise;
(c) give seafarers the right to visit a qualified medical doctor or dentist without delay
in ports of call, where practicable;
(d) ensure that, to the extent consistent with the Member’s national law and practice,
medical care and health protection services while a seafarer is on board ship or
landed in a foreign port are provided free of charge to seafarers; and
(e) are not limited to treatment of sick or injured seafarers but include measures of a
preventive character such as health promotion and health education programmes.
2. The competent authority shall adopt a standard medical report form for use
by the ships’ masters and relevant onshore and on-board medical personnel. The form,
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Health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection

when completed, and its contents shall be kept confidential and shall only be used to
facilitate the treatment of seafarers.
3. Each Member shall adopt laws and regulations establishing requirements for
on-board hospital and medical care facilities and equipment and training on ships that
fly its flag.
4. National laws and regulations shall as a minimum provide for the following
requirements:
(a) all ships shall carry a medicine chest, medical equipment and a medical guide, the
specifics of which shall be prescribed and subject to regular inspection by the competent authority; the national requirements shall take into account the type of ship,
the number of persons on board and the nature, destination and duration of
voyages and relevant national and international recommended medical standards;
(b) ships carrying 100 or more persons and ordinarily engaged on international
voyages of more than three days’ duration shall carry a qualified medical doctor
who is responsible for providing medical care; national laws or regulations shall
also specify which other ships shall be required to carry a medical doctor, taking
into account, inter alia, such factors as the duration, nature and conditions of the
voyage and the number of seafarers on board;
(c) ships which do not carry a medical doctor shall be required to have either at least
one seafarer on board who is in charge of medical care and administering medicine as part of their regular duties or at least one seafarer on board competent to
provide medical first aid; persons in charge of medical care on board who are not
medical doctors shall have satisfactorily completed training in medical care that
meets the requirements of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, as amended (“STCW”);
seafarers designated to provide medical first aid shall have satisfactorily completed training in medical first aid that meets the requirements of STCW;
national laws or regulations shall specify the level of approved training required
taking into account, inter alia, such factors as the duration, nature and conditions
of the voyage and the number of seafarers on board; and
(d) the competent authority shall ensure by a prearranged system that medical advice by radio or satellite communication to ships at sea, including specialist
advice, is available 24 hours a day; medical advice, including the onward transmission of medical messages by radio or satellite communication between a ship
and those ashore giving the advice, shall be available free of charge to all ships
irrespective of the flag that they fly.
Guideline B4.1 – Medical care on board ship and ashore
Guideline B4.1.1 – Provision of medical care
1. When determining the level of medical training to be provided on board ships
that are not required to carry a medical doctor, the competent authority should require
that:
(a) ships which ordinarily are capable of reaching qualified medical care and medical
facilities within eight hours should have at least one designated seafarer with the
approved medical first-aid training required by STCW which will enable such
persons to take immediate, effective action in case of accidents or illnesses likely
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

(b)

to occur on board a ship and to make use of medical advice by radio or satellite
communication; and
all other ships should have at least one designated seafarer with approved training in medical care required by STCW, including practical training and training
in life-saving techniques such as intravenous therapy, which will enable the persons concerned to participate effectively in coordinated schemes for medical assistance to ships at sea, and to provide the sick or injured with a satisfactory
standard of medical care during the period they are likely to remain on board.

2. The training referred to in paragraph 1 of this Guideline should be based on
the contents of the most recent editions of the International Medical Guide for Ships,
the Medical First Aid Guide for Use in Accidents Involving Dangerous Goods, the
Document for Guidance – An International Maritime Training Guide, and the medical
section of the International Code of Signals as well as similar national guides.
3. Persons referred to in paragraph 1 of this Guideline and such other seafarers
as may be required by the competent authority should undergo, at approximately fiveyear intervals, refresher courses to enable them to maintain and increase their knowledge and skills and to keep up-to-date with new developments.
4. The medicine chest and its contents, as well as the medical equipment and
medical guide carried on board, should be properly maintained and inspected at regular intervals, not exceeding 12 months, by responsible persons designated by the competent authority, who should ensure that the labelling, expiry dates and conditions of
storage of all medicines and directions for their use are checked and all equipment
functioning as required. In adopting or reviewing the ship’s medical guide used nationally, and in determining the contents of the medicine chest and medical equipment, the
competent authority should take into account international recommendations in this
field, including the latest edition of the International Medical Guide for Ships, and
other guides mentioned in paragraph 2 of this Guideline.
5. Where a cargo which is classified dangerous has not been included in the most
recent edition of the Medical First Aid Guide for Use in Accidents Involving Dangerous
Goods, the necessary information on the nature of the substances, the risks involved, the
necessary personal protective devices, the relevant medical procedures and specific antidotes should be made available to the seafarers. Such specific antidotes and personal
protective devices should be on board whenever dangerous goods are carried. This information should be integrated with the ship’s policies and programmes on occupational
safety and health described in Regulation 4.3 and related Code provisions.
6. All ships should carry a complete and up-to-date list of radio stations through
which medical advice can be obtained; and, if equipped with a system of satellite communication, carry an up-to-date and complete list of coast earth stations through which
medical advice can be obtained. Seafarers with responsibility for medical care or
medical first aid on board should be instructed in the use of the ship’s medical guide
and the medical section of the most recent edition of the International Code of Signals
so as to enable them to understand the type of information needed by the advising doctor as well as the advice received.
Guideline B4.1.2 – Medical report form
1. The standard medical report form for seafarers required under Part A of this
Code should be designed to facilitate the exchange of medical and related information
concerning individual seafarers between ship and shore in cases of illness or injury.
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Health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection

Guideline B4.1.3 – Medical care ashore
1. Shore-based medical facilities for treating seafarers should be adequate for
the purposes. The doctors, dentists and other medical personnel should be properly
qualified.
2.
to:
(a)
(b)
(c)

Measures should be taken to ensure that seafarers have access when in port

outpatient treatment for sickness and injury;
hospitalization when necessary; and
facilities for dental treatment, especially in cases of emergency.

3. Suitable measures should be taken to facilitate the treatment of seafarers suffering from disease. In particular, seafarers should be promptly admitted to clinics and
hospitals ashore, without difficulty and irrespective of nationality or religious belief,
and, whenever possible, arrangements should be made to ensure, when necessary, continuation of treatment to supplement the medical facilities available to them.
Guideline B4.1.4 – Medical assistance to other ships and international cooperation
1. Each Member should give due consideration to participating in international
cooperation in the area of assistance, programmes and research in health protection
and medical care. Such cooperation might cover:
(a) developing and coordinating search and rescue efforts and arranging prompt
medical help and evacuation at sea for the seriously ill or injured on board a ship
through such means as periodic ship position reporting systems, rescue coordination centres and emergency helicopter services, in conformity with the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, 1979, as amended, and the
International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue (IAMSAR) Manual;
(b) making optimum use of all ships carrying a doctor and stationing ships at sea
which can provide hospital and rescue facilities;
(c) compiling and maintaining an international list of doctors and medical care facilities available worldwide to provide emergency medical care to seafarers;
(d) landing seafarers ashore for emergency treatment;
(e) repatriating seafarers hospitalized abroad as soon as practicable, in accordance
with the medical advice of the doctors responsible for the case, which takes into
account the seafarer’s wishes and needs;
(f) arranging personal assistance for seafarers during repatriation, in accordance
with the medical advice of the doctors responsible for the case, which takes into
account the seafarer’s wishes and needs;
(g) endeavouring to set up health centres for seafarers to:
(i) conduct research on the health status, medical treatment and preventive
health care of seafarers; and
(ii) train medical and health service staff in maritime medicine;
(h) collecting and evaluating statistics concerning occupational accidents, diseases
and fatalities of seafarers and integrating and harmonizing the statistics with any
existing national system of statistics on occupational accidents and diseases
covering other categories of workers;
(i) organizing international exchanges of technical information, training material
and personnel, as well as international training courses, seminars and working
groups;
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

(j)

(k)

providing all seafarers with special curative and preventive health and medical
services in port, or making available to them general health, medical and rehabilitation services; and
arranging for the repatriation of the bodies or ashes of deceased seafarers, in accordance with the wishes of the next of kin and as soon as practicable.

2. International cooperation in the field of health protection and medical care
for seafarers should be based on bilateral or multilateral agreements or consultations
among Members.
Guideline B4.1.5 – Dependants of seafarers
1. Each Member should adopt measures to secure proper and sufficient medical care for the dependants of seafarers domiciled in its territory pending the development of a medical care service which would include within its scope workers generally
and their dependants where such services do not exist and should inform the International Labour Office concerning the measures taken for this purpose.

Regulation 4.2 – Shipowners’ liability
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers are protected from the financial consequences
of sickness, injury or death occurring in connection with their employment
1. Each Member shall ensure that measures, in accordance with the Code, are in
place on ships that fly its flag to provide seafarers employed on the ships with a right to
material assistance and support from the shipowner with respect to the financial consequences of sickness, injury or death occurring while they are serving under a seafarers’
employment agreement or arising from their employment under such agreement.
2.

This Regulation does not affect any other legal remedies that a seafarer may

seek.
Standard A4.2 – Shipowners’ liability
1. Each Member shall adopt laws and regulations requiring that shipowners of
ships that fly its flag are responsible for health protection and medical care of all seafarers working on board the ships in accordance with the following minimum standards:
(a) shipowners shall be liable to bear the costs for seafarers working on their ships in
respect of sickness and injury of the seafarers occurring between the date of commencing duty and the date upon which they are deemed duly repatriated, or arising from their employment between those dates;
(b) shipowners shall provide financial security to assure compensation in the event
of the death or long-term disability of seafarers due to an occupational injury, illness or hazard, as set out in national law, the seafarers’ employment agreement
or collective agreement;
(c) shipowners shall be liable to defray the expense of medical care, including medical treatment and the supply of the necessary medicines and therapeutic appliances, and board and lodging away from home until the sick or injured seafarer
has recovered, or until the sickness or incapacity has been declared of a permanent character; and
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Health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection

(d)

shipowners shall be liable to pay the cost of burial expenses in the case of death
occurring on board or ashore during the period of engagement.

2. National laws or regulations may limit the liability of the shipowner to defray
the expense of medical care and board and lodging to a period which shall not be less
than 16 weeks from the day of the injury or the commencement of the sickness.
3. Where the sickness or injury results in incapacity for work the shipowner
shall be liable:
(a) to pay full wages as long as the sick or injured seafarers remain on board or until
the seafarers have been repatriated in accordance with this Convention; and
(b) to pay wages in whole or in part as prescribed by national laws or regulations or
as provided for in collective agreements from the time when the seafarers are repatriated or landed until their recovery or, if earlier, until they are entitled to cash
benefits under the legislation of the Member concerned.
4. National laws or regulations may limit the liability of the shipowner to pay
wages in whole or in part in respect of a seafarer no longer on board to a period which
shall not be less than 16 weeks from the day of the injury or the commencement of the
sickness.
5. National laws or regulations may exclude the shipowner from liability in respect of:
(a) injury incurred otherwise than in the service of the ship;
(b) injury or sickness due to the wilful misconduct of the sick, injured or deceased
seafarer; and
(c) sickness or infirmity intentionally concealed when the engagement is entered
into.
6. National laws or regulations may exempt the shipowner from liability to defray the expense of medical care and board and lodging and burial expenses in so far
as such liability is assumed by the public authorities.
7. Shipowners or their representatives shall take measures for safeguarding
property left on board by sick, injured or deceased seafarers and for returning it to
them or to their next of kin.
Guideline B4.2 – Shipowners’ liability
1. The payment of full wages required by Standard A4.2, paragraph 3(a), may
be exclusive of bonuses.
2. National laws or regulations may provide that a shipowner shall cease to be
liable to bear the costs of a sick or injured seafarer from the time at which that seafarer
can claim medical benefits under a scheme of compulsory sickness insurance, compulsory accident insurance or workers’ compensation for accidents.
3. National laws or regulations may provide that burial expenses paid by the
shipowner shall be reimbursed by an insurance institution in cases in which funeral
benefit is payable in respect of the deceased seafarer under laws or regulations relating
to social insurance or workers’ compensation.
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

