NEWS

On November 12, 2015, China formally submitted the instrument of ratification of the 2006 Maritime Labor Convention to the International Labor Organization, completing the registration of the ratification process of the Chinese government, marking China's formal approval to join the 2006 Maritime Labor Convention (hereinafter referred to as the Convention). The Convention will officially enter into force for my country on November 12, 2016. A few days ago, Zheng Heping, deputy director of the Maritime Safety Administration of the Ministry of Transport, once again interpreted the Convention.

Safeguard Seafarers' Rights and Interests
Realize "International Integration"

is a big shipping country, a big foreign trade country and a big seafarer country. At present, my country's maritime merchant fleet has reached 0.145 billion deadweight tons, and the foreign trade shipping volume has reached 2.6 billion tons. 620000 people have qualified as seafarers, accounting for about 1/3 of the total number of seafarers in the world. It is of great significance to promote the development of the shipping industry and even the national economy.

At the same time, looking at the world, the Convention, adopted in 2006, is also becoming an important norm in the global maritime industry. Data show that as of March 25, 2015, 66 countries have ratified this convention, and its total tonnage of merchant ships exceeds 80% of the world's total tonnage of merchant ships, which has an increasingly far-reaching impact on the international shipping industry.

Therefore, on the one hand, full compliance is conducive to safeguarding the rights and interests of seafarers, promoting the career development of seafarers, increasing the attractiveness of seafarers, demonstrating the positive attitude of shipping enterprises to comply with international standards and enhancing the international competitiveness of enterprises; on the other hand, since the Convention provides for a port State inspection system, if a ship is found to be in serious violation of the Convention during the inspection, the port State may detain the ship and prohibit the ship from leaving the ship from taking necessary measures, and non-ratifying countries do not enjoy immunity and must be inspected. Therefore, the ratification of the Convention will provide our country with countermeasures to prevent other ratifying countries from abusing the provisions of "indiscriminate retention of ships" on our ships.

contains several new regulations

The Convention consists of three parts: articles, rules and codes. It not only defines factors closely related to the working life of seafarers, including accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering services, but also provides for health protection, medical care, welfare and social security provisions for seafarers working on board ships. In addition, Zheng Heping also pointed out the new regulations of the "Convention", including:
the seafarer recruitment or placement agency guarantees the crew's right to know about the employment agreement, so that they can review the terms of the employment agreement before signing. The seafarer shall not be provided with employment for which the costs of recruitment or placement are to be borne, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, by the seafarer;

Seafarers shall be entitled to regular and full remuneration for their work and to regular working hours and breaks, as well as to annual leave with pay and short periods of shore rest;

in determining the level of ship mandating, in addition to considering the safe and efficient operation of the ship, it is necessary to avoid or minimize excessive overtime work to prevent fatigue, meet the health needs of the crew of food and catering services, and protect the rights and interests of seafarers.

In the repatriation of seafarers, the shipowner is prohibited from requiring the seafarer to advance the cost of repatriation or to deduct it from the seafarer's salary, unless the seafarer is repatriated due to serious dereliction of duty. The first responsible person for the repatriation of the crew is the shipowner, and when the shipowner fails to perform his duties, the flag State of the ship in which the seafarer is located is the second responsible person, and the State of departure or nationality of the seafarer is the third responsible person.

Multiple measures to ensure effective accountability

In order to urge member states to regulate their responsibilities, the Convention defines the obligations of member states to fully implement and implement the Convention from the three aspects of flag state, port state and seafarer providing country. It proposed that flag States should establish an effective system of inspection and certification of maritime labor conditions and issue maritime labor certificates and maritime labor compliance declarations for ships of 500 gross tonnage and above on international voyages or between foreign ports, and should also require ships flying their flag to establish fair and effective on-board complaints procedures. On the basis of effective port State inspection and supervision mechanisms, port States should inspect ships calling at their ports to verify that the ships comply with the Convention on the working and living conditions of seafarers and seafarers' rights, and should establish shore-based procedures for handling seafarers' complaints to ensure that complaints against ships calling at their ports are resolved in a prompt and practical manner. The seafarer-providing country shall conduct effective supervision and inspection of the seafarer recruitment and placement service agencies established by the country, and at the same time provide social security for its seafarers.

Regarding my country's specific measures to promote the implementation of the Convention, Zheng Heping said that in the future, the Ministry of Transport will first work with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on the basis of the two implementation cooperation mechanisms that have been established, and work with relevant departments to jointly promote the implementation of the Convention; The second is to jointly formulate implementation documents for compliance, improve relevant compliance measures, and strengthen publicity and implementation, organize training for managers and staff of shipping companies, crew service agencies, and seafarers' expatriate agencies, and do a good job of publicizing seafarers, so that they can understand the Convention, be familiar with domestic compliance regulations and arrangements, implement relevant requirements, and protect seafarers' rights and interests; The third is to play the role of the tripartite coordination mechanism of maritime labor relations and strengthen consultation and cooperation with shipowners' organizations and seafarers' unions, promote the smooth implementation of the work.