Technical Circular No: 021/2024
1. The 110th session of the International Labour Conference held in June 2022 approved the amendments to Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), 2006 and will enter into force from 23 December 2024.
2. The amendments cover seafarer welfare issues, such as:
- Social connectivity, including guidance to shipowners on providing internet access;
- Ensuring that seafarers are informed of their rights prior to engagement;
- Requirements for balanced and nutritious meals;
- Disembarkation for medical care;
- Prompt repatriation, including of the deceased; and
- Providing appropriately sized personal protective equipment.
3. The amendments also:
- Clarified that the required certificates of financial security can be issued in the name of the registered owner, if different from the shipowner; and
- Require Member States to ensure seafarer fatalities are adequately investigated, recorded, and reported to the ILO.
4. The amendments to various Regulations of the MLC Standard includes following (highlighted in bold and underline):
1) AMENDMENTS TO REGULATION 1.4 – RECRUITMENT AND PLACEMENT
Paragraph 5(c)(vi) of Standard A1.4 amended and requires –
Private Recruitment and Placement Services (PRPS) to 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, and ensure that seafarers are informed, prior to or in the process of engagement, of their rights under that system.
2) AMENDMENTS TO REGULATION 2.5 – REPARTRIATION
A new Paragraph 9 is included under Standard A2.5.1, requiring –
Member States to facilitates the prompt repatriation of seafarers, including when they are deemed abandoned within the meaning of Standard A2.5.2, paragraph 2. Port States, flag States and labour-supplying States shall cooperate to ensure that the seafarers engaged on a ship to replace seafarers who have been abandoned in their territory, or on a ship flying their flag, shall be accorded their rights and entitlement under the MLC 2006.
3) AMENDMENTS TO REGULATION 3.1 – ACCOMMODATION AND RECREATIONAL FACILITIES
Paragraph 17 of Standard A3.1 is amended and requires-
Appropriate seafarers’ recreational facilities, amenities, and services, including social connectivity, as adapted to meet the special needs of seafarers who must live and work on ships, 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.
4) AMENDMENTS TO REGULATION 3.2 – FOOD AND CATERING
Paragraph 2(a) of Standard A3.2 is amended and requires –
Food and drinking water supplies, are considered based on 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, and shall be suitable in respect of quantity, nutritional value, quality, and variety, and shall be provided free of charge during the period of engagement.
Paragraph 2(b) of Standard A3.2 is amended and requires –
The organization and equipment of the catering department shall be such as to permit the provision to the seafarers of adequate, varied, balanced prepared and served in hygienic conditions.
Paragraph 7(a) of Standard A3.2 is amended and requires –
The Master carries out frequent documented inspections on supplies of food and drinking water in relation to their quantity, nutritional value, quality, and variety.
5) AMENDMENTS TO REGULATION 4.1 – MEDICAL CARE ON BOARD SHIP AND ASHORE
New Paragraph 5 is included under Standard A4.1, requiring –
Each Member States to ensure prompt disembarkation of seafarers in need of immediate medical care from ships in its territory and access to medical facilities ashore for the provision of appropriate treatment.
New Paragraph 6 is included under Standard A4.1 requiring –
Where a seafarer has died during a ship’s voyage. The Member State in whose territory the death has occurred or, where the death has occurred on the high seas, into whose territorial waters the ship next enters, shall facilitate the repatriation of the body or ashes by the shipowner, in accordance with the wishes of the seafarer or their next of kin, as appropriate.
6) AMENDMENTS TO REGULATION 4.3 – HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTECTION AND ACCIDENT PREVENTION
Paragraph 1(b) of Standard A4.3 is amended and requires –
Reasonable precautions are undertaken to prevent occupational accidents, injuries, and diseases on board ship, including through the provision of all necessary appropriately-sized personal protective equipment and 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.
A new Paragraph 5(a) is included under Standard A4.3 requiring each Members to ensure that –
All deaths of seafarers employed, engaged, or working on board ships are adequately investigated and recorded, and reported, on an annual basis, to the Director-General of the International Labour Office to be published in a global register.
7) AMENDMENTS TO APPENDICES
Appendix A2-I – Evidence of financial security under Regulation 2.5,
paragraph 2 -Replace item (g) by the following: (g) name of the shipowner, or of the registered owner if different from the shipowner;
Appendix A4-I – Evidence of financial security under Regulation 4.2 Replace item (g) by the following:
(g) name of the shipowner, or of the registered owner if different from the shipowner;
5. Ship Masters and the Company is to take note of above amendments to MLC, 2006 and are advised as follows:
a. Review their processes to ensure they include the amended requirements no later than 23 December 2024, as the rights and obligations of the seafarers and shipowners as effected by the 2022 amendments to MLC, 2006 apply form the date of entry into force.
b. Ensure timely renewal of existing Maritime Labour Certificates and DMLC Part I & Part II in consultation with the vessel’s Flag Administration or their RO.
6. Recruitment and Placement Services (RPS) are also advised to be guided by above and accordingly revise their procedures and comply with the amended MLC requirements wef 23 December 2024.
Enclosure:
Disclaimer:
This Technical Circular and the material contained in it is provided only for the purpose of supplying current information to the reader and not as an advice to be relied upon by any person. While we have taken utmost care to be as factual as possible, readers/ users are advised to verify the exact text and content of the Regulation from the original source/ issuing Authority.