Regulation 4.3 – Health and safety protection and accident prevention
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers’ work environment on board ships promotes
occupational safety and health
1. Each Member shall ensure that seafarers on ships that fly its flag are provided with occupational health protection and live, work and train on board ship in a
safe and hygienic environment.
2. Each Member shall develop and promulgate national guidelines for the management of occupational safety and health on board ships that fly its flag, after consultation with representative shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations and taking into
account applicable codes, guidelines and standards recommended by international
organizations, national administrations and maritime industry organizations.
3. Each Member shall adopt laws and regulations and other measures addressing the matters specified in the Code, taking into account relevant international instruments, and set standards for occupational safety and health protection and accident prevention on ships that fly its flag.
Standard A4.3 – Health and safety protection and accident prevention
1. The laws and regulations and other measures to be adopted in accordance
with Regulation 4.3, paragraph 3, shall include the following subjects:
(a) the adoption and effective implementation and promotion of occupational safety
and health policies and programmes on ships that fly the Member’s flag, including risk evaluation as well as training and instruction of seafarers;
(b) reasonable precautions to prevent occupational accidents, injuries and diseases
on board ship, including measures to reduce and prevent the risk of exposure to
harmful levels of ambient factors and chemicals as well as the risk of injury or disease that may arise from the use of equipment and machinery on board ships;
(c) on-board programmes for the prevention of occupational accidents, injuries and
diseases and for continuous improvement in occupational safety and health protection, involving seafarers’ representatives and all other persons concerned in
their implementation, taking account of preventive measures, including engineering and design control, substitution of processes and procedures for collective and individual tasks, and the use of personal protective equipment; and
(d) requirements for inspecting, reporting and correcting unsafe conditions and for
investigating and reporting on-board occupational accidents.
(a)

(b)

60

2. The provisions referred to in paragraph 1 of this Standard shall:
take account of relevant international instruments dealing with occupational
safety and health protection in general and with specific risks, and address all
matters relevant to the prevention of occupational accidents, injuries and diseases that may be applicable to the work of seafarers and particularly those which
are specific to maritime employment;
clearly specify the obligation of shipowners, seafarers and others concerned to
comply with the applicable standards and with the ship’s occupational safety
and health policy and programme with special attention being paid to the safety and
health of seafarers under the age of 18;

Health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection

(c)

(d)

specify the duties of the master or a person designated by the master, or both, to
take specific responsibility for the implementation of and compliance with the
ship’s occupational safety and health policy and programme; and
specify the authority of the ship’s seafarers appointed or elected as safety representatives to participate in meetings of the ship’s safety committee. Such a
committee shall be established on board a ship on which there are five or more
seafarers.

3. The laws and regulations and other measures referred to in Regulation 4.3,
paragraph 3, shall be regularly reviewed in consultation with the representatives of the
shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations and, if necessary, revised to take account of
changes in technology and research in order to facilitate continuous improvement in
occupational safety and health policies and programmes and to provide a safe occupational environment for seafarers on ships that fly the Member’s flag.
4. Compliance with the requirements of applicable international instruments
on the acceptable levels of exposure to workplace hazards on board ships and on the
development and implementation of ships’ occupational safety and health policies and
programmes shall be considered as meeting the requirements of this Convention.
(a)

(b)

(c)

5. The competent authority shall ensure that:
occupational accidents, injuries and diseases are adequately reported, taking into
account the guidance provided by the International Labour Organization with
respect to the reporting and recording of occupational accidents and diseases;
comprehensive statistics of such accidents and diseases are kept, analysed and
published and, where appropriate, followed up by research into general trends
and into the hazards identified; and
occupational accidents are investigated.

6. Reporting and investigation of occupational safety and health matters shall
be designed to ensure the protection of seafarers’ personal data, and shall take account
of the guidance provided by the International Labour Organization on this matter.
7. The competent authority shall cooperate with shipowners’ and seafarers’
organizations to take measures to bring to the attention of all seafarers information
concerning particular hazards on board ships, for instance, by posting official notices
containing relevant instructions.
8. The competent authority shall require that shipowners conducting risk evaluation in relation to management of occupational safety and health refer to appropriate statistical information from their ships and from general statistics provided by the
competent authority.
Guideline B4.3 – Health and safety protection and accident prevention
Guideline B4.3.1 – Provisions on occupational accidents, injuries and diseases
1. The provisions required under Standard A4.3 should take into account the
ILO code of practice entitled Accident prevention on board ship at sea and in port,
1996, and subsequent versions and other related ILO and other international standards
and guidelines and codes of practice regarding occupational safety and health protection, including any exposure levels that they may identify.
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2. The competent authority should ensure that the national guidelines for the
management of occupational safety and health address the following matters, in
particular:
(a) general and basic provisions;
(b) structural features of the ship, including means of access and asbestos-related
risks;
(c) machinery;
(d) the effects of the extremely low or high temperature of any surfaces with which
seafarers may be in contact;
(e) the effects of noise in the workplace and in shipboard accommodation;
(f) the effects of vibration in the workplace and in shipboard accommodation;
(g) the effects of ambient factors, other than those referred to in subparagraphs (e)
and (f), in the workplace and in shipboard accommodation, including tobacco
smoke;
(h) special safety measures on and below deck;
(i) loading and unloading equipment;
(j) fire prevention and fire-fighting;
(k) anchors, chains and lines;
(l) dangerous cargo and ballast;
(m) personal protective equipment for seafarers;
(n) work in enclosed spaces;
(o) physical and mental effects of fatigue;
(p) the effects of drug and alcohol dependency;
(q) HIV/AIDS protection and prevention; and
(r) emergency and accident response.
3. The assessment of risks and reduction of exposure on the matters referred to
in paragraph 2 of this Guideline should take account of the physical occupational
health effects, including manual handling of loads, noise and vibration, the chemical
and biological occupational health effects, the mental occupational health effects, the
physical and mental health effects of fatigue, and occupational accidents. The necessary measures should take due account of the preventive principle according to which,
among other things, combating risk at the source, adapting work to the individual, especially as regards the design of workplaces, and replacing the dangerous by the nondangerous or the less dangerous, have precedence over personal protective equipment
for seafarers.
4. In addition, the competent authority should ensure that the implications for
health and safety are taken into account, particularly in the following areas:
(a) emergency and accident response;
(b) the effects of drug and alcohol dependency; and
(c) HIV/AIDS protection and prevention.
Guideline B4.3.2 – Exposure to noise
1. The competent authority, in conjunction with the competent international
bodies and with representatives of shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned,
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should review on an ongoing basis the problem of noise on board ships with the objective
of improving the protection of seafarers, in so far as practicable, from the adverse effects
of exposure to noise.
2. The review referred to in paragraph 1 of this Guideline should take account
of the adverse effects of exposure to excessive noise on the hearing, health and comfort
of seafarers and the measures to be prescribed or recommended to reduce shipboard
noise to protect seafarers. The measures to be considered should include the following:
(a) instruction of seafarers in the dangers to hearing and health of prolonged exposure to high noise levels and in the proper use of noise protection devices and
equipment;
(b) provision of approved hearing protection equipment to seafarers where necessary; and
(c) assessment of risk and reduction of exposure levels to noise in all accommodation
and recreational and catering facilities, as well as engine rooms and other machinery spaces.
Guideline B4.3.3 – Exposure to vibration
1. The competent authority, in conjunction with the competent international
bodies and with representatives of shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned, and taking into account, as appropriate, relevant international standards,
should review on an ongoing basis the problem of vibration on board ships with the objective of improving the protection of seafarers, in so far as practicable, from the adverse effects of vibration.
2. The review referred to in paragraph 1 of this Guideline should cover the effect of exposure to excessive vibration on the health and comfort of seafarers and the
measures to be prescribed or recommended to reduce shipboard vibration to protect
seafarers. The measures to be considered should include the following:
(a) instruction of seafarers in the dangers to their health of prolonged exposure to
vibration;
(b) provision of approved personal protective equipment to seafarers where necessary; and
(c) assessment of risks and reduction of exposure to vibration in all accommodation
and recreational and catering facilities by adopting measures in accordance with
the guidance provided by the ILO code of practice entitled Ambient factors in
the workplace, 2001, and any subsequent revisions, taking account of the difference between exposure in those areas and in the workplace.
Guideline B4.3.4 – Obligations of shipowners
1. Any obligation on the shipowner to provide protective equipment or other
accident prevention safeguards should, in general, be accompanied by provisions requiring their use by seafarers and by a requirement for seafarers to comply with the
relevant accident prevention and health protection measures.
2. Account should also be taken of Articles 7 and 11 of the Guarding of Machinery Convention, 1963 (No. 119), and the corresponding provisions of the Guarding of
Machinery Recommendation, 1963 (No. 118), under which the obligation to ensure
compliance with the requirement that machinery in use is properly guarded, and its use
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without appropriate guards prevented, rests on the employer, while there is an obligation
on the worker not to use machinery without the guards being in position nor to make inoperative the guards provided.
Guideline B4.3.5 – Reporting and collection of statistics
1. All occupational accidents and occupational injuries and diseases should be
reported so that they can be investigated and comprehensive statistics can be kept,
analysed and published, taking account of protection of the personal data of the seafarers concerned. Reports should not be limited to fatalities or to accidents involving
the ship.
2. The statistics referred to in paragraph 1 of this Guideline should record the
numbers, nature, causes and effects of occupational accidents and occupational injuries and diseases, with a clear indication, as applicable, of the department on board
a ship, the type of accident and whether at sea or in port.
3. Each Member should have due regard to any international system or model
for recording accidents to seafarers which may have been established by the International Labour Organization.
Guideline B4.3.6 – Investigations
1. The competent authority should undertake investigations into the causes and
circumstances of all occupational accidents and occupational injuries and diseases resulting in loss of life or serious personal injury, and such other cases as may be specified
in national laws or regulations.
2. Consideration should be given to including the following as subjects of
investigation:
(a) working environment, such as working surfaces, layout of machinery, means of
access, lighting and methods of work;
(b) incidence in different age groups of occupational accidents and occupational injuries and diseases;
(c) special physiological or psychological problems created by the shipboard
environment;
(d) problems arising from physical stress on board a ship, in particular as a consequence of increased workload;
(e) problems arising from and effects of technical developments and their influence
on the composition of crews; and
(f) problems arising from any human failures.
Guideline B4.3.7 – National protection and prevention programmes
1. In order to provide a sound basis for measures to promote occupational
safety and health protection and prevention of accidents, injuries and diseases which
are due to particular hazards of maritime employment, research should be undertaken
into general trends and into such hazards as are revealed by statistics.
2. The implementation of protection and prevention programmes for the promotion of occupational safety and health should be so organized that the competent authority, shipowners and seafarers or their representatives and other appropriate bodies may
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play an active role, including through such means as information sessions, on-board
guidelines on maximum exposure levels to potentially harmful ambient workplace factors and other hazards or outcomes of a systematic risk evaluation process. In particular,
national or local joint occupational safety and health protection and accident prevention
committees or ad hoc working parties and on-board committees, on which shipowners’
and seafarers’ organizations concerned are represented, should be established.
3. Where such activity takes place at company level, the representation of seafarers on any safety committee on board that shipowner’s ships should be considered.
Guideline B4.3.8 – Content of protection and prevention programmes
1. Consideration should be given to including the following in the functions of
the committees and other bodies referred to in Guideline B4.3.7, paragraph 2:
(a) the preparation of national guidelines and policies for occupational safety and
health management systems and for accident prevention provisions, rules
and manuals;
(b) the organization of occupational safety and health protection and accident prevention training and programmes;
(c) the organization of publicity on occupational safety and health protection and accident prevention, including films, posters, notices and brochures; and
(d) the distribution of literature and information on occupational safety and health
protection and accident prevention so that it reaches seafarers on board ships.
2. Relevant provisions or recommendations adopted by the appropriate
national authorities or organizations or international organizations should be taken
into account by those preparing texts of occupational safety and health protection and
accident prevention measures or recommended practices.
3. In formulating occupational safety and health protection and accident prevention programmes, each Member should have due regard to any code of practice
concerning the safety and health of seafarers which may have been published by the
International Labour Organization.
Guideline B4.3.9 – Instruction in occupational safety and health protection
and the prevention of occupational accidents
1. The curriculum for the training referred to in Standard A4.3, paragraph 1(a),
should be reviewed periodically and brought up to date in the light of development in
types and sizes of ships and in their equipment, as well as changes in manning practices,
nationality, language and the organization of work on board ships.
2. There should be continuous occupational safety and health protection and
accident prevention publicity. Such publicity might take the following forms:
(a) educational audiovisual material, such as films, for use in vocational training centres for seafarers and where possible shown on board ships;
(b) display of posters on board ships;
(c) inclusion in periodicals read by seafarers of articles on the hazards of maritime
employment and on occupational safety and health protection and accident prevention measures; and
(d) special campaigns using various publicity media to instruct seafarers, including
campaigns on safe working practices.
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3. The publicity referred to in paragraph 2 of this Guideline should take account of the different nationalities, languages and cultures of seafarers on board ships.
Guideline B4.3.10 – Safety and health education of young seafarers
1. Safety and health regulations should refer to any general provisions on medical examinations before and during employment and on the prevention of accidents
and the protection of health in employment, which may be applicable to the work of
seafarers. Such regulations should specify measures which will minimize occupational
dangers to young seafarers in the course of their duties.
2. Except where a young seafarer is recognized as fully qualified in a pertinent
skill by the competent authority, the regulations should specify restrictions on young
seafarers undertaking, without appropriate supervision and instruction, certain types
of work presenting special risk of accident or of detrimental effect on their health or
physical development, or requiring a particular degree of maturity, experience or skill.
In determining the types of work to be restricted by the regulations, the competent
authority might consider in particular work involving:
(a) the lifting, moving or carrying of heavy loads or objects;
(b) entry into boilers, tanks and cofferdams;
(c) exposure to harmful noise and vibration levels;
(d) operating hoisting and other power machinery and tools, or acting as signallers
to operators of such equipment;
(e) handling mooring or tow lines or anchoring equipment;
(f) rigging;
(g) work aloft or on deck in heavy weather;
(h) nightwatch duties;
(i) servicing of electrical equipment;
(j) exposure to potentially harmful materials, or harmful physical agents such as
dangerous or toxic substances and ionizing radiations;
(k) the cleaning of catering machinery; and
(l) the handling or taking charge of ships’ boats.
3. Practical measures should be taken by the competent authority or through
the appropriate machinery to bring to the attention of young seafarers information
concerning the prevention of accidents and the protection of their health on board
ships. Such measures could include adequate instruction in courses, official accident
prevention publicity intended for young persons and professional instruction and
supervision of young seafarers.
4. Education and training of young seafarers both ashore and on board ships
should include guidance on the detrimental effects on their health and well-being of
the abuse of alcohol and drugs and other potentially harmful substances, and the risk
and concerns relating to HIV/AIDS and of other health risk related activities.
Guideline B4.3.11 – International cooperation
1. Members, with the assistance as appropriate of intergovernmental and other
international organizations, should endeavour, in cooperation with each other, to
achieve the greatest possible uniformity of action for the promotion of occupational
safety and health protection and prevention of accidents.
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2. In developing programmes for promoting occupational safety and health
protection and prevention of accidents under Standard A4.3, each Member should
have due regard to relevant codes of practice published by the International Labour
Organization and the appropriate standards of international organizations.
3. Members should have regard to the need for international cooperation in the
continuous promotion of activity related to occupational safety and health protection
and prevention of occupational accidents. Such cooperation might take the form of:
(a) bilateral or multilateral arrangements for uniformity in occupational safety and
health protection and accident prevention standards and safeguards;
(b) exchange of information on particular hazards affecting seafarers and on means of
promoting occupational safety and health protection and preventing accidents;
(c) assistance in testing of equipment and inspection according to the national regulations of the flag State;
(d) collaboration in the preparation and dissemination of occupational safety and
health protection and accident prevention provisions, rules or manuals;
(e) collaboration in the production and use of training aids; and
(f) joint facilities for, or mutual assistance in, the training of seafarers in occupational
safety and health protection, accident prevention and safe working practices.

Regulation 4.4 – Access to shore-based welfare facilities
Purpose: To ensure that seafarers working on board a ship have access
to shore-based facilities and services to secure their health and well-being
1. Each Member shall ensure that shore-based welfare facilities, where they
exist, are easily accessible. The Member shall also promote the development of welfare
facilities, such as those listed in the Code, in designated ports to provide seafarers on
ships that are in its ports with access to adequate welfare facilities and services.
2. The responsibilities of each Member with respect to shore-based facilities,
such as welfare, cultural, recreational and information facilities and services, are set
out in the Code.
Standard A4.4 – Access to shore-based welfare facilities
1. Each Member shall require, where welfare facilities exist on its territory, that
they are available for the use of all seafarers, irrespective of nationality, race, colour,
sex, religion, political opinion or social origin and irrespective of the flag State of the
ship on which they are employed or engaged or work.
2. Each Member shall promote the development of welfare facilities in appropriate ports of the country and determine, after consultation with the shipowners’ and
seafarers’ organizations concerned, which ports are to be regarded as appropriate.
3. Each Member shall encourage the establishment of welfare boards which
shall regularly review welfare facilities and services to ensure that they are appropriate
in the light of changes in the needs of seafarers resulting from technical, operational
and other developments in the shipping industry.
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Guideline B4.4 – Access to shore-based welfare facilities
Guideline B4.4.1 – Responsibilities of Members
(a)

(b)

1. Each Member should:
take measures to ensure that adequate welfare facilities and services are provided
for seafarers in designated ports of call and that adequate protection is provided to
seafarers in the exercise of their profession; and
take into account, in the implementation of these measures, the special needs of
seafarers, especially when in foreign countries and when entering war zones, in
respect of their safety, health and spare-time activities.

2. Arrangements for the supervision of welfare facilities and services should include participation by representative shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned.
3. Each Member should take measures designed to expedite the free circulation
among ships, central supply agencies and welfare establishments of welfare materials
such as films, books, newspapers and sports equipment for use by seafarers on board
their ships and in welfare centres ashore.
4. Members should cooperate with one another in promoting the welfare of
seafarers at sea and in port. Such cooperation should include the following:
(a) consultations among competent authorities aimed at the provision and improvement of seafarers’ welfare facilities and services, both in port and on board ships;
(b) agreements on the pooling of resources and the joint provision of welfare facilities in major ports so as to avoid unnecessary duplication;
(c) organization of international sports competitions and encouragement of the participation of seafarers in sports activities; and
(d) organization of international seminars on the subject of welfare of seafarers at
sea and in port.
Guideline B4.4.2 – Welfare facilities and services in ports
1. Each Member should provide or ensure the provision of such welfare facilities and services as may be required, in appropriate ports of the country.
2. Welfare facilities and services should be provided, in accordance with national
conditions and practice, by one or more of the following:
(a) public authorities;
(b) shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations concerned under collective agreements
or other agreed arrangements; and
(c) voluntary organizations.
3. Necessary welfare and recreational facilities should be established or developed in ports. These should include:
(a) meeting and recreation rooms as required;
(b) facilities for sports and outdoor facilities, including competitions;
(c) educational facilities; and
(d) where appropriate, facilities for religious observances and for personal counselling.
4. These facilities may be provided by making available to seafarers in accordance with their needs facilities designed for more general use.
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5. Where large numbers of seafarers of different nationalities require facilities
such as hotels, clubs and sports facilities in a particular port, the competent authorities or
bodies of the countries of origin of the seafarers and of the flag States, as well as the
international associations concerned, should consult and cooperate with the competent
authorities and bodies of the country in which the port is situated and with one another,
with a view to the pooling of resources and to avoiding unnecessary duplication.
6. Hotels or hostels suitable for seafarers should be available where there is
need for them. They should provide facilities equal to those found in a good-class
hotel, and should wherever possible be located in good surroundings away from the
immediate vicinity of the docks. Such hotels or hostels should be properly supervised,
the prices charged should be reasonable in amount and, where necessary and possible,
provision should be made for accommodating seafarers’ families.
7. These accommodation facilities should be open to all seafarers, irrespective of
nationality, race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion or social origin and irrespective
of the flag State of the ship on which they are employed or engaged or work. Without in
any way infringing this principle, it may be necessary in certain ports to provide several
types of facilities, comparable in standard but adapted to the customs and needs of different groups of seafarers.
8. Measures should be taken to ensure that, as necessary, technically competent
persons are employed full time in the operation of seafarers’ welfare facilities and services, in addition to any voluntary workers.
Guideline B4.4.3 – Welfare boards
1. Welfare boards should be established, at the port, regional and national levels,
as appropriate. Their functions should include:
(a) keeping under review the adequacy of existing welfare facilities and monitoring
the need for the provision of additional facilities or the withdrawal of underutilized facilities; and
(b) assisting and advising those responsible for providing welfare facilities and ensuring coordination between them.
2. Welfare boards should include among their members representatives of shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations, the competent authorities and, where appropriate, voluntary organizations and social bodies.
3. As appropriate, consuls of maritime States and local representatives of foreign
welfare organizations should, in accordance with national laws and regulations, be associated with the work of port, regional and national welfare boards.
Guideline B4.4.4 – Financing of welfare facilities
1. In accordance with national conditions and practice, financial support for
port welfare facilities should be made available through one or more of the following:
(a) grants from public funds;
(b) levies or other special dues from shipping sources;
(c) voluntary contributions from shipowners, seafarers, or their organizations; and
(d) voluntary contributions from other sources.
2. Where welfare taxes, levies and special dues are imposed, they should be
used only for the purposes for which they are raised.
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Guideline B4.4.5 – Dissemination of information and facilitation measures
1. Information should be disseminated among seafarers concerning facilities
open to the general public in ports of call, particularly transport, welfare, entertainment and educational facilities and places of worship, as well as facilities provided specifically for seafarers.
2. Adequate means of transport at moderate prices should be available at any
reasonable time in order to enable seafarers to reach urban areas from convenient
locations in the port.
3. All suitable measures should be taken by the competent authorities to make
known to shipowners and to seafarers entering port any special laws and customs, the
contravention of which may jeopardize their freedom.
4. Port areas and access roads should be provided by the competent authorities
with adequate lighting and signposting and regular patrols for the protection of seafarers.
Guideline B4.4.6 – Seafarers in a foreign port
1. For the protection of seafarers in foreign ports, measures should be taken to
facilitate:
(a) access to consuls of their State of nationality or State of residence; and
(b) effective cooperation between consuls and the local or national authorities.
2. Seafarers who are detained in a foreign port should be dealt with promptly
under due process of law and with appropriate consular protection.
3. Whenever a seafarer is detained for any reason in the territory of a Member,
the competent authority should, if the seafarer so requests, immediately inform the
flag State and the State of nationality of the seafarer. The competent authority should
promptly inform the seafarer of the right to make such a request. The State of nationality of the seafarer should promptly notify the seafarer’s next of kin. The competent
authority should allow consular officers of these States immediate access to the seafarer and regular visits thereafter so long as the seafarer is detained.
4. Each Member should take measures, whenever necessary, to ensure the
safety of seafarers from aggression and other unlawful acts while ships are in their territorial waters and especially in approaches to ports.
5. Every effort should be made by those responsible in port and on board a ship
to facilitate shore leave for seafarers as soon as possible after a ship’s arrival in port.

Regulation 4.5 – Social security
Purpose: To ensure that measures are taken with a view to providing seafarers
with access to social security protection
1. Each Member shall ensure that all seafarers and, to the extent provided
for in its national law, their dependants have access to social security protection in accordance with the Code without prejudice however to any more favourable conditions
referred to in paragraph 8 of article 19 of the Constitution.
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2. Each Member undertakes to take steps, according to its national circumstances, individually and through international cooperation, to achieve progressively
comprehensive social security protection for seafarers.
3. Each Member shall ensure that seafarers who are subject to its social security
legislation, and, to the extent provided for in its national law, their dependants, are entitled to benefit from social security protection no less favourable than that enjoyed by
shoreworkers.
Standard A4.5 – Social security
1. The branches to be considered with a view to achieving progressively comprehensive social security protection under Regulation 4.5 are: medical care, sickness
benefit, unemployment benefit, old-age benefit, employment injury benefit, family
benefit, maternity benefit, invalidity benefit and survivors’ benefit, complementing the
protection provided for under Regulations 4.1, on medical care, and 4.2, on shipowners’ liability, and under other titles of this Convention.
2. At the time of ratification, the protection to be provided by each Member in
accordance with Regulation 4.5, paragraph 1, shall include at least three of the nine
branches listed in paragraph 1 of this Standard.
3. Each Member shall take steps according to its national circumstances to provide the complementary social security protection referred to in paragraph 1 of this
Standard to all seafarers ordinarily resident in its territory. This responsibility could be
satisfied, for example, through appropriate bilateral or multilateral agreements or
contribution-based systems. The resulting protection shall be no less favourable than
that enjoyed by shoreworkers resident in their territory.
4. Notwithstanding the attribution of responsibilities in paragraph 3 of this
Standard, Members may determine, through bilateral and multilateral agreements and
through provisions adopted in the framework of regional economic integration organizations, other rules concerning the social security legislation to which seafarers are
subject.
5. Each Member’s responsibilities with respect to seafarers on ships that fly its
flag shall include those provided for by Regulations 4.1 and 4.2 and the related provisions of the Code, as well as those that are inherent in its general obligations under
international law.
6. Each Member shall give consideration to the various ways in which comparable benefits will, in accordance with national law and practice, be provided to seafarers in the absence of adequate coverage in the branches referred to in paragraph 1
of this Standard.
7. The protection under Regulation 4.5, paragraph 1, may, as appropriate, be
contained in laws or regulations, in private schemes or in collective bargaining agreements or in a combination of these.
8. To the extent consistent with their national law and practice, Members shall
cooperate, through bilateral or multilateral agreements or other arrangements, to
ensure the maintenance of social security rights, provided through contributory or
non-contributory schemes, which have been acquired, or are in the course of acquisition, by all seafarers regardless of residence.
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9. Each Member shall establish fair and effective procedures for the settlement
of disputes.
10. Each Member shall at the time of ratification specify the branches for which
protection is provided in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Standard. It shall subsequently notify the Director-General of the International Labour Office when it provides social security protection in respect of one or more other branches stated in paragraph 1 of this Standard. The Director-General shall maintain a register of this
information and shall make it available to all interested parties.
11. The reports to the International Labour Office pursuant to article 22 of the
Constitution, shall also include information regarding steps taken in accordance with
Regulation 4.5, paragraph 2, to extend protection to other branches.
Guideline B4.5 – Social security
1. The protection to be provided at the time of ratification in accordance with
Standard A4.5, paragraph 2, should at least include the branches of medical care, sickness benefit and employment injury benefit.
2. In the circumstances referred to in Standard A4.5, paragraph 6, comparable
benefits may be provided through insurance, bilateral and multilateral agreements or
other effective means, taking into consideration the provisions of relevant collective
bargaining agreements. Where such measures are adopted, seafarers covered by such
measures should be advised of the means by which the various branches of social security protection will be provided.
3. Where seafarers are subject to more than one national legislation covering
social security, the Members concerned should cooperate in order to determine by
mutual agreement which legislation is to apply, taking into account such factors as the
type and level of protection under the respective legislations which is more favourable
to the seafarer concerned as well as the seafarer’s preference.
4. The procedures to be established under Standard A4.5, paragraph 9, should
be designed to cover all disputes relevant to the claims of the seafarers concerned,
irrespective of the manner in which the coverage is provided.
5. Each Member which has national seafarers, non-national seafarers or both
serving on ships that fly its flag should provide the social security protection in the Convention as applicable, and should periodically review the branches of social security
protection in Standard A4.5, paragraph 1, with a view to identifying any additional
branches appropriate for the seafarers concerned.
6. The seafarers’ employment agreement should identify the means by which
the various branches of social security protection will be provided to the seafarer by
the shipowner as well as any other relevant information at the disposal of the shipowner, such as statutory deductions from the seafarers’ wages and shipowners’ contributions which may be made in accordance with the requirements of identified authorized bodies pursuant to relevant national social security schemes.
7. The Member whose flag the ship flies should, in effectively exercising its
jurisdiction over social matters, satisfy itself that the shipowners’ responsibilities concerning social security protection are met, including making the required contributions
to social security schemes.

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TITLE 5. COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT
1. The Regulations in this Title specify each Member’s responsibility to fully
implement and enforce the principles and rights set out in the Articles of this Convention as well as the particular obligations provided for under its Titles 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Compliance and enforcement

2. Paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article VI, which permit the implementation of Part
A of the Code through substantially equivalent provisions, do not apply to Part A of
the Code in this Title.
3. In accordance with paragraph 2 of Article VI, each Member shall implement
its responsibilities under the Regulations in the manner set out in the corresponding
Standards of Part A of the Code, giving due consideration to the corresponding Guidelines in Part B of the Code.
4. The provisions of this Title shall be implemented bearing in mind that seafarers and shipowners, like all other persons, are equal before the law and are entitled
to the equal protection of the law and shall not be subject to discrimination in their access to courts, tribunals or other dispute resolution mechanisms. The provisions of this
Title do not determine legal jurisdiction or a legal venue.
Regulation 5.1 – Flag State responsibilities
Purpose: To ensure that each Member implements its responsibilities
under this Convention with respect to ships that fly its flag
Regulation 5.1.1 – General principles
1. Each Member is responsible for ensuring implementation of its obligations
under this Convention on ships that fly its flag.
2. Each Member shall establish an effective system for the inspection and certification of maritime labour conditions, in accordance with Regulations 5.1.3 and 5.1.4
ensuring that the working and living conditions for seafarers on ships that fly its flag
meet, and continue to meet, the standards in this Convention.
3. In establishing an effective system for the inspection and certification of
maritime labour conditions, a Member may, where appropriate, authorize public institutions or other organizations (including those of another Member, if the latter agrees)
which it recognizes as competent and independent to carry out inspections or to issue
certificates or to do both. In all cases, the Member shall remain fully responsible for
the inspection and certification of the working and living conditions of the seafarers
concerned on ships that fly its flag.
4. A maritime labour certificate, complemented by a declaration of maritime
labour compliance, shall constitute prima facie evidence that the ship has been duly inspected by the Member whose flag it flies and that the requirements of this Convention
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relating to working and living conditions of the seafarers have been met to the extent
so certified.
5. Information about the system referred to in paragraph 2 of this Regulation, including the method used for assessing its effectiveness, shall be included in the Member’s
reports to the International Labour Office pursuant to article 22 of the Constitution.
Standard A5.1.1 – General principles
1. Each Member shall establish clear objectives and standards covering the administration of its inspection and certification systems, as well as adequate overall procedures for its assessment of the extent to which those objectives and standards are being attained.
2. Each Member shall require all ships that fly its flag to have a copy of this
Convention available on board.
Guideline B5.1.1 – General principles
1. The competent authority should make appropriate arrangements to promote
effective cooperation between public institutions and other organizations, referred to
in Regulations 5.1.1 and 5.1.2, concerned with seafarers’ shipboard working and living
conditions.
2. In order to better ensure cooperation between inspectors and shipowners,
seafarers and their respective organizations, and to maintain or improve seafarers’
working and living conditions, the competent authority should consult the representatives of such organizations at regular intervals as to the best means of attaining these
ends. The manner of such consultation should be determined by the competent authority after consulting with shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations.
Regulation 5.1.2 – Authorization of recognized organizations
1. The public institutions or other organizations referred to in paragraph 3 of
Regulation 5.1.1 (“recognized organizations”) shall have been recognized by the competent authority as meeting the requirements in the Code regarding competency and
independence. The inspection or certification functions which the recognized organizations may be authorized to carry out shall come within the scope of the activities that
are expressly mentioned in the Code as being carried out by the competent authority
or a recognized organization.
2. The reports referred to in paragraph 5 of Regulation 5.1.1 shall contain information regarding any recognized organization, the extent of authorizations given and
the arrangements made by the Member to ensure that the authorized activities are carried out completely and effectively.
Standard A5.1.2 – Authorization of recognized organizations
1. For the purpose of recognition in accordance with paragraph 1 of Regulation
5.1.2, the competent authority shall review the competency and independence of the
organization concerned and determine whether the organization has demonstrated, to
the extent necessary for carrying out the activities covered by the authorization conferred on it, that the organization:
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(a)

(b)
(c)

(d)

has the necessary expertise in the relevant aspects of this Convention and an appropriate knowledge of ship operations, including the minimum requirements
for seafarers to work on a ship, conditions of employment, accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering, accident prevention, health protection,
medical care, welfare and social security protection;
has the ability to maintain and update the expertise of its personnel;
has the necessary knowledge of the requirements of this Convention as well as of
applicable national laws and regulations and relevant international instruments;
and
is of the appropriate size, structure, experience and capability commensurate
with the type and degree of authorization.

2. Any authorizations granted with respect to inspections shall, as a minimum,
empower the recognized organization to require the rectification of deficiencies that it
identifies in seafarers’ working and living conditions and to carry out inspections in this
regard at the request of a port State.
(a)

(b)

3. Each Member shall establish:
a system to ensure the adequacy of work performed by recognized organizations,
which includes information on all applicable national laws and regulations and
relevant international instruments; and
procedures for communication with and oversight of such organizations.

4. Each Member shall provide the International Labour Office with a current
list of any recognized organizations authorized to act on its behalf and it shall keep this
list up to date. The list shall specify the functions that the recognized organizations
have been authorized to carry out. The Office shall make the list publicly available.
Guideline B5.1.2 – Authorization of recognized organizations
1. The organization seeking recognition should demonstrate the technical, administrative and managerial competence and capacity to ensure the provision of timely
service of satisfactory quality.
2. In evaluating the capability of an organization, the competent authority
should determine whether the organization:
(a) has adequate technical, managerial and support staff;
(b) has sufficient qualified professional staff to provide the required service, representing an adequate geographical coverage;
(c) has proven ability to provide a timely service of satisfactory quality; and
(d) is independent and accountable in its operations.
3. The competent authority should conclude a written agreement with any
organization that it recognizes for purposes of an authorization. The agreement should
include the following elements:
(a) scope of application;
(b) purpose;
(c) general conditions;
(d) the execution of functions under authorization;
(e) legal basis of the functions under authorization;
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(f)
(g)
(h)

reporting to the competent authority;
specification of the authorization from the competent authority to the recognized
organization; and
the competent authority’s supervision of activities delegated to the recognized
organization.

4. Each Member should require the recognized organizations to develop a system for qualification of staff employed by them as inspectors to ensure the timely updating of their knowledge and expertise.
5. Each Member should require the recognized organizations to maintain records
of the services performed by them such that they are able to demonstrate achievement
of the required standards in the items covered by the services.
6. In establishing the oversight procedures referred to in Standard A5.1.2, paragraph 3(b), each Member should take into account the Guidelines for the Authorization of Organizations Acting on Behalf of the Administration, adopted in the framework of the International Maritime Organization.
Regulation 5.1.3 – Maritime labour certificate and declaration of maritime labour
compliance
(a)
(b)

1. This Regulation applies to ships of:
500 gross tonnage or over, engaged in international voyages; and
500 gross tonnage or over, flying the flag of a Member and operating from a port,
or between ports, in another country.

For the purpose of this Regulation, “international voyage” means a voyage from a country to a port outside such a country.
2. This Regulation also applies to any ship that flies the flag of a Member and
is not covered by paragraph 1 of this Regulation, at the request of the shipowner to the
Member concerned.
3. Each Member shall require ships that fly its flag to carry and maintain a maritime labour certificate certifying that the working and living conditions of seafarers on
the ship, including measures for ongoing compliance to be included in the declaration
of maritime labour compliance referred to in paragraph 4 of this Regulation, have been
inspected and meet the requirements of national laws or regulations or other measures
implementing this Convention.
4. Each Member shall require ships that fly its flag to carry and maintain a
declaration of maritime labour compliance stating the national requirements implementing this Convention for the working and living conditions for seafarers and setting
out the measures adopted by the shipowner to ensure compliance with the requirements on the ship or ships concerned.
5. The maritime labour certificate and the declaration of maritime labour compliance shall conform to the model prescribed by the Code.
6. Where the competent authority of the Member or a recognized organization
duly authorized for this purpose has ascertained through inspection that a ship that
flies the Member’s flag meets or continues to meet the standards of this Convention, it
shall issue or renew a maritime labour certificate to that effect and maintain a publicly
available record of that certificate.
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7. Detailed requirements for the maritime labour certificate and the declaration of maritime labour compliance, including a list of the matters that must be inspected and approved, are set out in Part A of the Code.
Standard A5.1.3 – Maritime labour certificate and declaration of maritime labour
compliance
1. The maritime labour certificate shall be issued to a ship by the competent
authority, or by a recognized organization duly authorized for this purpose, for a
period which shall not exceed five years. A list of matters that must be inspected and
found to meet national laws and regulations or other measures implementing the requirements of this Convention regarding the working and living conditions of seafarers
on ships before a maritime labour certificate can be issued is found in Appendix A5-I.
2. The validity of the maritime labour certificate shall be subject to an intermediate inspection by the competent authority, or by a recognized organization duly
authorized for this purpose, to ensure continuing compliance with the national requirements implementing this Convention. If only one intermediate inspection is carried out
and the period of validity of the certificate is five years, it shall take place between the
second and third anniversary dates of the certificate. Anniversary date means the day
and month of each year which will correspond to the date of expiry of the maritime
labour certificate. The scope and depth of the intermediate inspection shall be equal to
an inspection for renewal of the certificate. The certificate shall be endorsed following
satisfactory intermediate inspection.
3. Notwithstanding paragraph 1 of this Standard, when the renewal inspection
has been completed within three months before the expiry of the existing maritime
labour certificate, the new maritime labour certificate shall be valid from the date of
completion of the renewal inspection for a period not exceeding five years from the
date of expiry of the existing certificate.
4. When the renewal inspection is completed more than three months before
the expiry date of the existing maritime labour certificate, the new maritime labour
certificate shall be valid for a period not exceeding five years starting from the date of
completion of the renewal inspection.
(a)
(b)
(c)

5. A maritime labour certificate may be issued on an interim basis:
to new ships on delivery;
when a ship changes flag; or
when a shipowner assumes responsibility for the operation of a ship which is new
to that shipowner.

6. An interim maritime labour certificate may be issued for a period not exceeding six months by the competent authority or a recognized organization duly
authorized for this purpose.
7. An interim maritime labour certificate may only be issued following verification that:
(a) the ship has been inspected, as far as reasonable and practicable, for the matters
listed in Appendix A5-I, taking into account verification of items under subparagraphs (b), (c) and (d) of this paragraph;
(b) the shipowner has demonstrated to the competent authority or recognized organization that the ship has adequate procedures to comply with this Convention;
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(c)
(d)

the master is familiar with the requirements of this Convention and the responsibilities for implementation; and
relevant information has been submitted to the competent authority or recognized organization to produce a declaration of maritime labour compliance.

8. A full inspection in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Standard shall be carried out prior to expiry of the interim certificate to enable issue of the full-term maritime labour certificate. No further interim certificate may be issued following the initial
six months referred to in paragraph 6 of this Standard. A declaration of maritime labour compliance need not be issued for the period of validity of the interim
certificate.
9. The maritime labour certificate, the interim maritime labour certificate and
the declaration of maritime labour compliance shall be drawn up in the form corresponding to the models given in Appendix A5-II.
10. The declaration of maritime labour compliance shall be attached to the
maritime labour certificate. It shall have two parts:
(a) Part I shall be drawn up by the competent authority which shall: (i) identify the
list of matters to be inspected in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Standard;
(ii) identify the national requirements embodying the relevant provisions of this
Convention by providing a reference to the relevant national legal provisions as
well as, to the extent necessary, concise information on the main content of the
national requirements; (iii) refer to ship-type specific requirements under
national legislation; (iv) record any substantially equivalent provisions adopted
pursuant to paragraph 3 of Article VI; and (v) clearly indicate any exemption
granted by the competent authority as provided in Title 3; and
(b) Part II shall be drawn up by the shipowner and shall identify the measures adopted
to ensure ongoing compliance with the national requirements between inspections
and the measures proposed to ensure that there is continuous improvement.
The competent authority or recognized organization duly authorized for this purpose
shall certify Part II and shall issue the declaration of maritime labour compliance.
11. The results of all subsequent inspections or other verifications carried out
with respect to the ship concerned and any significant deficiencies found during any
such verification shall be recorded, together with the date when the deficiencies were
found to have been remedied. This record, accompanied by an English-language translation where it is not in English, shall, in accordance with national laws or regulations,
be inscribed upon or appended to the declaration of maritime labour compliance or
made available in some other way to seafarers, flag State inspectors, authorized officers in port States and shipowners’ and seafarers’ representatives.
12. A current valid maritime labour certificate and declaration of maritime
labour compliance, accompanied by an English-language translation where it is not in
English, shall be carried on the ship and a copy shall be posted in a conspicuous place on
board where it is available to the seafarers. A copy shall be made available in accordance
with national laws and regulations, upon request, to seafarers, flag State inspectors,
authorized officers in port States, and shipowners’ and seafarers’ representatives.
13. The requirement for an English-language translation in paragraphs 11 and
12 of this Standard does not apply in the case of a ship not engaged in an international
voyage.
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14. A certificate issued under paragraph 1 or 5 of this Standard shall cease to be
valid in any of the following cases:
(a) if the relevant inspections are not completed within the periods specified under
paragraph 2 of this Standard;
(b) if the certificate is not endorsed in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Standard;
(c) when a ship changes flag;
(d) when a shipowner ceases to assume the responsibility for the operation of a ship;
and
(e) when substantial changes have been made to the structure or equipment covered
in Title 3.
15. In the case referred to in paragraph 14(c), (d) or (e) of this Standard, a new
certificate shall only be issued when the competent authority or recognized organization issuing the new certificate is fully satisfied that the ship is in compliance with the
requirements of this Standard.
16. A maritime labour certificate shall be withdrawn by the competent authority or the recognized organization duly authorized for this purpose by the flag State, if
there is evidence that the ship concerned does not comply with the requirements of this
Convention and any required corrective action has not been taken.
17. When considering whether a maritime labour certificate should be withdrawn in accordance with paragraph 16 of this Standard, the competent authority or
the recognized organization shall take into account the seriousness or the frequency of
the deficiencies.
Guideline B5.1.3 – Maritime labour certificate and declaration of maritime labour
compliance
1. The statement of national requirements in Part I of the declaration of maritime labour compliance should include or be accompanied by references to the legislative provisions relating to seafarers’ working and living conditions in each of the matters listed in Appendix A5-I. Where national legislation precisely follows the
requirements stated in this Convention, a reference may be all that is necessary. Where
a provision of the Convention is implemented through substantial equivalence as provided under Article VI, paragraph 3, this provision should be identified and a concise
explanation should be provided. Where an exemption is granted by the competent
authority as provided in Title 3, the particular provision or provisions concerned should
be clearly indicated.
2. The measures referred to in Part II of the declaration of maritime labour
compliance, drawn up by the shipowner, should, in particular, indicate the occasions
on which ongoing compliance with particular national requirements will be verified,
the persons responsible for verification, the records to be taken, as well as the procedures to be followed where non-compliance is noted. Part II may take a number of
forms. It could make reference to other more comprehensive documentation covering
policies and procedures relating to other aspects of the maritime sector, for example
documents required by the International Safety Management (ISM) Code or the information required by Regulation 5 of the SOLAS Convention, Chapter XI-1 relating to
the ship’s Continuous Synopsis Record.
3. The measures to ensure ongoing compliance should include general international requirements for the shipowner and master to keep themselves informed of the
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latest advances in technology and scientific findings concerning workplace design, taking
into account the inherent dangers of seafarers’ work, and to inform the seafarers’ representatives accordingly, thereby guaranteeing a better level of protection of the seafarers’
working and living conditions on board.
4. The declaration of maritime labour compliance should, above all, be drafted
in clear terms designed to help all persons concerned, such as flag State inspectors,
authorized officers in port States and seafarers, to check that the requirements are being properly implemented.
5. An example of the kind of information that might be contained in a declaration of maritime labour compliance is given in Appendix B5-I.
6. When a ship changes flag as referred to in Standard A5.1.3, paragraph 14(c),
and where both States concerned have ratified this Convention, the Member whose
flag the ship was formerly entitled to fly should, as soon as possible, transmit to the
competent authority of the other Member copies of the maritime labour certificate and
the declaration of maritime labour compliance carried by the ship before the change
of flag and, if applicable, copies of the relevant inspection reports if the competent
authority so requests within three months after the change of flag has taken place.
Regulation 5.1.4 – Inspection and enforcement
1. Each Member shall verify, through an effective and coordinated system of
regular inspections, monitoring and other control measures, that ships that fly its flag
comply with the requirements of this Convention as implemented in national laws and
regulations.
2. Detailed requirements regarding the inspection and enforcement system referred to in paragraph 1 of this Regulation are set out in Part A of the Code.
Standard A5.1.4 – Inspection and enforcement
1. Each Member shall maintain a system of inspection of the conditions for seafarers on ships that fly its flag which shall include verification that the measures relating to working and living conditions as set out in the declaration of maritime labour
compliance, where applicable, are being followed, and that the requirements of this
Convention are met.
2. The competent authority shall appoint a sufficient number of qualified inspectors to fulfil its responsibilities under paragraph 1 of this Standard. Where recognized organizations have been authorized to carry out inspections, the Member shall
require that personnel carrying out the inspection are qualified to undertake these
duties and shall provide them with the necessary legal authority to perform their
duties.
3. Adequate provision shall be made to ensure that the inspectors have the
training, competence, terms of reference, powers, status and independence necessary
or desirable so as to enable them to carry out the verification and ensure the compliance referred to in paragraph 1 of this Standard.
4. Inspections shall take place at the intervals required by Standard A5.1.3,
where applicable. The interval shall in no case exceed three years.
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5. If a Member receives a complaint which it does not consider manifestly unfounded or obtains evidence that a ship that flies its flag does not conform to the requirements of this Convention or that there are serious deficiencies in the implementation of the measures set out in the declaration of maritime labour compliance, the
Member shall take the steps necessary to investigate the matter and ensure that action
is taken to remedy any deficiencies found.
6. Adequate rules shall be provided and effectively enforced by each Member
in order to guarantee that inspectors have the status and conditions of service to ensure
that they are independent of changes of government and of improper external influences.
7. Inspectors, issued with clear guidelines as to the tasks to be performed and
provided with proper credentials, shall be empowered:
(a) to board a ship that flies the Member’s flag;
(b) to carry out any examination, test or inquiry which they may consider necessary
in order to satisfy themselves that the standards are being strictly observed; and
(c) to require that any deficiency is remedied and, where they have grounds to believe that deficiencies constitute a serious breach of the requirements of this Convention (including seafarers’ rights), or represent a significant danger to seafarers’ safety, health or security, to prohibit a ship from leaving port until
necessary actions are taken.
8. Any action taken pursuant to paragraph 7(c) of this Standard shall be subject
to any right of appeal to a judicial or administrative authority.
9. Inspectors shall have the discretion to give advice instead of instituting or
recommending proceedings when there is no clear breach of the requirements of this
Convention that endangers the safety, health or security of the seafarers concerned
and where there is no prior history of similar breaches.
10. Inspectors shall treat as confidential the source of any grievance or complaint alleging a danger or deficiency in relation to seafarers’ working and living conditions or a violation of laws and regulations and give no intimation to the shipowner,
the shipowner’s representative or the operator of the ship that an inspection was made
as a consequence of such a grievance or complaint.
11. Inspectors shall not be entrusted with duties which might, because of their
number or nature, interfere with effective inspection or prejudice in any way their authority or impartiality in their relations with shipowners, seafarers or other interested parties. In particular, inspectors shall:
(a) be prohibited from having any direct or indirect interest in any operation which
they are called upon to inspect; and
(b) subject to appropriate sanctions or disciplinary measures, not reveal, even after
leaving service, any commercial secrets or confidential working processes or information of a personal nature which may come to their knowledge in the course
of their duties.
12. Inspectors shall submit a report of each inspection to the competent authority. One copy of the report in English or in the working language of the ship shall be furnished to the master of the ship and another copy shall be posted on the ship’s notice
board for the information of the seafarers and, upon request, sent to their representatives.
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13. The competent authority of each Member shall maintain records of inspections of the conditions for seafarers on ships that fly its flag. It shall publish an annual
report on inspection activities within a reasonable time, not exceeding six months, after
the end of the year.
14. In the case of an investigation pursuant to a major incident, the report shall
be submitted to the competent authority as soon as practicable, but not later than one
month following the conclusion of the investigation.
15. When an inspection is conducted or when measures are taken under this
Standard, all reasonable efforts shall be made to avoid a ship being unreasonably detained or delayed.
16. Compensation shall be payable in accordance with national laws and regulations for any loss or damage suffered as a result of the wrongful exercise of the inspectors’ powers. The burden of proof in each case shall be on the complainant.
17. Adequate penalties and other corrective measures for breaches of the requirements of this Convention (including seafarers’ rights) and for obstructing inspectors in the performance of their duties shall be provided for and effectively enforced
by each Member.
Guideline B5.1.4 – Inspection and enforcement
1. The competent authority and any other service or authority wholly or partly
concerned with the inspection of seafarers’ working and living conditions should have
the resources necessary to fulfil their functions. In particular:
(a) each Member should take the necessary measures so that duly qualified technical
experts and specialists may be called upon, as needed, to assist in the work of inspectors; and
(b) inspectors should be provided with conveniently situated premises, equipment
and means of transport adequate for the efficient performance of their duties.
2. The competent authority should develop a compliance and enforcement policy to ensure consistency and otherwise guide inspection and enforcement activities related to this Convention. Copies of this policy should be provided to all inspectors and
relevant law-enforcement officials and should be made available to the public and
shipowners and seafarers.
3. The competent authority should establish simple procedures to enable it to receive information in confidence concerning possible breaches of the requirements of this
Convention (including seafarers’ rights) presented by seafarers directly or by representatives of the seafarers, and permit inspectors to investigate such matters promptly,
including:
(a) enabling masters, seafarers or representatives of the seafarers to request an inspection when they consider it necessary; and
(b) supplying technical information and advice to shipowners and seafarers and organizations concerned as to the most effective means of complying with the requirements of this Convention and of bringing about a continual improvement in
seafarers’ on-board conditions.
4. Inspectors should be fully trained and sufficient in numbers to secure the efficient discharge of their duties with due regard to:
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(a)
(b)
(c)

the importance of the duties which the inspectors have to perform, in particular
the number, nature and size of ships subject to inspection and the number and
complexity of the legal provisions to be enforced;
the resources placed at the disposal of the inspectors; and
the practical conditions under which inspections must be carried out in order to
be effective.

5. Subject to any conditions for recruitment to the public service which may be
prescribed by national laws and regulations, inspectors should have qualifications and
adequate training to perform their duties and where possible should have a maritime
education or experience as a seafarer. They should have adequate knowledge of seafarers’ working and living conditions and of the English language.
6. Measures should be taken to provide inspectors with appropriate further
training during their employment.
7. All inspectors should have a clear understanding of the circumstances in
which an inspection should be carried out, the scope of the inspection to be carried out
in the various circumstances referred to and the general method of inspection.
8. Inspectors provided with proper credentials under the national law should at
a minimum be empowered:
(a) to board ships freely and without previous notice; however, when commencing
the ship inspection, inspectors should provide notification of their presence to
the master or person in charge and, where appropriate, to the seafarers or their
representatives;
(b) to question the master, seafarer or any other person, including the shipowner or the
shipowner’s representative, on any matter concerning the application of the requirements under laws and regulations, in the presence of any witness that the person may have requested;
(c) to require the production of any books, log books, registers, certificates or other
documents or information directly related to matters subject to inspection, in
order to verify compliance with the national laws and regulations implementing
this Convention;
(d) to enforce the posting of notices required under the national laws and regulations
implementing this Convention;
(e) to take or remove, for the purpose of analysis, samples of products, cargo, drinking water, provisions, materials and substances used or handled;
(f) following an inspection, to bring immediately to the attention of the shipowner,
the operator of the ship or the master, deficiencies which may affect the health
and safety of those on board ship;
(g) to alert the competent authority and, if applicable, the recognized organization
to any deficiency or abuse not specifically covered by existing laws or regulations
and submit proposals to them for the improvement of the laws or regulations; and
(h) to notify the competent authority of any occupational injuries or diseases affecting seafarers in such cases and in such manner as may be prescribed by laws and
regulations.
9. When a sample referred to in paragraph 8(e) of this Guideline is being taken
or removed, the shipowner or the shipowner’s representative, and where appropriate
a seafarer, should be notified or should be present at the time the sample is taken or
removed. The quantity of such a sample should be properly recorded by the inspector.
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10. The annual report published by the competent authority of each Member,
in respect of ships that fly its flag, should contain:
(a) a list of laws and regulations in force relevant to seafarers’ working and living
conditions and any amendments which have come into effect during the year;
(b) details of the organization of the system of inspection;
(c) statistics of ships or other premises subject to inspection and of ships and other
premises actually inspected;
(d) statistics on all seafarers subject to its national laws and regulations;
(e) statistics and information on violations of legislation, penalties imposed and cases
of detention of ships; and
(f) statistics on reported occupational injuries and diseases affecting seafarers.
Regulation 5.1.5 – On-board complaint procedures
1. Each Member shall require that ships that fly its flag have on-board procedures for the fair, effective and expeditious handling of seafarer complaints alleging
breaches of the requirements of this Convention (including seafarers’ rights).
2. Each Member shall prohibit and penalize any kind of victimization of a seafarer for filing a complaint.
3. The provisions in this Regulation and related sections of the Code are without prejudice to a seafarer’s right to seek redress through whatever legal means the
seafarer considers appropriate.
Standard A5.1.5 – On-board complaint procedures
1. Without prejudice to any wider scope that may be given in national laws or
regulations or collective agreements, the on-board procedures may be used by seafarers to lodge complaints relating to any matter that is alleged to constitute a breach
of the requirements of this Convention (including seafarers’ rights).
2. Each Member shall ensure that, in its laws or regulations, appropriate on
board complaint procedures are in place to meet the requirements of Regulation 5.1.5.
Such procedures shall seek to resolve complaints at the lowest level possible. However,
in all cases, seafarers shall have a right to complain directly to the master and, where
they consider it necessary, to appropriate external authorities.
3. The on-board complaint procedures shall include the right of the seafarer to
be accompanied or represented during the complaints procedure, as well as safeguards
against the possibility of victimization of seafarers for filing complaints. The term “victimization” covers any adverse action taken by any person with respect to a seafarer
for lodging a complaint which is not manifestly vexatious or maliciously made.
4. In addition to a copy of their seafarers’ employment agreement, all seafarers
shall be provided with a copy of the on-board complaint procedures applicable on the
ship. This shall include contact information for the competent authority in the flag
State and, where different, in the seafarers’ country of residence, and the name of a
person or persons on board the ship who can, on a confidential basis, provide seafarers
with impartial advice on their complaint and otherwise assist them in following the
complaint procedures available to them on board the ship.
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Guideline B5.1.5 – On-board complaint procedures
1. Subject to any relevant provisions of an applicable collective agreement, the
competent authority should, in close consultation with shipowners’ and seafarers’
organizations, develop a model for fair, expeditious and well-documented on-board
complaint-handling procedures for all ships that fly the Member’s flag. In developing
these procedures the following matters should be considered:
(a) many complaints may relate specifically to those individuals to whom the complaint is to be made or even to the master of the ship. In all cases seafarers should
also be able to complain directly to the master and to make a complaint externally; and
(b) in order to help avoid problems of victimization of seafarers making complaints
about matters under this Convention, the procedures should encourage the nomination of a person on board who can advise seafarers on the procedures available to them and, if requested by the complainant seafarer, also attend any meetings or hearings into the subject matter of the complaint.
2. At a minimum the procedures discussed during the consultative process referred to in paragraph 1 of this Guideline should include the following:
(a) complaints should be addressed to the head of the department of the seafarer
lodging the complaint or to the seafarer’s superior officer;
(b) the head of department or superior officer should then attempt to resolve the
matter within prescribed time limits appropriate to the seriousness of the issues
involved;
(c) if the head of department or superior officer cannot resolve the complaint to the
satisfaction of the seafarer, the latter may refer it to the master, who should handle the matter personally;
(d) seafarers should at all times have the right to be accompanied and to be represented by another seafarer of their choice on board the ship concerned;
(e) all complaints and the decisions on them should be recorded and a copy provided
to the seafarer concerned;
(f) if a complaint cannot be resolved on board, the matter should be referred ashore
to the shipowner, who should be given an appropriate time limit for resolving the
matter, where appropriate, in consultation with the seafarers concerned or any
person they may appoint as their representative; and
(g) in all cases seafarers should have a right to file their complaints directly with the
master and the shipowner and competent authorities.
Regulation 5.1.6 – Marine casualties
1. Each Member shall hold an official inquiry into any serious marine casualty,
leading to injury or loss of life, that involves a ship that flies its flag. The final report of
an inquiry shall normally be made public.
2. Members shall cooperate with each other to facilitate the investigation of
serious marine casualties referred to in paragraph 1 of this Regulation.
Standard A5.1.6 – Marine casualties
(No provisions)
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

Guideline B5.1.6 – Marine casualties
(No provisions)
Regulation 5.2 – Port State responsibilities
Purpose: To enable each Member to implement its responsibilities
under this Convention regarding international cooperation
in the implementation and enforcement of the Convention standards
on foreign ships
Regulation 5.2.1 – Inspections in port
1. Every foreign ship calling, in the normal course of its business or for operational reasons, in the port of a Member may be the subject of inspection in accordance
with paragraph 4 of Article V for the purpose of reviewing compliance with the requirements of this Convention (including seafarers’ rights) relating to the working and
living conditions of seafarers on the ship.
2. Each Member shall accept the maritime labour certificate and the declaration of maritime labour compliance required under Regulation 5.1.3 as prima facie
evidence of compliance with the requirements of this Convention (including seafarers’
rights). Accordingly, the inspection in its ports shall, except in the circumstances
specified in the Code, be limited to a review of the certificate and declaration.
3. Inspections in a port shall be carried out by authorized officers in accordance
with the provisions of the Code and other applicable international arrangements
governing port State control inspections in the Member. Any such inspection shall be
limited to verifying that the matter inspected is in conformity with the relevant requirements set out in the Articles and Regulations of this Convention and in Part A only of
the Code.
4. Inspections that may be carried out in accordance with this Regulation shall
be based on an effective port State inspection and monitoring system to help ensure
that the working and living conditions for seafarers on ships entering a port of the
Member concerned meet the requirements of this Convention (including seafarers’
rights).
5. Information about the system referred to in paragraph 4 of this Regulation,
including the method used for assessing its effectiveness, shall be included in the Member’s reports pursuant to article 22 of the Constitution.
Standard A5.2.1 – Inspections in port
1. Where an authorized officer, having come on board to carry out an inspection and requested, where applicable, the maritime labour certificate and the declaration of maritime labour compliance, finds that:
(a) the required documents are not produced or maintained or are falsely maintained or that the documents produced do not contain the information required
by this Convention or are otherwise invalid; or
(b) there are clear grounds for believing that the working and living conditions on
the ship do not conform to the requirements of this Convention; or
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Compliance and enforcement

(c)
(d)

there are reasonable grounds to believe that the ship has changed flag for the purpose of avoiding compliance with this Convention; or
there is a complaint alleging that specific working and living conditions on the
ship do not conform to the requirements of this Convention;

a more detailed inspection may be carried out to ascertain the working and living conditions on board the ship. Such inspection shall in any case be carried out where the
working and living conditions believed or alleged to be defective could constitute a
clear hazard to the safety, health or security of seafarers or where the authorized officer has grounds to believe that any deficiencies constitute a serious breach of the requirements of this Convention (including seafarers’ rights).
2. Where a more detailed inspection is carried out on a foreign ship in the port
of a Member by authorized officers in the circumstances set out in subparagraph (a),
(b) or (c) of paragraph 1 of this Standard, it shall in principle cover the matters listed
in Appendix A5-III.
3. In the case of a complaint under paragraph 1(d) of this Standard, the inspection shall generally be limited to matters within the scope of the complaint, although a
complaint, or its investigation, may provide clear grounds for a detailed inspection in
accordance with paragraph 1(b) of this Standard. For the purpose of paragraph 1(d) of
this Standard, “complaint” means information submitted by a seafarer, a professional
body, an association, a trade union or, generally, any person with an interest in the
safety of the ship, including an interest in safety or health hazards to seafarers on
board.
4. Where, following a more detailed inspection, the working and living conditions on the ship are found not to conform to the requirements of this Convention, the
authorized officer shall forthwith bring the deficiencies to the attention of the master
of the ship, with required deadlines for their rectification. In the event that such deficiencies are considered by the authorized officer to be significant, or if they relate to a
complaint made in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Standard, the authorized officer shall bring the deficiencies to the attention of the appropriate seafarers’ and shipowners’ organizations in the Member in which the inspection is carried out, and may:
(a) notify a representative of the flag State;
(b) provide the competent authorities of the next port of call with the relevant
information.
5. The Member in which the inspection is carried out shall have the right to
transmit a copy of the officer’s report, which must be accompanied by any reply received from the competent authorities of the flag State within the prescribed deadline,
to the Director-General of the International Labour Office with a view to such action
as may be considered appropriate and expedient in order to ensure that a record is kept
of such information and that it is brought to the attention of parties which might be interested in availing themselves of relevant recourse procedures.
6. Where, following a more detailed inspection by an authorized officer, the
ship is found not to conform to the requirements of this Convention and:
(a) the conditions on board are clearly hazardous to the safety, health or security of
seafarers; or
(b) the non-conformity constitutes a serious or repeated breach of the requirements
of this Convention (including seafarers’ rights);
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

the authorized officer shall take steps to ensure that the ship shall not proceed to sea
until any non-conformities that fall within the scope of subparagraph (a) or (b) of this
paragraph have been rectified, or until the authorized officer has accepted a plan of action to rectify such non-conformities and is satisfied that the plan will be implemented
in an expeditious manner. If the ship is prevented from sailing, the authorized officer
shall forthwith notify the flag State accordingly and invite a representative of the flag
State to be present, if possible, requesting the flag State to reply within a prescribed
deadline. The authorized officer shall also inform forthwith the appropriate shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations in the port State in which the inspection was carried out.
7. Each Member shall ensure that its authorized officers are given guidance, of
the kind indicated in Part B of the Code, as to the kinds of circumstances justifying detention of a ship under paragraph 6 of this Standard.
8. When implementing their responsibilities under this Standard, each Member
shall make all possible efforts to avoid a ship being unduly detained or delayed. If a
ship is found to be unduly detained or delayed, compensation shall be paid for any loss
or damage suffered. The burden of proof in each case shall be on the complainant.
Guideline B5.2.1 – Inspections in port
1. The competent authority should develop an inspection policy for authorized
officers carrying out inspections under Regulation 5.2.1. The objective of the policy
should be to ensure consistency and to otherwise guide inspection and enforcement activities related to the requirements of this Convention (including seafarers’ rights).
Copies of this policy should be provided to all authorized officers and should be available to the public and shipowners and seafarers.
2. When developing a policy relating to the circumstances warranting a detention of the ship under Standard A5.2.1, paragraph 6, of the competent authority should
consider that, with respect to the breaches referred to in Standard A5.2.1, paragraph
6(b), the seriousness could be due to the nature of the deficiency concerned. This
would be particularly relevant in the case of the violation of fundamental rights and
principles or seafarers’ employment and social rights under Articles III and IV. For example, the employment of a person who is under age should be considered as a serious
breach even if there is only one such person on board. In other cases, the number of
different defects found during a particular inspection should be taken into account: for
example, several instances of defects relating to accommodation or food and catering
which do not threaten safety or health might be needed before they should be considered as constituting a serious breach.
3. Members should cooperate with each other to the maximum extent possible
in the adoption of internationally agreed guidelines on inspection policies, especially
those relating to the circumstances warranting the detention of a ship.
Regulation 5.2.2 – Onshore seafarer complaint-handling procedures
1. Each Member shall ensure that seafarers on ships calling at a port in the
Member’s territory who allege a breach of the requirements of this Convention (including seafarers’ rights) have the right to report such a complaint in order to facilitate
a prompt and practical means of redress.
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Compliance and enforcement

Standard A5.2.2 – Onshore seafarer complaint-handling procedures
1. A complaint by a seafarer alleging a breach of the requirements of this Convention (including seafarers’ rights) may be reported to an authorized officer in the
port at which the seafarer’s ship has called. In such cases, the authorized officer shall
undertake an initial investigation.
2. Where appropriate, given the nature of the complaint, the initial investigation shall include consideration of whether the on-board complaint procedures provided under Regulation 5.1.5 have been explored. The authorized officer may also conduct a more detailed inspection in accordance with Standard A5.2.1.
3. The authorized officer shall, where appropriate, seek to promote a resolution
of the complaint at the ship-board level.
4. In the event that the investigation or the inspection provided under this
Standard reveals a non-conformity that falls within the scope of paragraph 6 of Standard A5.2.1, the provisions of that paragraph shall be applied.
5. Where the provisions of paragraph 4 of this Standard do not apply, and the
complaint has not been resolved at the ship-board level, the authorized officer shall
forthwith notify the flag State, seeking, within a prescribed deadline, advice and a corrective plan of action.
6. Where the complaint has not been resolved following action taken in accordance with paragraph 5 of this Standard, the port State shall transmit a copy of the
authorized officer’s report to the Director-General. The report must be accompanied
by any reply received within the prescribed deadline from the competent authority of
the flag State. The appropriate shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations in the port
State shall be similarly informed. In addition, statistics and information regarding complaints that have been resolved shall be regularly submitted by the port State to the
Director-General. Both such submissions are provided in order that, on the basis of
such action as may be considered appropriate and expedient, a record is kept of such
information and is brought to the attention of parties, including shipowners’ and seafarers’ organizations, which might be interested in availing themselves of relevant recourse procedures.
7. Appropriate steps shall be taken to safeguard the confidentiality of complaints made by seafarers.
Guideline B5.2.2 – Onshore seafarer complaint-handling procedures
1. Where a complaint referred to in Standard A5.2.2 is dealt with by an authorized officer, the officer should first check whether the complaint is of a general nature
which concerns all seafarers on the ship, or a category of them, or whether it relates
only to the individual case of the seafarer concerned.
2. If the complaint is of a general nature, consideration should be given to undertaking a more detailed inspection in accordance with Standard A5.2.1.
3. If the complaint relates to an individual case, an examination of the results of
any on-board complaint procedures for the resolution of the complaint concerned
should be undertaken. If such procedures have not been explored, the authorized officer should suggest that the complainant take advantage of any such procedures available. There should be good reasons for considering a complaint before any on-board
89

Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

complaint procedures have been explored. These would include the inadequacy of, or
undue delay in, the internal procedures or the complainant’s fear of reprisal for lodging
a complaint.
4. In any investigation of a complaint, the authorized officer should give the
master, the shipowner and any other person involved in the complaint a proper opportunity to make known their views.
5. In the event that the flag State demonstrates, in response to the notification
by the port State in accordance with paragraph 5 of Standard A5.2.2, that it will handle
the matter, and that it has in place effective procedures for this purpose and has submitted an acceptable plan of action, the authorized officer may refrain from any further involvement with the complaint.
Regulation 5.3 – Labour-supplying responsibilities
Purpose: To ensure that each Member implements its responsibilities
under this Convention as pertaining to seafarer recruitment
and placement and the social protection of its seafarers
1. Without prejudice to the principle of each Member’s responsibility for the
working and living conditions of seafarers on ships that fly its flag, the Member also has
a responsibility to ensure the implementation of the requirements of this Convention
regarding the recruitment and placement of seafarers as well as the social security protection of seafarers that are its nationals or are resident or are otherwise domiciled in
its territory, to the extent that such responsibility is provided for in this Convention.
2. Detailed requirements for the implementation of paragraph 1 of this Regulation are found in the Code.
3. Each Member shall establish an effective inspection and monitoring system
for enforcing its labour-supplying responsibilities under this Convention.
4. Information about the system referred to in paragraph 3 of this Regulation,
including the method used for assessing its effectiveness, shall be included in the Member’s reports pursuant to article 22 of the Constitution.
Standard A5.3 – Labour-supplying responsibilities
1. Each Member shall enforce the requirements of this Convention applicable
to the operation and practice of seafarer recruitment and placement services established on its territory through a system of inspection and monitoring and legal proceedings for breaches of licensing and other operational requirements provided for in
Standard A1.4.
Guideline B5.3 – Labour-supplying responsibilities
1. Private seafarer recruitment and placement services established in the Member’s territory and securing the services of a seafarer for a shipowner, wherever
located, should be required to assume obligations to ensure the proper fulfilment by
shipowners of the terms of their employment agreements concluded with seafarers.

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APPENDIX A5-I
The working and living conditions of seafarers that must be inspected and approved by the flag State before certifying a ship in accordance with Standard A5.1.3,
paragraph 1:
Minimum age
Medical certification
Qualifications of seafarers
Seafarers’ employment agreements
Use of any licensed or certified or regulated private recruitment and placement service
Hours of work or rest
Manning levels for the ship
Accommodation
On-board recreational facilities
Food and catering
Health and safety and accident prevention
On-board medical care
On-board complaint procedures
Payment of wages

91

APPENDIX A5-II
Maritime Labour Certificate
(Note: This Certificate shall have a Declaration
of Maritime Labour Compliance attached)
Appendix A5-II

Issued under the provisions of Article V and Title 5 of the
Maritime Labour Convention, 2006
(referred to below as “the Convention”)
under the authority of the Government of:
................................................................................................................................
(full designation of the State whose flag the ship is entitled to fly)
by

................................................................................................................................

(full designation and address of the competent authority or recognized organization
duly authorized under the provisions of the Convention)
Particulars of the ship
Name of ship ...........................................................................................................................
Distinctive number or letters ................................................................................................
Port of registry ........................................................................................................................
Date of registry .......................................................................................................................
Gross tonnage 1 .......................................................................................................................
IMO number ...........................................................................................................................
Type of ship .............................................................................................................................
Name and address of the shipowner 2 ...................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................................

1 For ships covered by the tonnage measurement interim scheme adopted by the IMO, the gross tonnage is that which is included in the REMARKS column of the International Tonnage Certificate (1969).
See Article II(1)(c) of the Convention.
2 Shipowner means the owner of the ship or another organization or person, such as the manager, agent
or bareboat charterer, who has assumed the responsibility for the operation of the ship from the owner and
who, on assuming such responsibility, has agreed to take over the duties and responsibilities imposed on shipowners in accordance with this Convention, regardless of whether any other organizations or persons fulfil certain of the duties or responsibilities on behalf of the shipowner. See Article II(1)(j) of the Convention.

92

Appendix A5-II

This is to certify:
1. That this ship has been inspected and verified to be in compliance with the
requirements of the Convention, and the provisions of the attached Declaration of
Maritime Labour Compliance.
2. That the seafarers’ working and living conditions specified in Appendix A5-I
of the Convention were found to correspond to the abovementioned country’s national
requirements implementing the Convention. These national requirements are summarized in the Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance, Part I.
This Certificate is valid until .................................... subject to inspections in accordance with Standards A5.1.3 and A5.1.4 of the Convention.
This Certificate is valid only when the Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance
issued
at ................................................................. on ................................................... is attached.
Completion date of the inspection on which this Certificate is based was .............................
Issued at .................................................... on ........................................................................
Signature of the duly authorized official issuing the Certificate
(Seal or stamp of issuing authority, as appropriate)

Endorsements for mandatory intermediate inspection and, if required,
any additional inspection
This is to certify that the ship was inspected in accordance with Standards A5.1.3
and A5.1.4 of the Convention and that the seafarers’ working and living conditions
specified in Appendix A5-I of the Convention were found to correspond to the abovementioned country’s national requirements implementing the Convention.
Intermediate inspection:
(to be completed between the second
and third anniversary dates)

Signed .................................................................
(Signature of authorized official)
Place ...................................................................
Date ....................................................................
(Seal or stamp of the authority,
as appropriate)

Additional endorsements (if required)
This is to certify that the ship was the subject of an additional inspection for the
purpose of verifying that the ship continued to be in compliance with the national requirements implementing the Convention, as required by Standard A3.1, paragraph 3,
of the Convention (re-registration or substantial alteration of accommodation) or for
other reasons.
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

Additional inspection:
(if required)

Signed .................................................................
(Signature of authorized official)
Place ...................................................................
Date ....................................................................
(Seal or stamp of the authority,
as appropriate)

Additional inspection:
(if required)

Signed .................................................................
(Signature of authorized official)
Place ...................................................................
Date ....................................................................
(Seal or stamp of the authority,
as appropriate)

Additional inspection:
(if required)

Signed .................................................................
(Signature of authorized official)
Place ...................................................................
Date ....................................................................
(Seal or stamp of the authority,
as appropriate)

94

Appendix A5-II

Maritime Labour Convention, 2006
Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance – Part I
(Note: This Declaration must be attached
to the ship’s Maritime Labour Certificate)
Issued under the authority of: ................... (insert name of competent
authority as defined in Article II, paragraph 1(a), of the Convention)
With respect to the provisions of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, the following referenced ship:
Name of ship

IMO number

Gross tonnage

is maintained in accordance with Standard A5.1.3 of the Convention.
The undersigned declares, on behalf of the abovementioned competent authority, that:
(a)
(b)

(c)

(d)
(e)

the provisions of the Maritime Labour Convention are fully embodied in the
national requirements referred to below;
these national requirements are contained in the national provisions referenced
below; explanations concerning the content of those provisions are provided
where necessary;
the details of any substantial equivalencies under Article VI, paragraphs 3 and 4,
are provided (strike out the statement which is not
applicable);
any exemptions granted by the competent authority in accordance with Title 3
are clearly indicated in the section provided for this purpose below; and
any ship-type specific requirements under national legislation are also referenced
under the requirements concerned.

1.

Minimum age (Regulation 1.1)

2.

Medical certification (Regulation 1.2) ........................................................................

3.

Qualifications of seafarers (Regulation 1.3) ..............................................................

4.

Seafarers’ employment agreements (Regulation 2.1) ..............................................

5.

Use of any licensed or certified or regulated private recruitment and placement
service (Regulation 1.4) ...............................................................................................

6.

Hours of work or rest (Regulation 2.3) ......................................................................

7.

Manning levels for the ship (Regulation 2.7) ............................................................

8.

Accommodation (Regulation 3.1) ..............................................................................

9.

On-board recreational facilities (Regulation 3.1) .....................................................

10.

Food and catering (Regulation 3.2) ............................................................................

11.

Health and safety and accident prevention (Regulation 4.3) ..................................
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

12.

On-board medical care (Regulation 4.1) ...................................................................

13.

On-board complaint procedures (Regulation 5.1.5) .................................................

14.

Payment of wages (Regulation 2.2) ............................................................................
Name: .................................................................
Title: ...................................................................
Signature: ...........................................................
Place: ..................................................................
Date: ...................................................................
(Seal or stamp of the authority,
as appropriate)
Substantial equivalencies
(Note: Strike out the statement which is not applicable)

The following substantial equivalencies, as provided under Article VI, paragraphs 3 and 4, of the Convention, except where stated above, are noted (insert description if applicable):
...................................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................................
No equivalency has been granted.
Name: .................................................................
Title: ...................................................................
Signature: ...........................................................
Place: ..................................................................
Date: ...................................................................
(Seal or stamp of the authority,
as appropriate)
Exemptions
(Note: Strike out the statement which is not applicable)
The following exemptions granted by the competent authority as provided in
Title 3 of the Convention are noted:
...................................................................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................................
No exemption has been granted.
Name: .................................................................
Title: ...................................................................
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Appendix A5-II

Signature: ...........................................................
Place: ..................................................................
Date: ...................................................................
(Seal or stamp of the authority,
as appropriate)

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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance – Part II
Measures adopted to ensure ongoing compliance between inspections
The following measures have been drawn up by the shipowner, named in the
Maritime Labour Certificate to which this Declaration is attached, to ensure ongoing
compliance between inspections:
(State below the measures drawn up to ensure compliance with each of the items in Part I)
1.

Minimum age (Regulation 1.1)

❑

................................................................................................................................
2.

Medical certification (Regulation 1.2)

❑

................................................................................................................................
3.

Qualifications of seafarers (Regulation 1.3)

❑

................................................................................................................................
4.

Seafarers’ employment agreements (Regulation 2.1)

❑

................................................................................................................................
5.

Use of any licensed or certified or regulated private recruitment
and placement service (Regulation 1.4)

❑

................................................................................................................................
6.

Hours of work or rest (Regulation 2.3)

❑

................................................................................................................................
7.

Manning levels for the ship (Regulation 2.7)

❑

................................................................................................................................
8.

Accommodation (Regulation 3.1)

❑

................................................................................................................................
9.

On-board recreational facilities (Regulation 3.1)

❑

................................................................................................................................
10.

Food and catering (Regulation 3.2)

❑

................................................................................................................................
11.

Health and safety and accident prevention (Regulation 4.3)

❑

................................................................................................................................
12.

On-board medical care (Regulation 4.1)

❑

................................................................................................................................
13.

On-board complaint procedures (Regulation 5.1.5)

❑

................................................................................................................................
14.

Payment of wages (Regulation 2.2)
................................................................................................................................

98

❑

Appendix A5-II

I hereby certify that the above measures have been drawn up to ensure ongoing compliance, between inspections, with the requirements listed in Part I.
Name of shipowner: 1 ........................................
.............................................................................
Company address: ............................................
.............................................................................
Name of the authorized signatory: .................
.............................................................................
Title: ...................................................................
Signature of the authorized signatory:
.............................................................................
Date: ...................................................................
(Stamp or seal of the shipowner 1)
The above measures have been reviewed by (insert name of competent authority or
duly recognized organization) and, following inspection of the ship, have been determined as meeting the purposes set out under Standard A5.1.3, paragraph 10(b), regarding measures to ensure initial and ongoing compliance with the requirements set
out in Part I of this Declaration.
Name: .................................................................
Title: ...................................................................
Address: .............................................................
.............................................................................
.............................................................................
Signature: ...........................................................
Place: ..................................................................
Date: ...................................................................
(Seal or stamp of the authority,
as appropriate)

1 Shipowner means the owner of the ship or another organization or person, such as the manager, agent
or bareboat charterer, who has assumed the responsibility for the operation of the ship from the owner and
who, on assuming such responsibility, has agreed to take over the duties and responsibilities imposed on shipowners in accordance with this Convention, regardless of whether any other organizations or persons fulfil certain of the duties or responsibilities on behalf of the shipowner. See Article II(1)(j) of the Convention.

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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

Interim Maritime Labour Certificate
Issued under the provisions of Article V and Title 5 of the
Maritime Labour Convention, 2006
(referred to below as “the Convention”)
under the authority of the Government of:
................................................................................................................................
(full designation of the State whose flag the ship is entitled to fly)
by

................................................................................................................................

(full designation and address of the competent authority or recognized organization
duly authorized under the provisions of the Convention)
Particulars of the ship
Name of ship ...........................................................................................................................
Distinctive number or letters ................................................................................................
Port of registry ........................................................................................................................
Date of registry .......................................................................................................................
Gross tonnage 1 .......................................................................................................................
IMO number ...........................................................................................................................
Type of ship .............................................................................................................................
Name and address of the shipowner 2 ..................................................................................
...................................................................................................................................................
This is to certify, for the purposes of Standard A5.1.3, paragraph 7, of the Convention,
that:
(a) this ship has been inspected, as far as reasonable and practicable, for the matters
listed in Appendix A5-I to the Convention, taking into account verification of
items under (b), (c) and (d) below;
(b) the shipowner has demonstrated to the competent authority or recognized organization that the ship has adequate procedures to comply with the Convention;
(c) the master is familiar with the requirements of the Convention and the responsibilities for implementation; and
(d) relevant information has been submitted to the competent authority or recognized organization to produce a Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance.

1 For ships covered by the tonnage measurement interim scheme adopted by the IMO, the gross tonnage is that which is included in the REMARKS column of the International Tonnage Certificate (1969).
See Article II(1)(c) of the Convention.
2 Shipowner means the owner of the ship or another organization or person, such as the manager, agent
or bareboat charterer, who has assumed the responsibility for the operation of the ship from the owner and
who, on assuming such responsibility, has agreed to take over the duties and responsibilities imposed on shipowners in accordance with this Convention, regardless of whether any other organizations or persons fulfil certain of the duties or responsibilities on behalf of the shipowner. See Article II(1)(j) of the Convention.

100

Appendix A5-II

This Certificate is valid until .................................... subject to inspections in accordance
with Standards A5.1.3 and A5.1.4.
Completion date of the inspection referred to under (a) above was ...................................
Issued at ..................................................... on ........................................................................
Signature of the duly authorized official
issuing the interim certificate ................................................................................................
(Seal or stamp of issuing authority, as appropriate)

101

APPENDIX A5-III
General areas that are subject to a detailed inspection by an authorized officer in
a port of a Member carrying out a port State inspection pursuant to Standard A5.2.1:
Minimum age
Medical certification
Qualifications of seafarers
Seafarers’ employment agreements
Use of any licensed or certified or regulated private recruitment and placement service
Hours of work or rest
Manning levels for the ship
Accommodation
On-board recreational facilities
Food and catering
Health and safety and accident prevention
On-board medical care
On-board complaint procedures
Payment of wages

102

APPENDIX B5-I – EXAMPLE OF A NATIONAL DECLARATION
See Guideline B5.1.3, paragraph 5
Maritime Labour Convention, 2006
Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance – Part I
(Note: This Declaration must be attached
to the ship’s Maritime Labour Certificate)
Issued under the authority of: The Ministry of Maritime Transport of Xxxxxx
With respect to the provisions of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, the following referenced ship:
Name of ship

IMO number

M.S. EXAMPLE

12345

E
L

Gross tonnage

P

1,000

is maintained in accordance with Standard A5.1.3 of the Convention.
The undersigned declares, on behalf of the abovementioned competent authority, that:
(a) the provisions of the Maritime Labour Convention are fully embodied in the
national requirements referred to below;
(b) these national requirements are contained in the national provisions referenced
below; explanations concerning the content of those provisions are provided
where necessary;
(c) the details of any substantial equivalencies under Article VI, paragraphs 3 and 4,
are provided (strike out the statement which is not
applicable);
(d) any exemptions granted by the competent authority in accordance with Title 3
are clearly indicated in the section provided for this purpose below; and
(e) any ship-type specific requirements under national legislation are also referenced
under the requirements concerned.

X
E

1.

M
A

Minimum age (Regulation 1.1)
Shipping Law, No. 123 of 1905, as amended (“Law”), Chapter X; Shipping Regulations (“Regulations”), 2006, Rules 1111-1222.
Minimum ages are those referred to in the Convention.
“Night” means 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. unless the Ministry of Maritime Transport (“Ministry”) approves a different period.
Examples of hazardous work restricted to 18-year-olds or over are listed in Schedule A hereto. In the case of cargo ships, no one under 18 may work in the areas
marked on the ship’s plan (to be attached to this Declaration) as “hazardous area”.
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Maritime Labour Convention, 2006

2.

Medical certification (Regulation 1.2)
Law, Chapter XI; Regulations, Rules 1223-1233.
Medical certificates shall conform to the STCW requirements, where applicable; in
other cases, the STCW requirements are applied with any necessary adjustments.
Qualified opticians on list approved by Ministry may issue certificates concerning
eyesight.
Medical examinations follow the ILO/WHO Guidelines referred to in Guideline
B1.2.1

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Appendix B5-I

X
E

104

M
A

P

E
L

Appendix B5-I

Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance – Part II
Measures adopted to ensure ongoing compliance
between inspections
The following measures have been drawn up by the shipowner, named in the
Maritime Labour Certificate to which this Declaration is attached, to ensure ongoing
compliance between inspections:
(State below the measures drawn up to ensure compliance with each of the items in Part I)
1.

Minimum age (Regulation 1.1)
X
Date of birth of each seafarer is noted against his/her name on the crew list.
The list is checked at the beginning of each voyage by the master or officer acting on
his or her behalf (“competent officer”), who records the date of such verification.
Each seafarer under 18 receives, at the time of engagement, a note prohibiting him/
her from performing night work or the work specifically listed as hazardous (see
Part I, section 1, above) and any other hazardous work, and requiring him/her to
consult the competent officer in case of doubt. A copy of the note, with the seafarer’s signature under “received and read”, and the date of signature, is kept by
the competent officer.

2.

Medical certification (Regulation 1.2)
X
The medical certificates are kept in strict confidence by the competent officer, together with a list, prepared under the competent officer’s responsibility and stating
for each seafarer on board: the functions of the seafarer, the date of the current
medical certificate(s) and the health status noted on the certificate concerned.
In any case of possible doubt as to whether the seafarer is medically fit for a particular function or functions, the competent officer consults the seafarer’s doctor or
another qualified practitioner and records a summary of the practitioner’s conclusions, as well as the practitioner’s name and telephone number and the date of the
consultation.

X
E

M
A

P

E
L

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